Economic development is the process of retaining, expanding, and attracting jobs, income and wealth in a manner that improves individual economic opportunities and the quality of human life. This section provides educational resources, tools, and data designed to help community development educators, economic development professionals, and elected officials influence the economic development process for the benefit of the community. Preparedness IndexThe purpose of this preparedness index is to help communities analyze strengths and weaknesses before developing a plan to improve economic development opportunities in the community. The index is based on individual perceptions of activities and conditions in the community; over which you may or may not have some level of control. The compiled responses will provide a reflection of your community's readiness to
How should my community utilize this tool?The Community Economic Development Preparedness Index or CEDPI is a very useful tool for determining how the community can better prepare for economic development that would retain, expand, and attract opportunities for adding jobs and income in the community. It is a first step in the community economic development process, or an opportunity for a community to take a step back and determine their level of preparedness. It provides the community with an overview of where additional investments might be needed or where investments have already been made. ACTION: UNDERSTANDING YOUR COMMUNITYFirst ImpressionsFirst Impressions offers an inexpensive way of determining what visitors think of your community. Volunteers from two somewhat similar communities (size, location, county seat, etc.) agree to do unannounced exchange visits and then report on their findings. Participants became "secret shoppers" for the day to discover what they can about their sister city. Team members follow procedures and reporting guidelines in a fully developed manual, which is copied for each participant. The manual helps insure that the evaluations and final reports are thorough and somewhat uniform and minimize the training of volunteers. The final report provides an outsiders perspective of your community as it might be perceived by a prospective business, potential resident, or tourist. Community Indicators: Data VisualizationCommunity Indicators are online datasets that provide thought-provoking, detailed statistics and data about certain economic development topics for cities and villages such as community mobility, age cohorts, worker flow data, and self-sufficiency. The census-based data should be arranged in a preorganized spreadsheet format that focuses on helping the user easily identify and analyze issues instead of simply providing access to lots of data. It is also presented in a format that is presentation-ready. Each Community Indicator should include an easy-to-use template that will enable even novice users to access, input, and display data in a presentation-ready Excel™ format. This should include a newsletter that can be customized, and a means to create visually-pleasing tables and charts. Detailed online instructions explaining how to use the templates and how they were developed are included with each Community Indicator. WHEN SHOULD IT BE USED? This tool can be used in many different settings and for a variety of reasons, including: • To easily provide cities, villages, counties, businesses and community leaders with sophisticated summary economic data about their community using tables and charts • To allow sophisticated census data to be summarized and communicated in newsletter, table and chart form • To enable communities and business to graphically see certain economic facets of their community and how their community compares to other communities; • To provide objective data that shows how certain aspects of a community or area have changed over time • As a visual means of encouraging and engaging public participation on economic and community topics when used as part of a larger educational effort Using Labor Market Information to Understand Your Local EconomySO WHAT IS IT? Labor market information includes data on both demand for and supply of workers and skills in a local economy. Employers and households are surveyed to determine demand and supply side issues. WHEN SHOULD IT BE USED? This tool is typically used when a county (or a major community in the county) has questions or concerns regarding the local labor market. They may be concerned that workers aren’t moving to the county. Local chambers and EDC’s may want wage and labor supply information to assist in recruiting and retaining businesses. ED groups may be engaged in strategic economic development planning. For the educator, a labor market survey can achieve the following: • Make contacts and show quick results from a “research-based” project • Recruit volunteers • Identify economic development projects and strategies WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN? A labor market study can take 3 to 5 months from start to finish. Step 1. Assess local interest Step 2. Download the template cookbook. Contact Gary Green at gary.green@ces.uwex.edu Step 4. Recruit a steering committee. Step 5. Use the cookbook to develop and implement your plan for action Step 6. Present the final report to local media, the county board, EDC’s, chambers, etc… Step 7. Use the report as a basis for program planning and project development. Trade Area AnalysisTrade Area Analysis uses Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to map data collected by zip codes. While GIS is a powerful technology with many uses, the purpose of GIS in this application is to transform simple database information into a map format. Performing this transformation allows the user to view the spatial arrangement of the tabular data and discover relationships that may not be readily apparent in a database. It is intended for community and business trade area definition as well as mapping any data collected using zip codes. WHEN SHOULD IT BE USED? This should be used to assist businesses in determining there customer base and potential new markets. As an example, consider a list of zip codes that represent customers to a business. The list of zip codes shows those areas that contain the most customers. However, it does not answer any additional questions. When the list is transformed using GIS, the resultant map will allow the user to explore questions such as: • How far are customers traveling to the business or community? • Are customers located in a compact manner around the community or are they dispersed? • Are customers concentrated in one direction from the community? • Do customer origins vary by the day of the week? Time of day? These type of questions, as well as others relevant to different applications, can be examined by mapping zip code information. Location Quotient CalculatorCited as a template, the Location Quotient Calculator is a tool on the [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics] website that creates tables of private sector employment data by industry as measured by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Program. The calculator can facilitate the comparison of employment levels in the United States (as a whole), individual states, counties, and metropolitan statistical areas. Location Quotients (LQs) are ratios that allow an area’s distribution of employment by industry to be compared to a reference or base area’s distribution. The reference area is usually the whole country, but it can also be a metropolitan area. The reference or base industry is usually the all-industry total, for example, total manufacturing. LQs are calculated by first dividing local employment by industry by the local all-industry employment total. Next, industry employment in the reference area is divided by the all-industry total for the reference area. Finally, the local ratio is divided by the reference area ratio. WHEN SHOULD IT BE USED? This tool is typically used to measure how specialized the local economy is. A community highly specialized in a given industry sector is likely exporting goods or services. This is an indication of economic “self-sufficiency.” A community is considered economically “dependent” when any industry sector that cannot produce enough goods or services to meet local demand is highly represented. It may be useful to compare the local LQ to the state LQ by industry sector. If the local LQ is greater than 1.0 and it exceeds the statewide average, the local area may have a regional, as well as a national competitive advantage in that sector. An LQ less than 1.0 provides a key indicator for developing an import substitution strategy locally. Location Quotient analysis is useful for understanding past or current economic situations, but it should not be used for predicting the future. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN? For modelling purposes, go online to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics at http://data.bls.gov/help/def/lq.htm#location_quotient_application Downtown and Business District AnalysisDowntowns have long suffered the loss of retail and other businesses to shopping centers and commercial strips on the edge of town. As a result of intense competition, many small city downtowns face high vacancy rates and a poor mix of remaining businesses. Downtowns typically lack the market research support available to large retailers and developers. As a template, the UW-Extension, Center for Community & Economic Development (CCED) and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce-Main Street Program have developed a comprehensive on-line market analysis toolbox. This nationally recognized toolbox is designed to help local business leaders, entrepreneurs, developers, and economic development professionals understand the changing marketplace and identify business and real estate development opportunities that are realistic for their communities. It introduces and guides users through numerous analytical techniques used in evaluating specific development opportunities for a downtown area. The toolbox is divided into three major parts: Part I: Understanding Market Conditions 1. Getting Started 2. Surveying Business Operators 3. Creating a Building and Business Inventory 4. Analyzing Your Business Mix 5. Analyzing Your Trade Area 6. Analyzing Local Economics 7. Analyzing Demographics/ Lifestyles 8. Assessing Consumer Attitudes Part II: Identifying Market Opportunities by Sector 9. Evaluating Retail Opportunities 10. Evaluating Service Business Opportunities 11. Evaluating Restaurant Opportunities 12. Evaluating Theater Opportunities 13. Evaluating Residential Opportunities 14. Evaluating Office Market Opportunities 15. Evaluating Lodging Opportunities Part III: Conclusions and Recommendations 16. Business Retention and Expansion Recommendations 17. Niche Recommendations 18. Space Utilization Recommendations 19. Market Segment Recommendations 20. Business Recruitment Recommendations WHEN SHOULD IT BE USED? The toolbox should be used at any point in the downtown revitalization process and updated on a periodic basis. The tools can be used once there is a core group of volunteers willing to begin such a study, and who have clearly identified the purpose of their study. Key questions need to be identified to direct the study. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN? Communities can access these tools in two ways (cited here for modelling purposes only): 1. On-line Self-Help Toolbox: The online toolbox is intended to provide a concise, yet comprehensive set of resources for completing a market analysis in a small city downtown. Accordingly, it can be shared with downtown and economic development leaders and used as a self-help resource. 2. UW-Extension Assistance: There are many occasions when communities need outside expertise and assistance in completing the market analysis. Broadband: Template for Planning Community Connectivity |