Smart Business Magazine, June 2016

June 2016 Smart Business Akron Canton 7 CHRISTINE AMER MAYER BUILDING BRIDGES CHRISTINE AMER MAYER President GAR Foundation which awards grants to 501 c 3 nonprofit organizations in Summit and adjacent counties in the areas of education arts and arts education health and social services and civic and nonprofit enhancement 330 576 2911 cmayer@ garfdn org www garfoundation org Make the connections The plan to remake Akron should build on existing strengths A look at some of the communities that have enjoyed success reveals that well conceived strategic economic development efforts can indeed have a significant positive effect uplifting the collective assets in a geography stimulating private markets and catalyzing smart growth around high potential clusters But for each example of effective economic development youll also find five examples of good plans gone bad So what can Akron learn from the graveyard of economic development ideas Pass on smokestack chasing For many years economic development was all about chasing individual firms in the pipeline and using tax based incentives to lure them in a deal at a time While attraction activity certainly plays a role in economic development history has shown that many enticed firms move on to the next community to the next set of enticements Additionally when attracted firms do not fit well within an areas cluster ecosystem they are not likely to thrive Thus attraction devolves into a reactive game of whack a mole chasing one deal here one deal there and tends to produce short lived victories if any Narrow efforts miss the mark The Brookings Institutes recent report Remaking Economic Development aptly summarizes in too many communities the practice of conventional economic development remains focused solely on top line growth while the bottom line prosperity is deemed someone elses responsibility Stated another way we must move past the days when economic development professionals could ignore unemployed and underemployed citizens labeling them a social services issue Quality economic development efforts intentionally connect job creation and firm expansion to workers not because of a moral imperative but because the economy prospers where businesses can access ample talent and employed people can afford to buy goods and services Dodge the silver bullet Weve all heard there is no silver bullet This sentence is often followed by a proposal that looks a lot like a silver bullet There are dozens of examples of major projects with malls and arenas leading the pack that were billed as economic development superheroes The results are in while consumption driven big plays are relatively easy to pull off with a beginning a middle and a ribbon cutting end they simply do not generate the authentic economic growth of a long term production focused strategy So Akron lets shape a brand of economic development that builds on our assets the strong firms and businesses already here that can grow and expand the industry clusters where we have a competitive advantage in our human and innovation resources our knowledge of how to make things Lets be intentional about connecting business growth to Akron workers With Mayor Dan Horrigan settling into city hall there has been much talk about Akrons new day and enthusiasm around bringing fresh perspective to economic development And then comes the hard part determining the best next step What actions will create enduring community prosperity http bit ly 1qi6jQp www linkedin com company gar foundation www facebook com GARFoundation @ ChristineMayer4