Business Groups Welcome State's Regional Approach | Central Mass. organizations angle for economic development money
The importance of taking regional approaches to economic development makes a good talking point, but businesses and local economic development teams say the state is now walking the walk on the issue after several recent moves.
Take the recent $2.2 million MassWorks grant that will pay for public sewerage in sections of Oxford, Dudley and Webster that will benefit several major employers who have pledged $100,000 of their own money for design work.
That money is helping keep fiber laser-maker IPG Photonics at its current headquarters in Oxford, where it employs 600 and is about to break ground on a 100,000-square-foot expansion that will enable it to add 175 jobs.
Newly installed Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty seems to be taking a page from the state’s playbook. He recently said he plans to pursue similar grants for the Route 20 corridor, which traverses the city’s border with Auburn, Millbury and Shrewsbury.
And the Massachusetts Office of Business Development (MOBD) is overseeing a program created in 2010 that puts a renewed focus on regional economic development entities such as the North Central Massachusetts Development Corp. and the 495/MetroWest Partnership.
New Contracts Underscore Focus
Funding has waned in recent years as the state has tightened spending. But the state recently signed 10 contracts totaling $850,000 with regional groups around the state.
The North Central and MetroWest groups both won contracts worth a combined $210,000 to help businesses access state assistance programs and act as a main contact for companies looking to locate in the region.
The idea, said Anne Struthers, executive director of the MOBD, is that regional groups are best equipped to know and communicate the needs of businesses in their respective areas.
“Given our mission and the spirit of collaboration I believe is behind the legislation, I think there is a real desire to make sure we are cognizant of what’s required in each and every region,” Struthers said. For instance, “we know the Berkshires is different from MetroWest.”
Last year, the North Central Massachusetts group — which has operated on a combination of state funds and support from Mount Wachusett Community College, Fitchburg State University and the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce — received only $40,000 from the state, said David McKeehan, the group’s executive director. In the mid-2000s, the group was receiving more than $200,000 in state funds.
But McKeehan’s optimism has just about doubled for the coming year. His group recently signed an $80,000 contract with the MOBD to provide economic development services for the 26-town region.
McKeehan now plans to rehire a third staff member he had lost in recent funding cuts. The contract is still only about a third of what the group used to receive from the state, but McKeehan’s not complaining.
He said one more staff member means more time spent talking with businesses and surveying available real estate for potential new businesses.
“For us, it means at least a start towards rebuilding what we had maybe three years ago in terms of capacity for economic development programming and outreach,” McKeehan said.
Structure And Expectations
The 495/MetroWest Partnership, which teamed up with the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, also signed a contract and will receive $130,000 between the two groups, said Paul Matthews, executive director of the partnership.
It’s not so much about the money, both men said, though an increase is nice. What’s more important is the structure and expectations that come with the contracts.
The MOBD required the groups to submit detailed proposals that would benefit their respective regions. The state will watch results closely to determine which contracts deserve continued funding.
Under the contracts, organizations must support efforts to “stimulate, encourage, facilitate and nurture economic growth and prosperity … including activities related to the growth and retention of existing businesses and the attraction of new businesses.”
Struthers said the state will look for progress in the first year of the contracts, but said officials understand it will take some time to work out action plans with each organization and share best practices along the way.
For his part, Matthews thinks the contracts will show results.
“This formalizes the level of collaboration in a way that’s helpful to everyone,” Matthews said. “The partners know what the state’s expecting.”
McKeehan agreed, adding that regional funding now seems more than an “add-on” to the state’s strategy. And regional groups will be in frequent contact with MOBD.
“Now what we have through legislative action is an overall system for regional economic delivery that is in place,” he said.
Sen. Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, was the chief author of the 2010 economic development reorganization bill that called for the regional contracts.
Spilka said one of the bill’s main goals is to standardize the types of services businesses can expect in every region of the state. Though each entity is unique in some ways, each will be expected to maintain a real estate inventory, market its region in coordination with the state and act as a primary point of contact for businesses that seek state assistance.
Spilka said she was happy to see funding for the regional contracts included in the recent casino authorization bill, though she’s against casinos. She said she would like to see the state’s financial commitment to the regional entities grow in the coming years.
“We all know economic development and job creation is our number one job still,” Spilka said. “I would argue now, more than ever, we need these kinds of resources.”
Blackstone Valley Pushes For State Recognition
While some of the area’s more established organizations received state contracts, business leaders in the Blackstone Valley continue to push for them.
Several fledgling entities in the valley, including the Blackstone Valley Economic Development Council and the Central Massachusetts Center for Business and Enterprise, applied unsuccessfully for contracts. The latter group has been unable to convince enough area towns to join and pay dues, according to Joseph Deliso, a business consultant who took the lead on the not-for-profit council’s efforts in late 2010.
“Where we are a year later is not really any further than we were a year ago,” Deliso said.
The council did not qualify to receive a state contract because it had not convinced 11 or more contiguous towns to join as members when the state issued its call for applications. One of the requirements is having local commitments for “substantial financial or in-kind support.”
The valley has fewer big companies than MetroWest, and no major educational players like the North Central region, so unlike those groups, it was forced to appeal to area towns to pay dues. Some of its towns are on board. But for others, it has been a tough sell.
But the valley may yet receive a contract later this year during the second round of applications, said Jeannie Hebert, president and CEO of the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce.
The soon-to-be-incorporated nonprofit Center for Business Enterprise, which is affiliated with the chamber, wants to start a lending pool to provide gap financing to area companies.
The group would have enough member towns served by the chamber, and hopes to use grant-writing services from local planners as its in-kind local support.
Hebert plans to meet with Struthers soon to discuss the proposal, and is confident the chamber will be more successful in the next round.
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