Cooperation topic of Day 2 of Chamber conference
Tallahassee Democrat –By Dave Hodges
August 15, 2010
Speakers at Chamber conference discuss existing collaboration, importance of regional communities
DESTIN — Tallahassee’s economic future is closely tied to the success of the region in the years ahead — a theme stressed Saturday by the CEO of Workforce Florida and other speakers at the 2010 Annual Community Conference.
Because of competitive pressures, however, it is often difficult for communities to work together as a region. The answer, Hart told the conference attendees, is forming collaborative partnerships.
Hart gave examples of collaboration already in place and working — Our Regional Tomorrow, Tallahassee Community College’s programs for developing a regional workforce, and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering that is positioned to support the aviation and aerospace field, an industry identified for its future growth potential in Northwest Florida.
The conference, sponsored by the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and presented this year by telecommunications company CenturyLink, brought together business and community leaders from throughout the Tallahassee area.
“We need economic diversification. Tourism is a blessing. Agriculture is a blessing,” Hart told the breakfast audience at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa. “We rely on these. Defense we have to work for, and we are going to have to work to grow those other (industry) clusters. So what’s the best way to do that? Regionalism.”
He called Florida’s regions the “new economic development athletes” and said it is through them that economies will grow, but most communities are unaccustomed to working at that level. “It is difficult for us to work regionally. We have to work at being a region,” said Hart, formerly senior vice president of external affairs and investor relations at Enterprise Florida.
Partnerships allow communities to work on common problems and mutual goals. Hart stressed the importance of vision and leadership in communities charting the course they wish to take. “What are your aspirations? Where do you want to be? And guess what, you’ve been doing that already.”
At a conference session later on Regional Economic Engines, Janet Watermeier of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance talked about the importance of regional cooperation. She facilitated the state’s first economic development plan that had a regional focus.
“We are not independent communities,” she said of Northwest Florida. “We will fight like the devil when we are competing against each other for the same project, and that is expected. That’s what we should do.”
But the region’s communities don’t compete that often, Watermeier said. What’s more likely to occur is for her to refer a business lead or promote a resource elsewhere in the region “because I know that we will collectively all work better.”
At lunch, Florida A&M University President James Ammons gave another view of the region and the vision for a proposed College of Dental Medicine to serve Northwest Florida.
“We are not independent communities,” she said of Northwest Florida. “We will fight like the devil when we are competing against each other for the same project, and that is expected. That’s what we should do.”
But the region’s communities don’t compete that often, Watermeier said. What’s more likely to occur is for her to refer a business lead or promote a resource elsewhere in the region “because I know that we will collectively all work better.”
At lunch, Florida A&M University President James Ammons gave another view of the region and the vision for a proposed College of Dental Medicine to serve Northwest Florida.