Projects – Page 3 – Center for Economic Development Research

Clinch County Community Assessment

Across the nation, rural areas are facing challenges associated with shifts in demographic and economic trends. The most successful rural areas are those that are addressing their specific issues head-on. Clinch County is a rural county located in the southeastern part of Georgia with a population of approximately 6,800 people. Despite its small size, the county has an active and engaged development authority whose goal is straightforward — Grow Clinch. Over the past few years, the development authority has demonstrated its commitment to growing Clinch by hiring their first executive director and increasing their programming and activities. Using this momentum, the development authority requested a community assessment from Georgia Tech as part of EI2’s Economic Development Research Program (EDRP). The Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR) developed a process to help Clinch County facilitate economic growth as effectively as possible.

At the onset of the project, CEDR conducted a review of existing documents, research reports, and work agendas relevant to Clinch County’s recent economic development initiatives, community planning, and visioning efforts. CEDR also gathered and analyzed secondary information on demographics, educational levels, housing characteristics, and income in an effort to understand the dynamics of Clinch County’s local economy. During the spring of 2016, CEDR’s economic development professionals traveled to Clinch County to conduct confidential one-on-one interviews with local stakeholders. CEDR staff also conducted confidential phone interviews with state and regional partners of Clinch County. Information collected in the local stakeholder and external partner interviews was synthesized to complete a SWOT analysis of Clinch County. Using findings from the SWOT analysis and secondary data collected, researchers identified and defined a group of industry segments for the county’s business attraction efforts.

Researchers provided recommendations to the Clinch County Development Authority (CCDA) derived from findings from the data collected, insights gained during the community and state partner interviews, and the target industry analysis. CEDR considered the following four characteristics as essential elements needed for inclusion in the recommendations:

broad base of community support,
data analysis pointing to existing gaps/needs,
tied to long-term community goals, and
impacts Clinch County’s economic development goal to “maintain a long-term sustainable and diverse economic base.”

Recommendations were grouped into seven overarching areas:

workforce development,
economic development product,
support for existing business,
cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit in the community,
marketing,
partnerships, and
targeted business attraction.

Though the goals of this research project did not include a strategic plan with implementation guidelines, the recommendations and actions offered will help to enhance and strengthen the work of the CCDA. The assessment concluded that the development authority would need to continue brainstorming and collaborating with local partners so that its programs and activities are instilled with local knowledge.

For project-related questions, contact:
Candice McKie
Phone: 404-385-2053| Fax: 404-410-6910
Email: ude.hcetag.etavonninull@eikcm.ecidnac

IMCP Communities Present at Regional Studies Association North American Conference

Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) community representatives from across the country converged for a manufacturing-focused panel at the Regional Studies Association North American conference, which was held on June 16^th at the Historic Academy of Medicine in Midtown Atlanta. The conference was themed, “Cities and Regions: Managing Growth and Change”. Building on this theme, the panel centered the discussion on “Regional Collaboration for Effective Economic Development Manufacturing Strategies: IMCP Communities”.

IMCP is one of the White House Administration’s main programs to support job creation and accelerate manufacturing growth by transforming their industrial ecosystems into globally-competitive manufacturing hubs. Administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, IMCP does this by leveraging federal resources from across key government agencies with priority projects that IMCP communities identify for their key industry sectors.

IMCP Map

Map courtesy of the University of Southern California Center for Economic Development

All of the panelists who presented at the RSA session work directly with communities and regions in a collaborative capacity to enhance manufacturing ecosystems across six key areas:

1) workforce and training;
2) supplier networks;
3) research and innovation;
4) infrastructure and site development;
5) trade and international access; and
6) operational improvement and capital access.

This integrated approach has helped regions across the country identify gaps in the current manufacturing ecosystem, develop strategies to improve the climate for jobs and investment, and create strong and committed partnership networks to implement those strategies. Panelists shared their experiences – best practices, lessons learned, and practical advice – on how to build a strong manufacturing ecosystem and influence regional policy using collaboration and partnerships generated through the IMCP program.

Panelists for the session included:

Deepak Bahl, Program Director, USC Center for Economic Development and adjunct associate professor at the USC Price School of Public Policy. Deepak also helps manage the AMP SoCal IMCP.
Debra Franklin, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Wichita State University, WSU Ventures. Debbie also manages the South Kansas IMCP.
Erin Ketelle, Economic Development Program Manager at University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service, and TN’s DRIVE for the Future IMCP.
Julie Wenah, Counselor and Policy Advisor, U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration. Julie leads the White House National Economic Council initiative that currently supports 24 communities across the country, aka IMCP.

The panel was moderated by Leigh Hopkins with the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute’s Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR). Leigh also co-manages the Northwest Georgia IMCP with the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission for the 15-county northwest Georgia region.

The panelists tour ATDC during their Atlanta visit. From left to right: Leigh Hopkins, Julie Wenah, Erin Ketelle, Debra Franklin, Johanna Kaiser (ATDC) and Deepak Bahl.

The Regional Studies Association provides a platform for researchers to address the effects of policy, organizational, and institutional innovations and their impact on work, identity, governance, production networks, infrastructure investments, technology diffusion, and place. The annual North American conference was co-organized by Dr. Jennifer Clark with the Center for Urban Innovation at Georgia Tech. The conference focused on the regional policy implications of emerging forms of governance and policy delivery relative to uneven development and inequality of market liberalization, financialization, and global competition in an era of recovering financial markets. It also included a tour of Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a technology business incubator in the heart of Tech Square.

For questions, contact:
Leigh Hopkins, AICP
Phone: 404-894-0933 | Fax: 404-410-6910
Email: ude.hcetag.etavonninull@snikpoh.hgiel

Coweta County Workforce Analysis

Just a 30-minute drive south of downtown Atlanta, Coweta County’s location, available properties, and quality of life are attractive to companies looking to expand or relocate their operations. When deciding where to locate, companies also consider the availability of a skilled workforce as an important factor. Recognizing this importance, the Coweta County Development Authority, City of Newnan Business Development Department, and the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce launched a joint initiative to better understand the quality and quantity of Coweta County’s available workforce. As an initial step, the Coweta County Development Authority submitted a successful application to the Economic Development Research Program (EDRP) for an analysis of their workforce. The Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR) at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI²) assisted the Coweta County Development Authority by conducting research and analysis through the EDA University Center grant program.

CEDR’s analysis built a broad-based assessment of Coweta County and the surrounding community. This provided a framework to understand the region’s evolving demographics and economy. Using this framework, CEDR measured both supply and demand of the workforce, identified driver industries and their occupations, and took a more in-depth look at office and professional jobs.

Photo from the University of West Georgia, College of Business

Based upon the demographic and economic data analyzed, the supply and demand of workforce, and the occupational analysis, CEDR developed a list of next steps for the Coweta County Development Authority and its local partners to consider. These recommendations addressed four broad areas, including: 1) industry engagement; 2) developing a strategy to retain local workforce; 3) working with local educational institutions to track student placement data; and 4) confirming and/or refining target industries.

For project-related questions, contact:
Candice McKie
Phone: 404-385-2053| Fax: 404-410-6910
Email: ude.hcetag.etavonninull@eikcm.ecidnac

Fiscal Impact of the Proposed City of St. Simons/Sea Island on Glynn County, Georgia

This report examined the fiscal impact that the proposed City of St. Simons/Sea Island would have on Glynn County. The report answers several key questions not addressed by previous studies, including:

To what extent will the county loose revenues that currently fund countywide services?
To what extent will the county be able to reduce service costs due to the creation of the new city?
If lost revenues exceed lost expenses, how much of a millage rate increase will be needed to make up the difference.

The final report played a key role in informing decision makers about the complete fiscal impact of new city creation on ALL Glynn County taxpayers.

2016 EDA National Conference Report

Representatives from Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute descended upon Washington DC for the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) 2016 National Conference, April 7^th – 8^th. After an opening keynote by Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, Jay Williams, panel sessions that followed included the role of universities in economic development (a discussion on the EDA University Center program), scaling a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, and attracting young professionals to cities, and bridging the gap between economic development and workforce.

EDA-Summit-2016-v7-1

CEDR’s Leigh Hopkins presented on a panel that discussed “Partnerships that Drive Results in Advanced Manufacturing”. Representing the northwest Georgia region, Hopkins, along with panelists from EDA-designated Investing in Manufacturing Community Partnership (IMCP) communities from Maine, Minnesota, Connecticut, Oregon, and Pennsylvania described the challenges and lessons learned – from getting industry competitors around the same table to discuss issues important to their industry, making changes in technical education, elevating a traditional industry sector in the state, to organizing rural communities to apply for federal funding assistance. It was evident at the conference that EDA is focusing its efforts moving forward on creating regional partnerships, understanding best practices for innovation, and creating workforce development strategies for a new generation of workers in manufacturing and other key industries that will help companies fill the gap in their knowledge and talent pipelines, now and as the pool of retired workers swells in the next five to ten years.

For questions, contact:
Leigh Hopkins, AICP
Phone: 404-894-0933 | Fax: 404-410-6910
Email: ude.hcetag.etavonninull@snikpoh.hgiel

Forsyth County – Fiscal Impact of Sharon Springs

At the request of Forsyth County Board of Commissioners the Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR) at Georgia Tech examined the fiscal impact that the proposed City of Sharon Springs would have on Forsyth County. In 2015, House Bill 660 was introduced to provide for the incorporation of a significant portion of south Forsyth County into the City of Sharon Springs. By population, the proposed City of Sharon Springs would be the 17^th largest city in Georgia — falling just behind Valdosta, Smyrna, and Brookhaven — and would be nearly 10 times larger than Cumming, the only other city in Forsyth County and the county seat.

A report examining the fiscal feasibility of this new city was published in February 2015. While this report met the requirements of the rules set forth by the House of Representatives Governmental Affairs Committee of the Georgia General Assembly, there were many important questions that the Georgia General Assembly did not ask regarding the fiscal impact that the municipal incorporation of Sharon Springs would have on the county. For example, will the county lose revenues that currently fund services that will still need to be provided county-wide? If so, how much of a millage rate increase to ALL county residents will be needed to make up the difference? To what extent will the county be able to reduce service costs due to the creation of the city? How will capital expenditures be impacted if the new city does not collect the county impact fee? These are just a few of the questions that needed to be answered in order to get a complete picture of the true fiscal impact of creating Sharon Springs.

It turns out that the creation of the City of Sharon Springs would lower county operating revenue by approximately $6.2 million. The primary revenue losses would have been in alcohol licenses and excise taxes, business licenses and occupation tax, cable franchise fees, planning and zoning permits and fees, and insurance premium taxes. On the other side of the equation, the county would save nearly $770,000 in operating expenses in both code enforcement and the planning and development departments. These savings are primarily due to the reduction of 13-15 positions with the associated salaries, benefits, and other related expenses. Because the revenue loss is significantly more than the cost savings, the county would have been left with a revenue gap of approximately $5.4 million. Given the size of the Forsyth County net tax digest, it would require an additional 0.623 mills to recover that amount of revenue. That is equivalent to a property tax increase of 12.9 percent for ALL Forsyth County property owners.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Economic and Fiscal Impact Study

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Children’s) engaged the Center for Economic Development Research at Georgia Tech to assess their economic and fiscal impact on the State of Georgia. Children’s is the state’s 15^th largest employer, and ranks 20^th with respect to total payroll. Below is a quick summary of the economic and fiscal impact study.

The economic impact of Children’s represents the difference in the Georgia economy between having and not having Children’s. The focus here is on resources that would likely not exist in the state were it not for Children’s. This includes 1) resources that Children’s brings in from outside the state, and 2) resources that are already in Georgia, but would leave the state if Children’s did not exist. Obviously, many of the services provided by Children’s are available from other providers who would be able to fill in the gap left by Children’s. However, some services are not available from other providers, and some, though available, would not be able to capture all of the demand. A detailed analysis of the services Children’s provides and the alternative providers in Georgia allowed for an estimate of the extent to which Children’s patients would likely seek treatment outside of Georgia if Children’s did not exist. Based on the structure of the Georgia economy, the economic impact of Children’s is $1.5 billion in economic output across the state and the employment of nearly 12,300 people earning more than $700 million in wages, salaries, and benefits.

Fiscal impact analysis takes the above results and estimates how those levels of economic activity influence both the expenditures made by government and the revenues that will accrue to government. When state revenues exceed expenditures, the result is positive net revenue, which is analogous to what the private sector would call “profit.” Using a proprietary state fiscal impact model developed by the Center for Economic Development Research at Georgia Tech, it is estimated that the economic impact of Children’s generates about $75.6 million in revenue for the State of Georgia, and $37.5 million in new expenses. Therefore, the net fiscal impact of Children’s on the State of Georgia is a positive $38.1 million.

Investing in Manufacturing Communities in Northwest Georgia

The Center for Economic Development Research at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) continues to play a critical role in the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative in northwest Georgia.

Northwest Georgia is home to the largest concentration of floor covering manufacturers in the world, and boasts production of more than 70 percent of the world’s total floor covering output, valued at over $9 billion. In September 2013, EI2 and the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission (NWGRC) were awarded an $85,000 challenge grant through the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) IMCP initiative to develop a comprehensive strategy focused on advanced manufacturing in the floor covering industry in the 15-county northwest Georgia region.

IMCP is a White House administration-wide initiative that is designed to accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing and help cultivate an environment for businesses to create well-paying manufacturing jobs in regions across the country. IMCP supports the President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, launched in 2011, and is a critical component of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s “Open for Business Agenda,” which prioritizes trade and investment.

EI2 led the creation of an “Advanced Manufacturing Strategy” for the 15-county Northwest Georgia region, as well as the successful application to become an EDA-designated Manufacturing Community during EDA’s first round of designations in 2014. Since 2014, EI2 has continued to provide implementation services under the Manufacturing Community designation in partnership with the NWGRC that have led to such notable results including the creation of an Advanced Manufacturing Academy at the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy (part of the Technical College System of Georgia), selection into the Aspen Institute’s “Communities That Work Partnership” workforce development program, a statewide apprenticeship program with the U.S. Department of Labor, a new regional inland port in Murray County with the Georgia Ports Authority, a post-consumer carpet recycling technology pilot program in Dalton, and a veteran’s hiring program for transitioning military through Georgia Tech’s VET2 program.

Visit the initiative’s website: www.floor360.org.

For more information, contact:

Leigh Hopkins, AICP
Sr. Project Manager
ude.hcetagnull@snikpoh.hgiel
404-894-0933

Center for Economic Development Research

Category: Projects