We use a continuous strategic planning process to assess conditions in our market and decide where to best invest our limited resources to have the greatest short and longterm mission impact. As opportunities and challenges rise in importance, our Board of Directors may decide to launch a new project to tackle a particular issue. One of the ways we stretch our resources and increase our impact is through partnerships. Even the smallest of our client deals involves partners. Larger community and regional issues can only be successfully addressed by broad partnerships.

As a hungry, aggressive economic development organization we tend to launch more projects than we have the resources to immediately tackle. That being said, we are constantly engaged with our clients, investors, partners and community members throughout the region to identify opportunities and challenges. Our strategic planning process employs the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) approach. We are always open to considering new projects. If you have an issue that you believe is important to strengthen and grow our regional economy, and create greater economic opportunity for all, contact any of our team members. Often projects start from a spark from a community member. See our current and past projects here.

One of our first thoughts when we are considering a project is whether we can convince another organization in the region to take the lead. We see our role as filling gaps that others can’t or won’t do. Our second thought is to consider who needs to be part of the solution to successfully address a challenge or opportunity. Partnering is a great way to tackle difficult projects, oftentimes the only effective way to do so. Partnering also enables us to leverage our limited investor resources to help generate greater mission impact.

We use three guiding words in partnering: respect; commitment; and, strengthening. Successful partnerships require relationships built on trust and respect. Tackling regional challenges and opportunities requires commitment. And, we enter into partners to strengthen what we collectively do. We believe that every partner should benefit from the collective strength. Visit our Partnerships page to learn more about our current partnerships.