Saturday, July 12, 2003
Allegheny County has launched a Business Expansion Network designed to provide more effective public service to expanding businesses in the county.
Eligible companies must employ at least 15 full-time workers, have been in businesses at least five years with stable or growing revenue and be committed to increasing the numbers of employees by at least 10 percent by creating "new, family-sustaining jobs".
Politics, not economics may be driving the bus on this one. The county executive is in a tight political campaign. His opponent is crying, "Foul!".
Ronnie Bryant, president and chief operating officer of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, gets this week's EDPro Fred Astaire Award for dancing around this one.
Note how Ronnie deftly switches direction in his prepared statement: "County Executive Roddey's creation of Business Expansion Network is a move in the right direction. This new network ties into two calling programs for existing businesses: One that the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance implemented earlier this year and the other is the statewide Team PA program."
(Ronnie and I used to work together in Shreveport, LA. Then he hit the big time.)
Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
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Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Our Fred Astaire award goes to...
