In my last blog I talked about the need for EDO’s to be “pushing the envelope” with new, bold, visionary ideas.  If you keep up with national economic development news, you are well aware that the state of Oklahoma declined less and recovered faster than others.  We believe this is due, at least in part, to the work of two cutting-edge metro Chambers in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. 

Today, RDG Principal Clint Nessmith talks specifically about his experience with one of the highlighted initiatives from our last blog, Forward Oklahoma City and the Chamber’s MAPS programs.  Next week, RDG Partner Curt Reph will discuss his experience with Tulsa’s Future and the Tulsa Chamber………………….

Oklahoma MSA’s Set For Economic Success

The oil bust and the S&L Crisis of the 1980’s hit Oklahoma City hard.  Downtown Oklahoma City had become undesirable and the city was losing out on landing major employers.  Leadership realized something had to be done to change the city’s fortunes and in 1993 they placed the future of the city in voters’ hands when they proposed a temporary 1 cent sales tax, known as Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS), for the purpose of undertaking capital projects to improve the city and its quality of life.  The new funding would pay for renovations to the Convention Center, Civic Center Music Hall and the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds as well as construction of the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark, the mile-long Bricktown Canal, the Ford Center, the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library, the Oklahoma Spirit trolley system, and transform a section of The Oklahoma River into river lakes with trails and recreational facilities.  A key element of MAPS was, and still is, that ground would not be broken on a project until all the funds to pay for the project had been collected.  Therefore no debt would be incurred!

The campaign was a success and the results have been impressive.  Since the initial approval of MAPS, two additional MAPS campaigns have been passed extending the 1 cent sales tax to pay for new capital projects.  The most recent passage was in 2009 and will fund a whole new array of projects sure to take Oklahoma City’s quality of life to the next level.

Forward Oklahoma City (FOKC), was founded shortly after the first MAPS campaign and is the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber’s private/public funded economic and community development initiative for the 10 counties that comprise the Oklahoma City MSA.  Since its inception, Forward Oklahoma City has completed three full five year cycles.  The current five year funding cycle, which runs from 2011 through 2015, offers an updated program of work that includes an enhanced focus on growing existing companies and industries, including entrepreneurial support and development.  Additionally, they will continue to promote Oklahoma City to the world and market to attract new industry with a focus on their targeted industry sectors.  They will also enhance their public policy efforts and workforce development initiatives.  Lastly, and I believe that this is what makes the plan so powerful, Forward Oklahoma City will continue to set aside funds earmarked for financing and managing planned campaigns, as they did with the last two MAPS campaigns, as well as voter referendums to capitalize on opportunities or that impact the local or state business climate.

Here’s the point: the outcomes of setting aside FOKC funding for voter referendums has been staggering, and it has ensured that the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber is always at the table with both private and public sector leadership.  Even more important, the Chamber has become a driving force in improving the quality of life in Greater Oklahoma City, which assists greatly in their on-going efforts to facilitate the creation of new jobs and capital investment in the region.

You can find a lot more detail about MAPS and the Forward Oklahoma City initiative by visiting www.okcchamber.com and www.okc.gov/maps3/ but I want to share a few additional examples here of some of their successes:

-Successful passage of MAPS for Kids which will result in $700 million being generated to fund hundreds of construction, transportation and technology projects all for the benefit of Oklahoma City’s public school students.  Projects are scheduled to be completed this year.

-Successful passage of MAPS 3 which is estimated to generate $777 million for a new downtown 70 acre park, a modern streetcar, new convention center, sidewalks on major streets, bicycle and walking trails, a whitewater kayaking facility on the Oklahoma River,  health and wellness aquatic centers for senior citizens and improvements to the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.

-Obtained voter approval for Oklahoma County to buy a shuttered GM plant for $55 million for the purpose of leasing the facility to nearby Tinker Air Force Base, which has allowed the base to expand its operations.

-Successful passage of a Hotel/Motel tax to fund equine facility improvements and event support.

Successful passage of these, and other, referendums has transformed Oklahoma City.  More importantly, MAPS has stood the test of time by bearing tangible results.  Just imagine the community impact your organization could have by adopting a similar strategy.

I would not call myself a political junkie by any stretch but since I did major in Political Science and spent four years early in my career working in the Ohio legislature I would say I am a student of politics.  Even so, I find the early start to Presidential elections annoying to the point of irritation.  So much so that I have purposely avoided all of the debates under the premise that all but one of the Republican candidates will be gone by the time my vote means anything.

Hence, it was a bit ironic that I found myself listening to the final Republican debate in South Carolina the other night as I made the five hour drive from my home in Columbus, Ohio to our client in Evansville, Indiana ……………  I was making the drive to avoid yet another airline nightmare through Chicago O’hare!  I found myself thinking about the application of electoral political strategies to economic development.

Later that night while channel surfing I stumbled upon yet another thought provoker — C-Span’s 2012: THE PATH TO THE PRESIDENCY, a panel discussion that included Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, New York Times Columnist David Brooks, MSNBC Commentator Rachel Maddow, and Republican strategist Alex Castellanos moderated by ABC-News’ George Stephanopoulos. Absolutely fascinating discussion and truly great theater!  While watching these campaign management experts discuss and debate the current election activities the connection between this year’s election and the future of economic development suddenly hit me:  it’s about vision!  I know, I know …………  who didn’t know that?

Here’s what the “experts” were saying — America is at a tipping point where for the first time in our history adult voters aren’t sure the future will be better for their kids than it was for them.  That’s a big deal because that simple statement contains all of the fears, frustrations and concerns about the future.  There also seems to be growing recognition that while our leaders can’t seem to put their finger on the required solutions to our current problems, the one thing that seems to be very apparent is the solutions of the past aren’t enough for the challenges of the future.  Ergo, the candidate who will win, at least according to the prognosticators, is the candidate who can most effectively “wrap” their platform around a cogent, succinct and compelling vision of a “new America”.  An America that emerges from the global recession stronger, more prosperous but clearly different than it was in the past.

So what does all of this have to do with Economic Development?  One thing we have seen over the past 36 months is if your plan is to keep doing the same things you have been doing you’re in trouble!  Funders simply aren’t “buying” that approach anymore.  The programs we see taking big jumps in funding are regions that have embraced visionary, aspirational forward-thinking game plans that are fundamentally different from what they have done in the past.  These organizations are not allowing tighter corporate budgets, dwindling government dollars and continued “fear of the economy” to hold them back from pursuing enhanced programming that focuses on new ideas and strategies for tackling job creation and economic investment.

As they say: “out with the old, in with the new”.  Leaders gravitate to “big” ideas and it’s up to you, as the leader for growing the economy in your respective region to promote the new “big, hairy, audacious goal”!

Bottom line:  don’t be afraid to think differently and think big — it’s the wave of the future and it may be the ONLY way to survive and prosper in the new economy.

Following are links to just a few of the great, new ideas some of our clients are pursuing.  There are many others for sure.  Enjoy 2012 and don’t be afraid to think big!

www.workthisway.org/

www.okc.gov/maps3/

www.typros.org

www.dallaschamber.org/index.aspx?id=strategicplan

www.southwestindiana.org/sites/default/files/au/EDC%20Blueprint%20Executive%20Summary%2020011-08-31.pdf

www.columbusregion.com/economic-strategy

About two months ago I had the opportunity to sit on a panel at the IEDC Annual Conference in Charlotte with Ted Lyman, Managing Director of IHS Economic Strategy Solutions and Howard Benson, Founder of National Community Development Services. Our subject was titled “Getting Creative:  New Avenues for Fundraising”.  I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the audience participants.  It was a late day Monday session on what turned out to be a gorgeous fall day in the Southeast.  Golf and the outdoor bar certainly struck me as two viable alternatives!

In retrospect I can say I was pleasantly surprised by the level of attendance and participation and even a bit over-whelmed by the desire of our industry to learn new ways to resource economic development operations.  Over 100 professionals participated in this session, ably moderated by Maurice Ewing of the Union County (NC) Partnership.  My description of the session would be informative (biased opinion not-withstanding!), lively, highly inter-active and incomplete.  For me, I had two key takeaways:  first, we all say it but our industry is TRULY in a state of transition when it comes to funding basic operations.  Our history is one of heavy government involvement AND funding and while the former hasn’t changed, the latter is changing rapidly and dramatically.  Second, practitioners have a seemingly insatiable desire for answers!  I would not call it panic, but I do believe “urgent” would be accurate.  Finally, I felt the session was incomplete because both the audience and the panelists (at least this one) left with as many questions as answers………… and that’s OK as far as I’m concerned.

It seems to me that when living every day in a state of rapid transition and change as we are when it comes to funding economic development operations, “experts” must always strike the balance between “knowing all of the answers” and always seeking new and better ways to resource programs.  Personally, I have seen more change in our industry in the past three years than I did for the first twenty in which I was involved.  I suspect that trajectory is going to continue.

There are many great models of public-private and all-private economic development partnerships.  Moreover, there are also great examples of new and innovate methods of tackling short term financial challenges while building long-term sustainable funding.   We will be highlighting some in the coming weeks and months in this blog.  One point I made at the session and something important to keep in mind, however, is that there are no gimmicks!  Sustainable funding is serious business and you don’t develop it by using gimmicks and tricks.  In short, there is no “silver bullet”.  Rather, the art of building a sustainable funding stream is all about the science of creating a strong, value added organization.  At least that’s our view at RDG.

See the links below for the Power Point slide decks used by each of the panelists at the session.  Thanks to Howard and Ted for making these available:

Getting Creative – Rob Radcliff, RDG

Getting Creative – Howard Benson, NCDS

Getting Creative – Ted Lyman, IHS

Welcome to our new website as well as RDG’s first ever blog post.  We’re excited to offer you a peek into our company.  Here’s what we hope to do with this blog:

•Introduce you to some of the “personality” of RDG, which you can also see by perusing the website;

•Highlight our Partners and some of their respective work with economic development organizations throughout the USA;

•Highlight innovative programs and activities of client organizations; and,

•Discuss trends we see in the economic development industry.

Here’s what we WON’T do — advertise RDG; talk about all the great things we do; try to “sell” our services through a blog post.  I hate that and I bet you do too!  Frankly, if you can’t pick those things up from our website and by talking with our clients than we have a problem anyway!

Pretty painless, wouldn’t you say?  Look for a new post about once every couple of weeks but in the meantime, take a look at the new website.  We’re pretty proud of it!