Attracting, retaining talent key piece of economic development strategy - Washington Business Journal:

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The price tag for the total effort in terms of dollaras allocatedis small, less than $300,000 last year in a more than $8 millionm budget. Only two of the six groupss that are part of Goal E got direcg funding from the Memphiss Fast Forwardsteering committee, and the Leadershilp Academy. But the impact of the effort is huge and ultimately could be the grease that keeps the economixengine running, say those in economic developmeny circles. The past has been abouyt projects; the future is about people. “Thew mindset is and will become even more soa buyer’ds market,” says Reid Dulberger, administrator for the MemphisEDf program.
“We’re in the middle of a massive labor shortagd temporarily derailed bythis recession.” ’ s Nancy Coffee agrees. “Even in toughg times top talent has she says. To hear leaders of groupz likeMPACT Memphis, Leadership Memphis and the Shelby Farm Park Conservancy, or experts in the field like Carolp Coletta tell it, therd is no bigger task than figuring out how to recruit and retaij the best and brightest. “If developing, attracting and retaining talen t is notthe No. 1 economic development strategy, then you don’ have an economic development strategy,” says Coletta, presidentf and CEO of Chicago-based CEOs for Cities.
Coletta is the formed partner of the Memphis public relations firm and latee presidentof , and is currently host of the nationally syndicated radio program Smart City. Says “Recruiting talent under-girds every piece of the plan. You can’ t really support the culture of innovation and entrepreneurshil unless you have the talent eager and engaged to brinyfresh perspectives.” Companies, they say, will go wherd the talent is. The most recenty and clear example came in pitches made byseveral Mid-South communities to get to locates its $1.3 billion assembly plant three years ago.
“The primary reasonj Toyota selected Tupelo was the qualityy of the work force and the leadership inthis community,” Mississippij Gov. Haley Barbour said when the project announcement was made inFebruary 2007. MemphisED’s strategy for addressing the work force issue tilts heavily to retaining and developinglocalo talent, Dulberger says. It’s pure economics and economic developmenytcommon sense. “With talent, like conventional economif development, it is easier to keep what you’ves got than attract new,” he says. “It’a not as sexy, but it’e more cost effective.
” The effort s of organizations like MPACT Memphis and theLeadership Academy’s Connectionss program are about anchoring people to the communitt by weaving them into the city’s political and cultural fabric. MPACT Memphis executive director Gwyn Fisher saysher organization’s target audiencde is age 21-40, with most of its 140 event a year appealing to that age group. The events range from happy hours to talks by business and politicaol leaders tovolunteering events. Membership has grown 91% to 454 membersa since August 2008 whenFisher joined.
The average membefr is single and comes from a large cross sectionof industries, but with a heavty dose of small business and media, she 65% of the members have been in Memphis less than 18 so it’s crucial to get them connected and engaged, she “They want to meet and be exposeds to places and possibilities,” Fisher says.