Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Tulsa Chamber announces results for Tulsa's Future II economic development program

By Casey Smith
Tulsa World


The Tulsa Regional Chamber recently concluded the second generation of its long-term economic development program, Tulsa’s Future, and results include goal-surpassing job creation and capital investment in northeast Oklahoma.

Since 2011, 28,814 jobs have been announced through the Tulsa’s Future II program, according to the Tulsa Regional Chamber.

Of those new jobs, 15,355 met the program’s target of paying an annual salary of $50,000 or greater. Due to the success of Tulsa’s Future II, during 2013 the initial goal of creating 10,000 high-wage jobs for the program’s five-year term was increased to 15,000 jobs that pay $50,000 or more.


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Thursday, December 3, 2015

Deere CEO: Q-C needs new regional vision

By Jennifer DeWitt
Quad-City Business Journal


With competition for jobs, talent and company investments at every corner of the globe, the Quad-Cities must unite behind a vision that will transform and distinguish the region as a cool, creative, prosperous and connected place.

That was the message Thursday from Deere & Co.'s chairman and CEO Sam Allen, the keynote speaker at the 2015 Quad-Cities Regional Vision Summit. Allen, who leads the Quad-Cities' largest single employer, issued a call to action to more than 200 community stakeholders, urging them to take action and commit to supporting the new regional vision.

The meeting, held at the iWireless Center, Moline, also unveiled the regional vision plan's new name — Q2030: A Regional Action Plan.


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Monday, November 30, 2015

Study: Talent capacity is biggest issue

By Rob Swenson
Sioux Falls Business Journal


A study recently conducted for Forward Sioux Falls identified workforce development as the highest priority challenge facing the local economy.

The Sioux Falls area economy and population are growing economically at levels greater than state and national averages. However, if the availability and skill levels of workers are not enhanced, continued growth might not be sustainable, according to the study.

Forward Sioux Falls is a community-development program created and jointly administered by the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. To explore workforce challenges and help develop a course of action, Forward Sioux Falls engaged Market Street Services to assess the area’s competitive position and workforce training needs.



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Friday, November 6, 2015

Did Birmingham follow its Blueprint?

By Brent Goodwin and Ty West
Birmingham Business Journal


Five years ago, business and community leaders from around metro Birmingham gathered at Railroad Park for a day they hoped would change the region forever.

With signs proudly declaring that the Magic City was open for business, Birmingham Business Alliance leaders and elected officials rolled out Blueprint Birmingham -- a five-year strategic plan for the metro area.

The plan aimed to help metro Birmingham shed its longtime image as the city of perpetual promise, better compete with regional peers and, ultimately, create more jobs.

More than $22 million was raised for the plan, crafted by Market Street -- an Atlanta-based economic development firm that had worked on strategic plans for more than 100 areas. Birmingham's top power brokers, from mayors to high-level corporate executives, signed on.


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Thursday, November 5, 2015

New University of Iowa president to help lead Creative Corridor 'vision strategy'

Business Record


University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld has agreed to co-chairing the Iowa's Creative Corridor work on a five-year action plan, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported. Harreld agreed to join Rockwell Collins Inc. CEO Kelly Ortberg and U.S. Bank regional President Nancy Kasparek to lead the committee, which is working with Atlanta-based Market Street Services. Market Street Services is the consulting group that helped Des Moines put together the Capital Crossroads vision plan. Iowa City Chamber President Nancy Quellhorst said UI's involvement will help in developing a global strategy for the region.


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Wednesday, November 4, 2015

UI president to tri-chair Creative Corridor strategy

By Vanessa Miller
The Gazette


Nearly four years after branding the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City area as “Iowa’s Creative Corridor,” economic leaders across Eastern Iowa are looking to launch a “vision strategy” for the region aimed at creating an actionable five-year plan.

[. . .]

“While we have made progress with our regional brand, we must develop a regional economic development strategy as our common denominator.”

To that end, Baird said, “We are ready to launch an actionable, consensus-based, five-year vision for Iowa’s Creative Corridor.” The group is using Atlanta-based consultant Market Street Services Inc. for the project.


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Thursday, October 29, 2015

Chamber event focuses on State of Economic Development, Regional Prosperity Initiative

By Tony Adams
Ledger-Enquirer


Alex Pearlstein kicked off his address Thursday to Columbus community and business leaders with the basic premise that nothing is guaranteed or truly predictable, playing off an old Yogi Berra quip about not knowing what tomorrow holds.

“Really, it speaks to the reality that we don’t really know what the future’s going to hold for the national economy, for our local economies. I think the Great Recession sort of put to rest the thought that we can predict what’s going to happen in the future,” said Pearlstein, vice president and principal with Atlanta-based Market Street Services.


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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Spartanburg leaders rally for 5-year visioning plan

by Ashley Boncimino
Upstate Business Journal

Spartanburg County could soon have a strategic development plan similar to those that lit up Austin, Nashville, Portland and Greenville.

Along with business and community partners, the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce is spearheading the effort to hire Atlanta-based Market Street Services to craft a five-year community and economic development plan for the county. The 10-month process would result in a unified long-term vision that will move the entire county forward, according to Chamber President and CEO Allen Smith.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Dakota Midday: Economics, Jobs & Leadership

By Kealey Bultena
SDPB Radio



The conversations of Dakota Midday on Tuesday, September 29, 2015 are woven together with an economics thread.

Workforce initiatives can't rely on the quality of jobs in South Dakota if they want to attract people from other regions. Research shows the way younger people choose careers is different than you might expect. J. Mac Holladay is the founder and CEO of Market Street Services based in Atlanta, Georgia. He explains why place may matter more than a certain kind of employment.



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Friday, September 25, 2015

Spartanburg leaders eye long-term community vision

By Trevor Anderson
GoUpstate.com



Local business leaders decided this week to develop a long-term vision for Spartanburg County and its economic growth.

The Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce's board voted Thursday to approve the hiring of Market Street Services, an Atlanta-based strategic planning firm that has helped cities like Nashville, Austin and Tulsa, chart a path to prosperity.

Market Street will soon begin the 10-month project to devise the plan that will be the foundation for a community development strategy.



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Saturday, September 19, 2015

Schwan: The comings and goings of the Sioux Falls workforce

By Jodi Schwan
Argus Leader



I read the whole 75-page report on workforce development released last week, but I kept repeating one statistic in there whenever I talked about it.

So it’s probably worth writing about it, too:

In the five years between 2006 and 2011, 1,050 people moved from Sioux Falls to the Minneapolis metro area.

But listen to this.

In that same time, 950 people moved from the Minneapolis area to Sioux Falls.



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Thursday, September 17, 2015

SF Stakeholders Reveal Long-Term Plan For Sustainable Workforce

By Kealey Bultena
SDPB Radio



A coalition of Sioux Falls area leaders is setting priorities for workforce. Business, education, government, and community stakeholders are applying national and local economic data to develop a plan for sustainability.

Forward Sioux Falls and a company called Market Street services collected data for six months. The information spans across platforms: innovation, economic performance, workforce capacity, quality of life, business environment, labor market, public education, technical programs and higher ed.



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Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Report: Tech schools pivotal to Sioux Falls' future

By Patrick Anderson
Argus Leader



Jeff Moffatt wanted to learn skills he could use in the family business.

But it only took a few classes at Southeast Tech for the 25-year-old Watertown native to learn about job opportunities that might go beyond Moffatt Products, his dad's company and a maker of the sort of flexible arms used in lamps.

Moffatt thinks a two-year degree in computer-aided drafting will net him a bigger salary than a degree in engineering.

"There's just a higher demand right now," he said with a smile and a head shake. "It's super cheap for a two-year degree."

Providing for Sioux Falls' future job growth means attracting and educating more people like Moffatt, who are interested in careers that don't require a four-year degree, according to a company hired to study the city's workforce needs.

A representative for Market Street Services presented findings Wednesday at the University Center in Sioux Falls for a crowd of business leaders and educators.



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Solutions to Improve Sioux Falls' Workforce

By Brady Mallory
KELOLAND TV



According to a new report from a workforce strategy task force, wages are up across the board in Sioux Falls. That is because managers and business owners are raising pay in order to fill jobs.

"We're on the hunt. It's a struggle," Mike McGreevy, MacKenzie River Pizza general manager, said. "You'll see signs for fast food restaurants, starting at $10, $11 and $12 per hour, which some would call that a living wage."

You can spot "Help Wanted" all over the city. These two little words can create big problems for bosses who are trying to staff their businesses.

"Most of the professional people we ask don't know very much about the overall economy. They only know they can't find the right person for the job," Mac Holladay, Market Street Services, said.



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Forward Sioux Falls unveils action plan aimed at workforce development

By Tess Hedrick
KSFY, abc



It's clear the population of Sioux Falls continues to grow, along with its economic growth. There are warning signs that this growth may not be sustainable unless steps are taken to enhance the workforce availability and skills.

Forward Sioux Falls has raised more than $25 million since its founding in 1987 to enhance Sioux Falls economic development efforts and improve the quality of life.

Recently, they worked with the consulting firm 'Market Street Services' to conduct a six-month study to assess where the Sioux Falls region is, in terms of both the workforce and education needs.




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Competitive assessment shows city’s strength for startups

By Jodi Schwan
Argus Leader


Sioux Falls ranks high for economic activity and opportunity but lags other cities in average wages, and research and development activity.

Those are some of the findings of a competitive assessment completed by Market Street Services as part of its workforce study for Forward Sioux Falls.


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Saturday, August 15, 2015

Robots: Will they displace Sioux Falls workers?

By Steve Young
Argus Leader


When their work day is done, there are some in Sioux Falls who never leave the office. Never meet their buddies for a cold one before going home. Never head to their kid's soccer game or to a workout at the gym. [. . .]


An analysis prepared for Sioux Falls economic development officials this spring projected that thousands of jobs in some of the city's fastest-growing fields might become obsolete within 10 to 20 years as robots and artificial intelligence take on a bigger role in the workplace and economy.



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Monday, July 13, 2015

BRAC taps consultant to help draft next five-year strategic plan

By Deanna Narveson
Baton Rouge Business Report


The Baton Rouge Area Chamber is getting ready to unroll its next five-year initiative, the third in a series of long-term economic development plans for the nine-parish area, but this time it has enlisted help from third party firm Market Street Research.

BRAC President and CEO Adam Knapp says the planning process with Market Street began in May. The research firm will look over the last five years to assess the Baton Rouge area and compare it to similar markets. BRAC will work to develop a draft for the new plan early this fall.


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Friday, July 3, 2015

All Eyes on Des Moines

By Megan Verhelst, Staff Writer
Business Record

With two high-profile events set to take place in Iowa in the coming months--the Iowa Caucuses and the NCAA men's college basketball tournament--Greater Des Moines is thinking about how to capitalize on these events to promote the region. Market Street Vice President Alex Pearlstein was asked to weigh in on the potential of these events and the perception of central Iowa in general.


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Saturday, May 30, 2015

Editorial: Climb aboard community effort to make Q-Cs best it can be

Editorial
The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus


Some call it one of the most important conversations our bistate region will ever have.

Fortunately, as the folks driving this discussion which will be used to craft a plan for a better Quad-Cities future recently discovered, there are plenty of people in all sectors of our community ready to take part in the dialogue.



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Sunday, May 24, 2015

Q-C takes novel approach to regional strategy


Greg R. Veon, Publisher | Jan Touney, Executive Editor | Bill Wundram, Associate Editor
John Blunk, Advertising sales | John Wetzel, Community member | Mark Ridolfi, Editorial Page Editor
Quad-City Times

Put two Quad-Citians on barstools and you’re bound to get two opinions about our community and its future.

Assemble a dozen for that discussion and expect a dozen different viewpoints.

Survey 3,589 and clearer trends emerge.

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Thursday, May 21, 2015

Study: Q-C has many assets, faces key challenges




The Quad-Cities has a compelling array of assets but nonetheless trails in benchmark areas and "risks falling further behind high-performing economies due to a number of key challenges," a new draft report released Thursday said.

The 55-page Draft Competitive Assessment was authored by an Atlanta-based consultant and guided by a coalition of area business, non-profit and government organizations which are trying to put together a regional vision strategy for the area.



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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Tulsa's Future, an economic development initiative, launches its next five-year campaign

By LAURIE WINSLOW 
Tulsa World


An ongoing economic development initiative aimed at attracting high-paying jobs to the region is gearing up for another five years.

On Monday evening, regional business leaders, local elected officials, Mayor Dewey Bartlett and Gov. Mary Fallin gathered at Southern Hills Country Club for the annual meeting of Tulsa’s Future, an economic development initiative led by the Tulsa Regional Chamber.



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Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Journey to Growth takes step

By Jeff Kiger
PostBulletin.com


Leaders from Rochester and the region crowded into a meeting room Tuesday to hear from the first quarterly report from the chairs of the 10 Journey to Growth committees.

John Wade, the chair of the J2G initiative, introduced the meeting by explaining the scope of the regional initiative. He said that it is all about diversifying the regional economy beyond health care and strengthening the eight counties that surround Rochester.



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