Entire Fall 2022 issue


ArtSpark: Individual Artist Funding Program

by Mandi D. Mitchell, CEcD; Samuel Oliver; Gwen Richard; and Stacey Zawacki 
Building on a rich cultural and artistic heritage, the Lafayette Economic Development Authority collaborated with the Acadiana Center for the Arts and the Opportunity Machine to develop ArtSpark, an artist funding program that provides financial support to complete a new work of art in conjunction with entrepreneurship and business development education for awardees. ArtSpark won a Gold Award from IEDC in the category of Entrepreneurship.

When Demand Overtakes Supply: Human Capital in Ponca City, Oklahoma

by Liz Leaming, CEcD
Ponca Works has been the workforce development program of Ponca City Development Authority since 2014. Programming to recruit, retain, and grow a workforce won Ponca City Development Authority two IEDC Gold Awards in 2022 within the Talent Development and Retention and Partnerships with Education categories.

How Arlington, VA, Is Helping Small Businesses ReLaunch Post-Pandemic: ReLaunch, ReVitalize and ReNew

by Tara Palacios and Cara O’Donnell
Unique program helps small businesses adapt to new customer needs with technology and marketing assistance and comes home with IEDC’s Gold Award for Resiliency, Recovery and Mitigation.

Using Multi-Media as a Showcasing Tool in Economic Development: Changing a Narrative by Promoting an Often Misunderstood Region

by Will Warren, CEcD, EDP
This article describes how multi-media is an effective tool in economic development to highlight, promote, and demonstrate the assets of a community. The three sections of the article describe the different forms of multi-media and how each are utilized.

Let’s Recognize and Leverage the Opportunities the Covid Crisis Has Given Our Downtowns: Some Examples

by N. David Milder
Since the early stages of the Covid 19 crisis, our downtowns have been pictured in the media to be either in serious decline or on the verge of failure. While there have been strong analyses that refute such arguments, there has been little recognition of the fact that a robust crisis can not only be destructive and create serious problems, but also new or expanded opportunities for our large downtowns to grow and prosper. These growth opportunities also are appearing robustly in many suburban downtowns.

Turning the Tide: Tampa Bay Regional Efforts to Improve Resilience for Competitiveness

by Dave Sobush, CEcD, and Christopher “Beau” Giles
This article tells a story of how a relatively small economic development organization, the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce, reviewed and implemented policy recommendations from a regional business leadership organization, the Tampa Bay Partnership, to better prepare small businesses from natural disasters to ultimately increase regional competitiveness.