City and County Must Work Together for Economic Development

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Governor’s Conference on Economic Development in Nashville. It was a very exciting conference and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TN-ECD) unveiled a series of new programs in order to help Tennessee communities and counties. Some were simply technical assistance while others were lucrative grant programs.

There are three big programs I want to discuss. The first is the Drive to 55 program. This program is a part of TN-ECD and the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and is associated with programs such at Tennessee Promise, Tennessee Reconnect, and Tennessee LEAP. The overarching goal of this program is the large need for the Tennessee workforce to attain higher levels of education either in the form of college or job certifications. The point of this program is that by 2025 it is estimated 50 percent of the workforce must have some type of college or vocational training in order to be an attractive place for businesses to locate. For ages 25+ years, Carter County currently stands at 41 percent so over the next ten years we need to increase this number to 50 or preferably 55.

Another program is the Main Street program. This is a popular program used around the nation with the purpose of helping small businesses on “Main Street” in every community prosper. This program was originally started to help communities revitalize their downtowns and served as a model to help make downtowns a destination and attractive in a community. The model and techniques used have proven to be highly successful in a range of communities. This program also comes with additional grant funding opportunities. Elizabethton does not currently participate in the Main Street program, but city staff have encouraged Main Street program guidelines to various downtown organizations.

The last program for today is the Select Tennessee program. This program helps counties in Tennessee identify and prepare properties prime for industrial development. These properties must then be provided with utilities, have environmental studies completed, be provided with transportation options, and owned or optioned by a governmental entity. The state will then certify such a site and help market the site to potential industries. Grant funding can also be provided to counties wishing to help pay for these expensive process.

This is just a glimpse of the programs the state has to help and encourage cities and counties in the state. The key, though, is that we must work together to accomplish these things. Many are expensive or require a combined effort at the state level. The city cannot do it without the county, and the county cannot do it without the city, but together we can make our county economy better. Let’s talk about it!