Monday, December 19, 2011

Governor Annouces New Regional Strategic Plans for Economic Development

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty today announced on Friday December 16th the release of nine regional strategic plans outlining how ECD’s field staff will lead new economic development efforts in their regions, support existing networks of local organizations and serve as an effective conduit between the department and regional stakeholders. The plans can be viewed at http://tn.gov/ecd/.

Gov. Haslam’s Jobs4TN economic development plan, announced earlier this year, decentralized ECD and established nine jobs base camps throughout the state. Jobs base camp regional directors and their staffs created the strategic plans through a variety of outreach efforts, stakeholder meetings and consensus building activities.

“Jobs4TN was designed to take a more regional approach to job creation so we can better understand and serve the needs of each region,” Haslam said. “The strategic plans will be a guide for economic development growth as we continue working to become the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs.”

“With assets varying greatly throughout Tennessee, it is important that we address each region’s strengths and challenges individually, and the strategic plans help us do just that,” Hagerty said. “Working with our local partners, we were able to develop plans specifically tailored to the needs of our nine regions.”

Each strategic plan is unique to its region yet common themes emerged, including enhancing communication amongst economic development partners, sharing best practices, reaching out to existing businesses and partnering with area stakeholders. The plans will continue to be reviewed and revisited with local partners on a regular basis.

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