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Development Focused Areas and Activities

Communities need to develop their place and market it to others to create wealth and improved economic opportunities. Creating a climate for businesses and citizens to thrive comes from taking good care of existing business, showing enterprising citizens how to start-up new businesses and having the know-how to market and communicate with all target audiences.

Business Retention and Expansion

Existing businesses create more new jobs, invest in their communities, and are ambassadors for new investment. A very deliberate effort to visit, serve and retain existing business is a best practice for successful community and economic development in any municipality. This module provides step-by-step guidance on building a business retention and expansion program for your community.

Creating a Community That Encourages Innovation, Entrepreneurship, & New Business Start-ups

For communities looking to support entrepreneurs, this module is targeted toward community leaders and development professionals who are seeking ways to assist local entrepreneurs and thereby make their communities better places to live.

Developing Local Incentive Programs

Local incentives should be driven by a community’s vision. Professional approaches to creating and negotiating local incentives are paramount to understanding when they should be offered.

Funding Community Development

Economic and community development opportunities or strategies intended to benefit the community at large must be able to attract sufficient financial capital from a mix of sources to sustain their development and ongoing use or operation within a competitive market environment. The Funding Community Development module focuses on identifying financial resources and matching them to the specific task or strategy that the community has chosen to pursue.