Sunday, June 26, 2016

Morgantown Chamber of Commerce Receives Benedum Foundation Grant

West Virginia Executive


The Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce and Your Community Foundation, Inc. jointly announced today receipt of a $75,000 grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation to examine the feasibility of merging economic development activities in Monongalia County under a single umbrella organization.

[. . .] Following a competitive search, the Chamber, along with its partners, has engaged Market Street Services, a nationally-recognized firm based in Atlanta, Georgia that specializes in community economic development research. Founded in 1997, Market Street is a trusted partner in facilitating community, workforce, and economic development strategies, helping communities proactively shape their own future. Market Street was also the consultant throughout the development of the Charleston Area Alliance in Kanawha County.

Kimble indicated that the feasibility study will begin during summer 2016 with the final report available by the end of 2016.


To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.

Friday, June 17, 2016

On Vision. One Spartanburg Initiative Moves Forward

Charleston Regional Business Journal


Members of the Spartanburg community received an update on a plan geared at enhancing the area’s economic competitiveness.

As part of the One Vision. One Spartanburg initiative, Atlanta-based Market Street Services delivered its community assessment at a meeting June 14. Market Street Services is a consulting firm that has done similar studies in Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tenn., according to a statement detailing the presentation.

The firm has already conducted four of the six steps in the evaluation process: Stakeholder input, target business analysis, community assessment and a community marketing review. According to the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, the process began in February and the research garnered more than 3,100 resident responses.


To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Report highlights strengths, weaknesses in Spartanburg

Bob Montgomery
GoUpstate.com


Spartanburg is looking at ways to address economic imbalances in the community to improve the quality of life for all residents.

It's part of a nine-month-long project designed to make "Spartanburg County a more successful and prosperous place."

“Bold actions are required to secure the community's desired future,” according to Atlanta-based Market Street Services, a consulting firm hired by the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber launched the Spartanburg Vision Plan in February and this week the project reached its halfway point.


To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Columbus: Seeing the Big Picture

K.K. Snyder
Georgia Trend


Just because things are going great doesn’t mean they can’t get better. With every sector of the community dialed in to the recently adopted Regional Prosperity Initiative, ‘up’ is the only direction Columbus and Muscogee County leaders will consider.

For more than a decade, there has existed a need to define the identity of this city that morphed from a mill town floated on a textile economy to a center for financial data services and advanced manufacturing.

“Columbus has been a city in transformation for a while, some deliberate, some by nature of outside forces,” says Brian Anderson, president and CEO of the Greater Columbus Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

Led by the chamber and strategic planning group Market Street Services, local public, private and nonprofit leaders crafted what they’ve deemed “a holistic community and economic development strategy,” which boils down to three guiding principles: a reduction of poverty, increasing prosperity for all, and improving the overall quality of life in the region.


To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Join the effort to plan Spartanburg's future

Todd Horne
Spartanburg Herald Journal


Spartanburg is at a pivotal moment. Our community is rapidly changing, and everything we do today will influence what we will be tomorrow. We cannot leave our future to chance. We must instead methodically plan our change. This is exactly why 52 community leaders have set out to create a Comprehensive Community and Economic Development Strategy that will guide our actions for the next five years.

This process began in January and, with the assistance of Market Street Services, a national community and economic development firm, the guidance of an engaged steering committee, and input from all across our community, four of the six phases of this critical process are now complete. The findings to this point have been both sobering and encouraging.


To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Campaign brings in $15.5M for economic development

Patrick Anderson
Argus Leader


Business leaders in Sioux Falls raised $15.5 million as part of an ongoing effort to bolster and invest in the local economy.

Organizers behind the most recent Forward Sioux Falls campaign announced the fundraising total Tuesday, promising to spend some of the money on workforce development.

“Those dollars will be used to fund any number of economic development, quality-of-life initiatives,” said Dave Rozenboom, who co-chaired the campaign.

[. . .] Hoping to understand the education and training needs of the city's future workforce, the group brought in the consulting firm Market Street Services in January 2015 to conduct a six-month analysis. The company’s work helped coordinators pick a list of priorities for the next five years.

“What they provided was independent, third-party assessment,” said Rozenboom, president of First Premier Bank. “They also do this across the country, so we benefit from their intellectual experience and perspectives.”


To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Magazine’s ‘Big Picture’ view of Columbus

Ledger-Enquirer


Not for the first time, and we’re confident that it’s not for the last, others around the state and region have taken notice of this city’s transformation.

In the June issue of Georgia Trend magazine, an article by K.K. Snyder titled “Columbus: Seeing the Big Picture” takes a pretty detailed look at what has happened here since the old patterns and realities of the city, virtually unchanged for decades, began crumbling and being rebuilt.

[. . .] The article attributes much of the city’s current progress to efforts that fall under the umbrella of the Regional Prosperity Initiative, whose strategy, Snyder writes, “boils down to three guiding principles: a reduction of poverty, increasing prosperity for all, and improving the overall quality of life in the region.”


To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.


Ledger-Enquirer







Not for the first time, and we’re confident that it’s not for the last, others around the state and region have taken notice of this city’s transformation.

In the June issue of Georgia Trend magazine, an article by K.K. Snyder titled “Columbus: Seeing the Big Picture” takes a pretty detailed look at what has happened here since the old patterns and realities of the city, virtually unchanged for decades, began crumbling and being rebuilt.

[. . .] The article attributes much of the city’s current progress to efforts that fall under the umbrella of the Regional Prosperity Initiative, whose strategy, Snyder writes, “boils down to three guiding principles: a reduction of poverty, increasing prosperity for all, and improving the overall quality of life in the region.”







To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.

Ledger-Enquirer







Not for the first time, and we’re confident that it’s not for the last, others around the state and region have taken notice of this city’s transformation.

In the June issue of Georgia Trend magazine, an article by K.K. Snyder titled “Columbus: Seeing the Big Picture” takes a pretty detailed look at what has happened here since the old patterns and realities of the city, virtually unchanged for decades, began crumbling and being rebuilt.

[. . .] The article attributes much of the city’s current progress to efforts that fall under the umbrella of the Regional Prosperity Initiative, whose strategy, Snyder writes, “boils down to three guiding principles: a reduction of poverty, increasing prosperity for all, and improving the overall quality of life in the region.”







To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.
Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/opinion/article81656157.html#storylink=cpyRead more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/opinion/article81656157.html#storylink=cpy




Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/opinion/article81656157.html#storylink=cpy

Relocating a highway can potentially refresh a downtown

Evan Robertson, Senior Project Associate, Market Street Services
Atlanta Journal-Constitution


At any given moment, communities across metro Atlanta spend substantial sums on transportation infrastructure. Projects vary in size and scope, and include building and repairing roads and bridges, adding entrance and exit ramps, or updating and adding traffic lights.

For the vast majority of people, these investments go by relatively unnoticed. After a year or two, we only remember the inconvenience it caused during our morning or evening commute. We judge their success by how safe we feel on the road and how much less we sit in traffic.

Outside of improving the flow of cars and trucks, we metro Atlantans usually don’t ask more from these investments. There is little expectation that they will result in the wholesale transformation of our community. But every now and again, an infrastructure project comes along that presents local residents with the opportunity to change course and position their community for future success.

In Douglas County and the city of Douglasville, community stakeholders are hoping to seize the relocation of Georgia Highway 92 as such an opportunity. When the project is complete, Highway 92 will brush along the eastern outskirts of downtown Douglasville rather than running directly through it. While highway relocations have typically had damaging effects on downtowns across Georgia – the impact on Douglasville can be different.

At present, many traveling along this stretch of the highway corridor are simply trying to get home, or go to work. They are driving through Douglasville’s downtown, and not driving to it. Once the relocation project is complete, downtown Douglasville, unburdened by commuter traffic, can reassert itself as the soul of Douglas County and establish itself as a regional destination.

The task at hand for our GeorgiaForward Young Gamechangers team, aptly named “Destination Downtown,” was to develop a way forward for, and position downtown Douglasville for, success. It was clear that this process would require the hearts and minds of Douglasville and Douglas County residents to be persuaded that transformation is possible.

We believe the public and private space in downtown Douglasville is anything but inflexible. Our recommendations include engaging in a tactical campaign to spark an open and honest conversation of what its downtown could become both short-term and well into the future.

Our team came up with an encompassing set of big ideas to cement downtown Douglasville as a destination for residents and visitors alike. Our ideas range in scope from creating an inviting gateway corridor that will connect Highway 92 with the core commercial district, to engaging in a community-wide branding campaign culminating in a “grand reopening” event. Finally, catalyst developments promoting a live-work-play lifestyle in downtown Douglasville can help solidify its revitalization.

Metro Atlanta’s transportation investments don’t need to solely impact our mobility. Whatever the investment may be, infrastructure projects allow us to view our built environment in new light and afford us the opportunity to make our communities and the broader region a better place to live. For one metro Atlanta area community, the relocation of a highway has given it the chance to rejuvenate its heart.


Evan Robertson, a Roswell native, is a Senior Project Associate at Market Street Services, a national community, economic, and workforce development consulting firm.

To read the article on myajc.com click here

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Spartanburg Chamber reaches milestone in Vision Plan with Chattanooga trip

Trevor Anderson
Upstate Business Journal


The vision for building a foundation for a long-term community development strategy in Spartanburg County has taken another step forward.

According to the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, a group of 28 delegates from the county, including representatives from the Spartanburg Chamber, city of Spartanburg and other groups, recently visited Chattanooga, Tenn.

The trip, which occurred May 19-21, was part of the research and planning of the Spartanburg Vision Plan being led by Atlanta-based Market Street Services, a consulting firm that has helped cities like Nashville, Austin and Tulsa chart a path to prosperity.


To read the full article click here. If it has been removed, please email Alexia Eanes for a copy of the entire article.