Strategic Initiatives Retreat

Earlier this week, the office of Strategic Initiatives got together to discuss projects for the upcoming year. It was very interesting. We discussed external newsletters, communication, events, social media, and economic development. It was really interesting how everything tied together.

For economic development, I discussed the current state of Marana and future projects to consider. I used Prezi as a tool. Here is the presentation itself (sans vocal explanations):



Economic development is comprised of 3 pillars (as learned in the Economic Development 101 session at the Governor's Statewide Development Conference held this year in Oro Valley). They are: retention and expansion of existing businesses, recruitment of new businesses, and creation of business.

As I discussed in a previous entry, economic development can be measured by the variety of skills in the workplace, number of start ups, local philanthropic endowments, household income, and venture capital opportunities in the area. Of these measurements, Marana has great potential for establishing local philanthropic endowments. When looking at the top employee breakdown, we analyzed industries that were missing; namely higher education, andan art and entertainment community.

In the Downtown discussion, we talked a lot about how we can get buy-in and commitment from businesses by incorporating a virtual downtown. We also discussed event opportunities that will awareness to people of north Marana. An example of this would be the Founders Day event that is thrown every year, and the Holiday Christmas Tree Lighting.

Branding and town identification in the southside of Marana is a constant issue. As the northernmost part of the Town, I think it is important to establish identification there. Not a lot of people know that the shops at Thornydale and Ina are actually in the town of Marana. Same goes for Orange Grove and Thornydale. Because a lot of the buildings existed prior to the annexation, there isn't an established visual identification. It is important to establish relationships with businesses so they develop a loyalty to the town and commit to calling themselves the "Marana location".

The business focus is an interesting concept done by the City of Maricopa. They put on a short production featuring a local business as part of a series of endorsements. It's very beneficial because it keeps businesses in the area, identifies problem areas and growth because of your continuous contact with the private sector, encourages local patronage, and businesses can benefit from the exposure. I brought this idea to the retreat to see if the Town of Marana would like to implement something similar. It would be a great way to maintain positive relationships with existing businesses.

The discussion was structured to encourage the team to mull over issues and brainstorm ideas. It was a 4 hour retreat, but time flew by. I'm excited to see how what we discussed unfolds over the coming year.