If you want to see greater job creation, you have to start with the employers you already have.
That was the opinion of Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas Interim President Lyle Butler during a discussion on business retention and expansion as part of the RDA Board’s monthly meeting. With this in mind, Butler says when it comes to expanding jobs, 80 percent of the work starts with current employers and as such, the RDA has begun a new program to help assist those entities moving forward.
Butler says the program is aimed at addressing both simple matters:
And more complex matters:
Butler says while the RDA may be leading this effort, it will require a community-wide effort to move things forward, saying many community partners will play an integral role down the road.
As of Friday morning, the RDA had made contact with four major employers, with a fifth meeting scheduled for later in the day. The discussions will be kept confidential, meaning between RDA leadership and the employers themselves, unless a major issue that requires the RDA’s intervention arises.
In separate matters, the City of Emporia stated that it may seek a letter of support from the RDA in the near future as it looks to capitalize on local opportunity zones. These zones are geographic areas associated with census tracking data that encourage investment, namely economic development in various forms, such as housing, business, or other notable developments.
The main goal of the city’s efforts is to attract more capital to the four opportunity zones within Emporia to encourage said development. The letter of support was requested as the city is planning to submit the four zones to the state for review by the governor’s office for approval of the zones and a review of their viability to foster development under state-issued guidelines.
Word on when the matter may be revisited is currently pending.
Board members also held three executive sessions for confidential matters with no action taken. The RDA Board will next convene in June.
