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Oshkosh's new brand revealed August 19
Northwestern column: Economic development
Oshkosh's new brand revealed August 19 Oshkosh's unique ability to attract more than a million people each year to attend festivals and an international fly-in convention is now reflected in the community's new brand. The Oshkosh Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB) and its community partners are now promoting Oshkosh as "Wisconsin's Event City." The brand was officially launched August 19 after a multi-month study of the community that included feedback from focus groups. The cost of the brand development was paid for by private contributions made by local businesses and organizations that saw that importance of developing a unified city brand. In addition, the OCVB received a $40,000 grant from the State Department of Tourism to launch and implement the brand. Those community partners were Affinity Health System/Mercy Health Foundation, City of Oshkosh, Lutheran Homes of Oshkosh, Oshkosh Area Community Foundation, Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, Oshkosh Convention & Visitors Bureau, Oshkosh Northwestern, Propel and the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
Northwestern column: November's elections
The following column by Oshkosh Chamber President/CEO John Casper appeared in the June 27, 2010, Oshkosh Northwestern.
Economic development means different things to different people. In its broadest sense, it is anything a community does to foster and create a healthy economy. Economic development is a concerted effort on the part of the public and private sector to create wealth in which community benefits are derived, such as tax revenue and job creation.
Today, communities throughout the nation are providing more investment and giving greater attention to what they can do to promote greater economic development. In Oshkosh, the Chamber, through its economic development arm – the Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corporation (OAEDC) – directly engages in activities to advance economic growth.
Our economic development program is based on three core approaches used to enhance local economic development. They are:
- Business Retention and Expansion - enhancing existing businesses.
- Business Recruitment - attracting new business.
- Business Start-ups and Entrepreneurship - encouraging the growth of new businesses.
Business Retention and Expansion programs focus on supporting local businesses as a way to discuss important location factors that solidify the company’s presence in Oshkosh and to spur growth through business expansion. Existing businesses are a critical factor to a community’s long-term economic well-being. Although business attraction tends to be a big focus in economic development, it is estimated that 85% of new employment in an area is generated by existing businesses. In Oshkosh, we have a cadre of volunteers that make retention visits throughout the year on local business in an effort to identify growth opportunities and ways to assist business expansion. Since 2007, over 100 calls have been made on local CEOs. We believe it is far easier to attract new businesses if a community can demonstrate that existing businesses are growing. And, it is far less expensive to retain an existing business than it is to recruit a new one.
Business Recruitment has been a main approach to economic development and remains as the most publicized, particularly in terms of new job and tax base creation. It is however the most difficult to achieve due to the competitive nature of this strategy. As companies are courted by communities, often times, communities and states offer significant financial incentives to entice companies to locate in their communities. Depending on the type and the size of the company, these incentives can amount to tens of millions of dollars. Incentives in our toolbox include Tax Incremental Financing, OAEDC’s Revolving Loans Funds, BID Grants and State assistance programs to name a few. However, business attraction tools are more than just financial packaging. Business attraction programs include marketing and promotion of our community, along with promoting our favorable business climate and other factors important to a particular business.
Business Start-up and Entrepreneurship programs are a significant component of our economic development program. With small businesses being the main source of job creation in the economy, we have a role in supporting and promoting emerging small business. Providing access to capital and networking opportunities, along with other technical assistance is critical to small business growth. The support for small business is not provided in isolation. The Oshkosh Regional Innovation Growth Incubator Network (ORIGIN) – a group of small business assistance agencies – provides services to new business start-ups and links small business to the appropriate resources.
In addition to these three core approaches, well-developed economic development programs include Workforce Development initiatives, International Trade, Real Estate Development and Financing assistance, Downtown and Central City Development, and Regional Marketing programs. In all these areas, we have professional staff to assist local business.
Economic development is a core to the Oshkosh Chamber’s mission. However, we don’t claim to do it alone. Effective economic development programs are best delivered through a partnership of community-based and regional organizations working in collaboration. In Oshkosh, this partnership includes strong public sector support of the City of Oshkosh, Winnebago County, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Fox Valley Technical College, Department of Commerce, Fox Valley Workforce Development Board, along with private sector support of local non-profit organizations like the Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chamco and OAEDC and regional groups like the New North and NEWREP. It is through these private non-profits that individual businesses come together to provide financial resources and expertise to make Oshkosh a world-class community.
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