The work of an economic development corporation can be, well, a little boring. But it’s work that’s critical to the success of the region’s economy and the local primary-sector companies which are the economic foundation.
So, knowing that a lot of data and text can be hard to get through, we’ve spent months collecting powerful stories, sitting down with regional leaders on camera to talk about our impact and adding creative graphics to tell our story. And you’ll see that this annual report is not only interesting but tells a compelling story about our region’s success.
So read on, and let us prove that economic development can be pretty fun.
75 years of success
Our organization is celebrating 75 years of economic development. From our beginnings where we were instrumental in creating the Fargo Industrial Park to supporting the creation of the NDSCS Skills and Technology Center and the NDSU Research & Tech Park as well as Emerging Prairie, we’ve always been there to lift up game changing ideas for our region.
Check out our 75th timeline along with great videos about how we’ve supported economic development along the way.
Results are in…
Of course, the proof is always in the results. And over the past few years, we’ve been adding technology to better tell that story. So if you want to know how our work impacts the region and what the numbers are, check out our results section which include the capital investment, jobs and square footage for the projects our organization has supported.
Business Development Success
The core of our business is, of course, business development. We continue to work to support primary-sector companies’ success. Our efforts focus on recruitment, retention and expansion of those companies. In our business development section, you’ll see more information on some of the companies we’ve supported. We’ve also highlighted our region’s growing bioscience sector.
Workforce Development Initiatives
Of course, supporting our regional primary-sector businesses means focusing on what is often one of their biggest challenges, workforce. We directly support primary-sector companies with workforce development efforts including recruitment and retention. And we partner with organizations and businesses to solve these challenges. Take a look at some of our initiatives, including our new FM area virtual tour.
Workforce and Community Development
Partnerships are Critical to Success
And finally, we could not do our jobs without partnerships. We connect businesses to city, county and states, and we partner with organizations and mission-driven initiatives, like Fueling Our Future and Valley Prosperity Partnership, to make sure the business environment is healthy and supports local business. So, what have these collaborations accomplished? Check it out, but we believe they’ve accomplished a lot, and we’ll keep working hard to make sure that continues.
