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Economic development is a critical component in the economic growth of any community. Because of this, the Union County Development Association (UCDA) exists to attract and retain jobs for the county and surrounding region.
According to Wayne Pantini, UCDA executive director, UCDA has four areas of focus to improve the local economic climate and general quality of living within the region: business development, housing, workforce development and creative place-making.
So, how does this happen?
“I think its a combination of bringing different aspects of the community together to make economic development happen,” said Pantini.
Pantini said UCDA works closely with its partners — cities of Creston and Afton, Union County officials, Southern Iowa Council of Governments, Southwestern Community College, Iowa Workforce Development and others to make it all happen.
“A lot of times, it’s just facilitating and bringing those partners together to have an honest conversation,” said Pantini.
There are six reasons why economic development is important: job creation, industry diversification, business retention and expansion, economic fortification, increased tax revenue and improved quality of life.
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Pantini said under business development, UCDA focuses on three areas: existing industry, entrepreneurial development and business recruitment.
“Statistics show that 75 to 80 percent of new jobs come from your existing businesses. So we spend a lot of time making sure the business climate is good and they can expand here,” said Pantini.
UCDA collects and partners with organizations who provide labor data for new or expanding businesses. Additionally, the UCDA helps mediate regulations that may create barriers for business expansion.
UCDA also helps fund the Small Business Development Center at SWCC.
“If we have someone who is starting up a business and they don’t really know where to begin, we make that connection so they can get that one-on-one counseling to get themselves started,” said Pantini.
Pantini said UCDA monitors the growth of these businesses and can assist them in finding business locations, labor data or provide professional development training.
Business recruitment is another area UCDA focuses on in an effort to attract new industry and businesses to the area.
“We did a retail analysis a few years ago and found some gaps and it created some opportunities,” said Pantini.
Pantini said that after UCDA sent out retail proposals, many companies were in search of people interested in owning and operating their own franchise.
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UCDA works closely with its partners to create housing in the county.
“We can increase the tax base and the quality of housing we have, which will ideally bring more workforce to the area,” said Pantini.
Pantini said housing is important to retain and attract a workforce.
“If we don’t have that housing to meet their needs they are going to live in other communities outside of the area,” said Pantini.
In addition to developing infill housing, such as the James Subdivision, UCDA is working with developers to create market-rate apartments.
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This spring, UCDA had a labor study conducted. It revealed the county’s workforce comes from a large area with some workers commuting more than 60 miles. Despite this, there is still a shortage of workers.
“We’re in an unprecedented time in the state of Iowa where our unemployment is so low, that we have a shortage of workforce,” said Pantini. “We have more job opportunities than people to fill those jobs. So, to decrease that gap, there’s two ways to do that, you either have to up-skill the current workforce or you have to recruit new workers to this area.”
To resolve this issue, UCDA provides educational and professional development opportunities to area workers and interns through its leadership program that many people recognize as the High Lakes Leadership program. The goal of this program is to connect area schools, training providers to create a skilled workforce and to forge relationships between these skilled workers and business leaders.
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According to Pantini, promoting the community to the outside is no different than selling a product from a business or store. To do this, UCDA has begun to explore creative place-making.
“Creative place-making is really taking a look at what you’ve got, promoting the positive things you have, and bringing the residents in and ask what they want to see to create that culture of the community,” said Pantini.
With the help of its partners and the community at large, UCDA seeks to execute more beautification projects in the region, such as the quilt block painted at the intersection of West Adams and Maple streets during UCDA’s Update Uptown event in April.
This project, which Pantini hopes to eventually make permanent, is one way to leverage the power of the arts, culture and creativity to serve a community’s interest while driving a broader agenda for change, growth and transformation in a way that builds character and quality of place.
More about UCDA
UCDA exists to attract and retain jobs and improve the overall quality of life and economic growth for Union County. To learn more about what UCDA does, visit www.unioncountyiowa.com and follow UCDA on Facebook.