A New Take on Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy

According to officials in the Economic Development Administration, it's time to put the Strategy back in the CEDS.

The CEDS, or Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, is the planning document that economic development districts - of which HOTEDD is one - exist to create. Districts do lots of things, but their foundation and core purpose, according to their funders at EDA, is creating the CEDS.

Unfortunately, the CEDS is a mixed bag of benefits and burdens. The regulations describing it are fairly dense, and districts are eager to meet the requirements, so many CEDS end up as data dumps - huge, unwieldy documents that are heavy on tables and lists, pages upon pages of specifics, from which it is impossible to discern an overall strategic direction for a region.

Interestingly, districts and EDA both know this and are working from their respective positions toward a better model for the CEDS. Megan participated in a work session in Washington whose purpose was to craft a way forward to a more relevant, more strategic, and more useable CEDS, and one thing that came out of that meeting was an informal list of criteria describing what CEDS should be and do. In the coming months, HOTEDD will use those criteria to make gentle changes as part of our annual CEDS update. For 2013, the new web environment currently in construction, new guidance from EDA and peer best practices will inform the creation of a new five-year CEDS that will be a true strategic document. We're excited, as better tools mean a better economic development effort in the Heart of Texas.

According to discussion at the workshop of some draft CEDS goals, NADO's workgroup thinks CEDS should:
* Be asset-based, respecting the diversity among regions
* Be a strategy on how to align a broad array of resources, not just EDA's
* Be evidence-based, including a variety of measurements and timetables for implementation
* Be strategic, not encyclopedic - focus on big picture, and any thick lists or data tables should be removed to an appendix
* Allow for a flexible, district-led peer-review process
* Ultimately roll up into statewide strategies that are based on districts' needs
* Be framed in terms of a clear strategy in an executive summary, delivered using a nimble communications plan
* Reflect a commitment to innovation, including cluster-based strategies
* Engage the public sector, private sector, and the public both in framing and in implementation

Megan will Represent Region in Washington DC

Megan Henderson is one of 25 regional development practitioners from across the country invited to participate in a CEDS Innovation Forum held next week by the National Association of Development Organizations. The CEDS is the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy required of each Economic Development District.

Part of the event's activities will be an interactive dialogue among Obama administration and agency officials, including EDA Assistant Secretary John Fernandez, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Doug O'Brien, Shelley Poticha, Director of HUD's Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, and representatives from the White House, Appalachian Regional Commission, EPA, and U.S. Department of Transportation.

Megan has been asked to give a presentation on the Texas CEDS Project, the $400,000 project funded by an EDA grant that will pay for interactive web sites with CEDS components, GIS, and data features for each of the 24 regional councils in Texas. She advanced this project as president of the Texas Association of Regional Councils' Community and Economic Development Staff Association.

The 3/50 Project

Good afternoon! The following information is from the Agurban's Boomtown USA.

"We received a great email this week from Frankie Gilliam, CEcD and Community and Economic Development Specialist at ASU Delta Center for Economic Development in Jonesboro, Arkansas, introducing us to Cinda Baxter and the 3/50 Project movement. Below are the key points of The 3/50 Project, as outlined on their home page.
3 - What three independently owned businesses would you miss if they disappeared? Stop in. Say hello. Pick up something that brings a smile. Your purchases are what keeps those businesses around.
50 - If half the employed population spent $50 each month in locally owned businesses, it would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue. Imagine the positive impact if ¾ of the employed population did that.
68 - For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays local. Spend it online and nothing comes home.
1 - The number of people it takes to start the trend - you!"

Trade Shows

According to recent LinkedIn threads, economic developers across the country are tightening their trade show budgets in these lean times. It's more important than ever to get the biggest bang for your buck.

Here are some tips from Anya Codack. Her company, YFactor, is currently working on a GIS-based, data-rich web site for the HOTEDD which should roll out early this spring. She says:
--when going to a trade show, focus on pre-marketing and post-marketing
--collect business cards, but also work the entire delegate list for potential contacts
--use all those contacts in an ongoing social-media communications strategy.

Thanks, Anya!

The 20 Most Important Questions In Business

by Christopher Steiner and Brett Nelson
(I got this from an email called "The Agurban," and they sourced this material from Forbes Magazine.)
Entrepreneurs can't completely inoculate their businesses from the vagaries of the market. What they can do is wrestle with the fundamental questions that govern the fate of any enterprise. We've done our best to compile the 20 most important ones...
1. What is your value proposition?
2. Does your product address a viable market?
3. What differentiates your product from the competition?
4. Does the business scale?
5. How committed are you to making this happen?
6. What are your strengths?
7. What are your weaknesses?
8. What price will your customers pay?
9. How much power do your buyers have?
10. How much power do your suppliers have?
11. How should you sell your product?
12. How should you market your product?
13. How big is the threat of new entrants:
14. How do you protect your intellectual property?
15. How much start-up capital do you need?
16. How will you finance the business?
17. How much cash do you need to survive the early years?
18. What are your financial projections?
19. How do you keep the help happy?
20. What is your end game?
For more information, see Forbes at http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/17/most-important-questions-in-business-entrepreneurs-management-small-business_slide_2.html

Final Installment: SBA Information about Tax Relief to Help Small Businesses

New Law Provides $12 Billion in Tax Relief to Help Small Businesses Invest in their Firms, Create Jobs
• Extension, Expansion of Tax Cuts – 8 Tax Cuts
1. The highest small business expensing limit ever, of $500,000
2. Carry-back provisions on net operating losses of up to 5 years
3. Accelerated/bonus depreciation
4. Zero capital gains taxes for those who invest in small businesses
5. Increased deductions for start-ups
6. Deductions for employer-provided cell phones
7. Deductions for health insurance costs for the self-employed
8. Limitations on penalties for errors in tax reporting that disproportionately affect small business

Beyond SBA:
• Small Business Lending Fund – $30 billion (administered by Treasury)
o The law will provide smaller community banks with low cost capital (as low as 1%) if they go above and beyond 2009 small business lending levels.
• Establishes State Small Business Credit Initiative (administered by Treasury)
o The law will provide up to $1.5 billion to States to support state run small business lending programs

More SBA Information - 3 of 4 Posts

New Law Promotes Small Business Exporting, Building on the President’s National Export Initiative
• Export Express Pilot Becomes Permanent
o The law turns the Export Express pilot loan program into a permanent program with 90% guarantees for loans up to $350,000 and 75% for loans between $350,000 and $500,000.
• State Trade and Export Promotion Grants Pilot
o The law provides $60 million in competitive grants over next three years for states to help small business owners with exporting.
• Increased Staff and Strengthened Export Counseling Resources.

Law Expands Training and Counseling:
• Major Investment in Counseling and Training
o The law provides $50 million in grants available to Small Business Development Centers.
• More Opportunities in Export Counseling (see above)