Hidden assets sample and script

Editor's Notes

• #2: In most communities, if you ask leaders to identify their significant and unique economic and community development “assets” they will might come up with things like the available square footage of industrial space or maybe their cheap labor, land, and utilizes, or even low taxes. These may certainly be significant but are they unique? Do they set one community apart from another? There is another set of assets that are not usually so apparent and some of these “hidden” assets are what I would like to talk about today. Instructor’s Script Draft – November 9, 2011
• #3: In our time together today I hope we will all learn more about our community’s assets for economic and community development, learn from examples of other communities, and consider how we might be able to leverage the unique assets in this community to help grow our economy and enhance the quality of life for all the people who live here. Instructor’s Script Draft – November 9, 2011
• #4: Indiana’s economic history is really a story of how our previous generations took advantage of our great state’s assets. Like much of the Ohio Valley we are blessed to have some of the best soils in the world and agriculture helped make Indiana what it is today. We were able to easily export our grains because of waterway assets like Lake Michigan and the Ohio River. Soon our shipping infrastructure created the opportunity for the production and movement of the steel that would help build much of America during the industrial boom. A few decades later Indiana found itself at the crossroads of the federal highway system opening up even more opportunities. If you think back to the history of our own community, what were some of the economic assets that have helped us grow over the last two centuries? Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #5: As we look toward the future we envision a very different set of opportunities for the next generation. Most of the members of this next generation will not be working on the farm, in steel mills, or even in auto parts plants. Although these are still vibrant industries in Indiana, gains in productivity mean that we just don’t need the same number of people in these jobs that we once did. The formula for economic growth has not changed. We still have to build on our assets but a new set of assets has come into play. The successful communities of tomorrow will be the ones that focus on (1) building world-class brainpower, (2) translating that brainpower into innovation and entrepreneurship, (3) creating and telling new stories about our communities, (4) making our communities quality connected places where new ideas can flourish, and (5) finding new ways to collaborate with one another. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #6: Think of these five asset areas as networks – groups of people, organizations, and institutions working together to grow their economy and ensure a great quality of life for their all their residents. A network approach is needed because other organizational structures don’t really work very well in communities. We don’t have a true community hierarchy. Nobody’s in charge and nobody can really tell anybody else what to do. Who’s “in charge” of brainpower, for instance, the school superintendent? The school board? No, it takes a network of people all working toward a common goal to build world-class talent. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #7: Focusing on assets is a glass-half-full approach. It does not really do us much good to spend too much time thinking about what we DO NOT have. Investing our energies in understanding our unique assets and how we can leverage them, on the other hand, is time well spent. There are lots of assets we need to consider as we think about economic and community development but let’s start the conversation by looking at a seven assets that you may not have even considered in the past. We will begin with an asset that helps identify some of the talent that resides in our workforce and our capacity for innovation. Next we’ll take a look at our fastest growing businesses and our most vibrant industries. We’ll see if we can identify the stories that are emerging about our community and examine the new infrastructure necessary to move information and ideas. Last we’ll consider our capacity to invest in our civic economy, the networks and collaborations that support and sustain our private-sector economy. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #8: One of the ways we can measure the Talent of Our People is to look at something called “Occupation Clusters.” These can be a “hidden” asset because not all of these workers may work for the businesses you might expect. For instance, a community might find that they have an Information Technology-related occupational cluster without having any businesses that would be considered IT firms. This could occur because these IT works are embedded in other industries like the hospital, the schools, the IT staff at a manufacturing firm. The Purdue Center for Regional Development, along with Indiana University and other partners, has developed a set of tools that helps us look at 21 different basic Occupational Clusters to see within which ones, if any, we have a high concentration. Having this information can be useful in developing strategies to leverage these occupational assets to grow our economy. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #9: Here is an example of how one community used occupational clusters to develop a strategy to to encourage new business formation. This small community had no IT firms but after looking at occupational cluster data they learned that they did have some IT workers working in non-IT businesses. Upon learning this information, the Chamber of Commerce decided to start hosting “Tech Tuesday” lunch programs to which the community’s IT professionals were invited. The Chamber provide lunch, brought in speakers, and created the opportunity for these people to get to know one another. As relationships fostered, some new ideas were born. Two people realized they share a love for fantasy baseball and decided to create a new venture to develop a fantasy baseball smartphone app. They worked nights and weekends for several months and launched their product on the iTunes App Store. Sales grew steadily and they decide to create an LLC to develop additional apps. The are keeping their day jobs for now but hired three people to do the programming work. They also leased and renovated an office space downtown. Now the community really DOES have an IT company. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #10: So let’s take a look at some Occupational Data for our own community. Here are the six Occupational Clusters in our community with the highest Location Quotient (LQ). This means that our community has a higher concentration of these occupations than does the US. For instance our LQ for Arts, Entertainment, Publishing, and Broadcasting is 39% higher than the US. We can also see the LQ for the state and the region. We have 960 people in this cluster, which represents a greater concentration than the US, the state of Indiana, and our region. Our LQ for Agribusiness is also very high with 653 workers in this cluster, a little higher than the state LQ but significantly higher than the region. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #11: For each of these clusters we can get more detailed information. Here, for instance, are the specific occupations that make up the Arts, Entertainment, Publishing, & Broadcasting Cluster. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #12: Looking at this sort of data should cause us to consider some questions: (1) Does this information give us any new insights or reveal something we didn’t know before (2) What are the possible explanations for why we have these strong concentrations? (3) Do we need to find out more information? Your mind may already be jumping to possible strategic initiatives that could help build on these assets but hold onto those ideas until we consider the other assets. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #13: Another asset related to the talent of our people is the capacity to translate talent into innovations: new products, services, processes, and business models that find their way into the marketplace in the form of new ventures and in the growth of existing businesses. The Purdue Center for Regional Development, along with Indiana University and other partners, has created an Innovation Index that is made up of 23 different factors that contribute to innovation. These factors include some items you might expect like patents but other data as well. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #14: Something called “economic churn” is one of the factors in the Innovation Index and here is a story about one urban county that ranked high on economic churn and they decided to look at that as an asset. Economic churn is the rate at which new business are born and then die. That may not sound like much of an “asset” but actually a high-rate of churn is usually a good sign, when accompanied by other factors. Even places like Silicon Valley have high rates of churn. Leaders in this community interpreted churn to mean that their entrepreneurs and small business owners don’t give up easily. When one business fails they jump right into a new one. They decided to pilot a program to add two additional Small Business Development Center Business Counselors and locate them in community centers. It was not long before entrepreneurship workshops were taking place and local business owners were getting much-needed technical assistance. Before long, more businesses began to make it beyond the start-up phase and some of the other factors of the Innovation Index began to rise. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #15: Now here’s a look at the overall Innovation Index shows that our community is not quite as innovative as the nation, the state, or our region but since we are focusing on our assets, we can take a deeper look at those 23 sub factors and see where our innovation strengths are. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #16: Looking at the sub factors, our community is doing well on many of them. Here are some of those. Look, for instance at the chart in the lower left hand corner. This is the Average Net Internal Migration from 2000-2009. In a time when population growth has been flat in the US and actually declined in the State of Indiana, it has grown pretty well in our region, but grown significantly in our community. This indicates that our community is attractive to job seekers and families, a key ingredient for innovation to occur. The chart in the lower right shows the Change in Average Proprietors’ Income from 1997-2008. This means that our community is a great place to be a business owner, with income growing nearly twice the rate as the region and over twice the rate of the State. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #17: Looking at this sort of data should cause us to consider some questions: (1) Does this information give us any new insights or reveal something we didn’t know before (2) Which of the strong factors jumped out at you? (3) Do we need to find out more information? Be thinking about what you learned regarding our community’s capacity for innovation and we will discuss it soon. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #18: Another asset related to innovation and entrepreneurship can be found in our community’s 2 nd Stage Companies. We’ve just recently learned that these companies contribute significantly to our economic growth and they are typically not on our radar screen when it comes to economic development programs that can assist them. To understand what help they need to grow, we need to better understand some of the distinctive characteristics of these 2 nd -Stage Companies. We say that they are in their “second” stage because they are beyond their initial, or start-up stage. For some the first stage may have been just recently but others have been in this second stage for a long time. Some of what these businesses have in common is that they are typically privately held, have fewer than 100 employees but more than ten, have annual revenues of $750,000 to $10 million. They want to grow, have the capacity to grow, and are dealing with growth-related issues. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #19: There are three key areas in which many 2 nd stage companies need some assistance and a growing number of communities and economic development organizations are launching programs to provide them with these things. Most of these businesses started out with a niche business rather than a commodity business. In other words, they provide a service or product that is of high value and being the lowest-cost provider of their product or service was not as important to their success as was having a niche. They also have a need for good market intelligence, information that is hard to find, expensive to get, or both. Larger firms usually have in-house market research functions but these second stage firms are just not big enough to have that capacity. They also often are dealing with issues related to their top management team. Sometimes executives have been taken on roles for which they might not be well suited.
• #20: Littleton, CO had been providing these services to their Second Stage Companies for over 20 years and use the term “Economic Gardening” to describe their work. The success in Littleton has been so significant that they no longer do any industrial recruiting, focusing all their attention on helping their existing businesses grow. As you can see they have experienced significant growth that outpaces both the state of Colorado as well as their own region. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #21: Here is some data on the businesses in our community broken down into the four stages. You will notice that in terms of percentages of all businesses, 2 nd Stage firms make up just 6.6% of our total number of businesses but 34.5% of total employment and nearly 40 percent of our jobs come from Stage 1 companies. In many communities the Stage 3 and 4 firms get most of the attention yet these smaller firms are really what keeps our local economy vibrant. Some communities are turning to programs like economic gardening to help these companies grow even faster. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #22: What are we doing in our community to help our 2 nd Stage companies? Do we have any programs in place? There are two statewide programs that are specifically designed for 2 nd Stage Companies. One is the “Companies to Watch” program which is an annual nomination and recognition of Indiana’s 2 nd Stage companies. Businesses that are designated as a “Company to Watch” get significant visibility that can lead to the possibilities of new capital and new customers. Another is the Indiana Business Growth Network which works with local economic development organizations to bring economic gardening and other business-growth resources to their community’s 2 nd Stage companies. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #23: Another hidden asset to consider are industry clusters, or collections of business that are similar or that have something else in common like being part of the same supply chain. Some industry clusters occur in a birds of a feather sort of way. You can see this at our highway interchanges. There is usually not just one fast-food restaurant but several. They flock together because they share similar needs – interstate access, a steady group of customers needing something fast and inexpensive to eat. Other clusters are based on a anchor asset and then nurtured along by supportive legislation, a pipeline of skilled workers from universities, and other supportive factors. The Indiana life sciences cluster is an example of that. Building on the presence of the Eli Lilly Company, BioCrossroads was formed to guide investment in and support for the life sciences cluster in Indiana. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #24: Another interesting example of an industry cluster can be found in Appalachian Ohio where a significant concentration of salsa producers has emerged. In this very distressed area, economic developers looked to the area’s tomato farmers to see how they could build on that asset. Today the region is home to more than 20 boutique salsa makers. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #25: So lets look at some Industry Cluster data for our own community. Here are the ten clusters with the highest Location Quotient (LQ). Location Quotient is the same measurement we used to look at occupation clusters. This means that our community has a higher concentration of firms in these clusters than does the US. For instance our LQ for Electronic Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing is almost four times higher than the US and over 400% larger than the Indianapolis region. We can also see the LQ for the state and the region. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #26: For each of these clusters we can get more detailed information. Here, for instance, is additional information about the types of businesses that make up the Electronic Equipment, Appliance, & Component Manufacturing cluster. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #27: Looking at this sort of data should cause us to consider some questions: (1) Does this information give us any new insights or reveal something we didn’t know before (2) What are the possible explanations for why we have these strong concentrations? (3) Do we need to find out more information? Your mind may already be jumping to possible strategic initiatives that could help build on these assets but hold onto those ideas until we consider the other assets. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #28: The next asset area to consider is New Narratives. Every community has an existing narrative, or a story or set of stories that affect how people who live there feel about their community and how outsiders think about the community. These stories emerge and evolve over time. They can be positive or they can be negative. Some community leaders are starting to pay attention to this narrative and working hard to shape it. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #29: It was not too long ago that creating stories about communities was left to the professionals: TV, newspapers, radio, public relations firms. Social media has changed all that. Progressive economic developers and other community leaders are using all of these tools, both the traditional ones and the new ones, to shape the narrative about their communities. Perhaps, even more powerful, however, is the narrative that is being created organically through Facebook status updates by the people in our community, by the Tweets of those passing through, and by the YouTube videos being posted by our young people and others. All of this “chatter” adds up to a story that is shaping who we perceive ourselves to be and how others outside our community see us as well. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #30: Nic Adler was born in 1973, the same year his dad opened The Roxy, it soon became one of THE places to be in LA nightlife. Other nightclubs and concert venues saw success on the Sunset Strip as well. A few years ago, however, the neighborhood had declined and so had the number of people showing up at The Roxy and the other places on the strip. When Nic took over for his dad he began using social media tools like Twitter to communicate directly with a small group of Roxy devotees. As the number of Twitter followers grew so did the crowd at the club. Then Nic did something very counter-intuitive. A couple of the other clubs had also begun using Twitter and Nic sent a message to his followers inviting them to also become followers of his competitors. Almost immediately, the Twitter buzz began and soon all the clubs were busy and the neighborhood began to be transformed. Nic’s strategy worked because he gained even more followers and now has over 75,000. His club is now the anchor of a growing “cluster” of vibrant nightclubs in West Hollywood. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #31: We may or may not have something as “Twitter worthy” as an historic nightclub in our community but people out there are having conversations about what’s going on locally. Here are a few Tweets from June 2011 along with a couple of photographs that a couple of people included. What story is this telling? There is also a way new way to get a check on the attitudes association with our community by searching Twitter for the name of your community PLUS the little smile and frown emoticons, those sideways faces people make using colons or semicolons for the eyes and either the right parentheses for a smile and the left or a frown. I am happy to report that there were not frowning tweets and several smiling tweets. Of course this is just a one-time snapshot of a few people who happen to be Twitter users but companies are starting to pay attention to this sort of data to monitor the buzz about their products. Maybe more communities should be paying attention as well. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #32: Connections have always been important in community and economic development and the public sector has done a great job of building our connections infrastructure. Rural electrifications connected farmers and other rural residents to the grid. The railroad helped tame the wild west. The interstate highway system allowed people and goods to move faster from one community to another. Today communities extend water, sewer, and other services to spur economic development. This sort of infrastructure remains important for economic and community development but another type of infrastructure is becoming just as important. Sidewalks, trails, and bike lanes are becoming less of an amenity and more of a an expectation for an increasing portion of the US population. Civic spaces and Third places are vital for people to connect socially. Civic spaces are where the community can come together to have crucial conversations and “third places” is a term coined by urban sociologist Ray Olenburg to describe the places besides home and work where we can connect socially. A local coffee shop can serve as a great third place. Another vital aspect of the quality connected community is broadband and wifi. Today’s economy is as much about moving ideas and information as it is moving goods and services and communities without accessible broadband has a sever disadvantage. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #33: Several recent studies have demonstrated that broadband has an impact on both population and economic growth and specific industry sectors are even more dependent on it. It can be concluded that competition is good. The more providers the greater the penetration and business with high-speed internet make more money. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #34: Regional leaders in Northeastern Pennsylvania came up with a strategy for economic growth that would not be possible without the capacity for moving large amounts of data instantaneously. In the aftermath of 9/11 this rural region positioned themselves as “Wall Street West,” a place for data backup services for New York City’s financial sector. They found that they had the unique advantage of being far enough away from NYC so that a human or natural disaster hitting New York would not likely also hit them yet close enough for people to get back and forth from the two areas. They invested in fiber optic infrastructure for not just their region but to connect them to NYC. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #35: So how does our community stack up in terms of our broadband assets? Actually pretty well. Our number of available providers is high and remember that has a positive affect on both population and economic growth. Our speed of connection is near the top third of the state but not as high as it could be. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #36: The last of the five asset networks has to do with the ways in which the organizations and institutions work together to get things done and to support the private-sector economy. Most of us are familiar with terms like cooperation and collaboration but may not realize that there are a number or ways in which these organizational relationships can be created and that collectively they make up the “civic economy” that supports economic and community development. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #37: One way to think about the various types of civic infrastructure is in a continuum. At the most basic level organizations can begin by becoming mutually aware of one another. For instance, in a community there could be two churches that both have programs to address hunger issues and it is not until two members meet one another and learn that they each have a program. That is mutual awareness. When representatives from each church begin to exchange details about the history and focus of their programs, this sharing of information starts the exploration process. The next step in their relationship may be in sharing some resources. Perhaps one of the programs has run out of space to store nonperishable foods and the other has excess space. Cooperation occurs when they begin sharing the space and sharing in the cost of the rent for the space. Collaboration occurs when they begin to co-execute together. For instance, both programs had been thinking about having some sort of awareness event and they decide to jointly host a “hunger summit” in the community. The highest level on this continuum is co-creation. This is when, by virtue of getting to know one another, two organizations create something brand new that neither could have conceived of and executed without the other. In our example co-creation might occur after the two organizations have had a history together. Perhaps one of the programs focuses primarily on school-age children and the other on feeding senior citizens. Together they create a brand new intergenerational program. Back when the two individuals first met it would have been impossible to come up with that new idea, agree on roles, and then pull it off successfully. It took some time to make sure turf issues didn’t sideswipe the organization and for a sense of trust to develop. A vibrant civic economy has solid civic infrastructure with high levels of trust and innovation. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #38: Civic collaboration occurs when people begin acting like civic entrepreneurs but even civic entrepreneurs need some capital to get their ideas off the ground. The federal government is beginning to think in this way, issuing grant solicitations that must be responded to collaboratively by multiple partners. Successful communities are beginning to invest in civic infrastructure just like they do in physical infrastructure. Organizations like United Way are setting aside some of their resources to fund collaborations rather than just single agencies and some communities are investing in their civic economy using the final hidden asset. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #39: This hidden asset is a community’s capacity for philanthropic giving and specifically its potential “transfer of wealth.” A report issued in 2010 found that $41 trillion will transfer from one generation to the next over the course of about 50 years. The report also found that most of that wealth will leave rural communities because few of the next generation lives there. Take this example of the Smiths. The Smiths have lived in rural Boone County their entire lives and have been tremendous stewards of the community. They have three grown children one of whom lives in nearby Indianapolis and the others on the West Coast. When they pass on their wealth, unless they have made other arrangements, it will leave Boone County forever. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #40: Our community has a significant amount of wealth that will transfer during this timeframe as well. If you follow the formula you will see that it is estimated to be about $1.7 billion over the next 20 years. If just 5% of that was captured in a fund to support civic collaborations to address community issues it would amount to $15.6 million each year in perpetuity. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #41: This is a potential asset for civic investment that is so new there are not many best practices emerging yet but a number of communities are launching campaigns to educate potential donors about the opportunity to invest in the future of their community. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #42: So far today we’ve discussed seven assets for economic and community development. Merely identifying assets, however, is just the first step. The real power comes in combining assets in new and innovative ways. We call this linking and leveraging. One of these asset, in and of itself has value been but when it gets combined with another valuable asset something entirely new can be created that has exponentially more value than either of the single assets alone. Like on the Periodic Table of Elements combining the right amounts of hydrogen and oxygen creates water. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #43: Here is an example of how assets were leveraged in the tiny town of Medora, Indiana. A small group of people got together in Medora to talk about how they could grow their economy. Among the small group was (1) someone who operated a small foundation for children with craniofacial anomalies, (2) someone who had recently visited the National Cornbread Festival in Tennessee, and (4) a maple syrup farmer. Through their conversations this eclectic group of assets began to take shape into something brand new. Today Medora, IN is home to the not just a maple syrup festival but the National Maple Syrup Festival, attracting thousands of visitors and backed financially by national sponsors like King Arthur Flour. Proceeds from the event support the foundation, and the syrup farmer now sells his syrup to high-end chefs and consumers in Chicago and beyond. None of this could have occurred without linking and leveraging their unique assets. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #44: Here is another link-and-leverage success story. A group of community leaders in North Central Indiana were discussing the need to get more high school students interested in manufacturing careers. The region’s manufacturers had good jobs available that were going unfilled. One person at the meeting made a passing comment that most of the young people she knew were only interested in playing Guitar Hero. That triggered someone else to think about a Purdue professor who runs a sort of fantasy camp for adult guitar enthusiasts, helping them make their own guitar. The group then begin to think of kids who like to play Guitar Hero as an asset and then linked these three assets together. Purdue now runs a high school summer camp where students make their own guitar and learn about advanced manufacturing. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #45: Neither a festival nor a summer guitar camp will transform a local economy but the days of one big transformative event are probably behind us. Plant relocations or expansions bringing in 2,000 or more jobs is not the reality for most communities. Economic and Community Development occurs slowly, over time, and transformation occurs because of the cumulative effect of lots of modest successes. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #46: So here is a summary of some of our community’s unique hidden assets we’ve talked about today. They are unique because no other community has this exact some portfolio. They also represent just a drop in the bucket of unique assets in this community. Data only gets the conversation started. Some of the most valuable assets for economic and community development come from the skills, knowledge, and experiences of the people in the community, especially people like you. Many communities do asset mapping to help identify a rich inventory of assets and then get creative about how to link and leverage those assets in new and creative ways. We could spend more time identifying other community assets but lets concentrate for our last few minutes together about the ones we talked about today. What creative ideas have come to mind that could leverage these assets? Is there something our community could do that we have not yet tried? Let’s hear some of your ideas. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #47: Purdue Extension’s Economic and Community Development program is a network of local educators, campus specialists, and other partners who work in these areas of (1) Brainpower and 21 st Century Talent (2) Innovation and Entrepreneurship, (3) New Narratives, (4) Quality Connected Places, and (5) Civic Collaboration. We are available to talk with you about helping you look further into your unique set of assets and help you develop launch link-and-leverage strategies to move your community forward. We can also connect you with lots of resources on campus. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #48: More information about the many resources we’ve discussed today can be found online Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007
• #49: Thanks for your time. Civic Engagement Staff Development, February 27-28, 2007