Capitalizing on Community
business, economic development, education, licking county, licking county chamber of commerce, port authority,
In Licking County, making a difference in the community doesn’t have much to do with the money in your bank account or the title in front of your name. All you need is a willing attitude and a strong work ethic.
The Midwestern community is in the throes of an unprecedented effort to revitalize itself through the cooperative work of government, private business and everyday citizens. Based on an initiative in Kalamazoo, Mich., that turned a city around and resulted in the book Community Capitalism, the project is a bottom-up endeavor to improve Licking County.
“We wanted to and have successfully sparked a grass-roots approach to economic development that, frankly, I think, goes beyond even what Kalamazoo is doing,” says Rick Platt, president and CEO of the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority.
The project began when the Port Authority received a suggestion to buy and distribute 12 copies of Community Capitalism and locked arms with the city of Newark, the Licking County Economic Development Department and the Licking County Chamber of Commerce. The coalition upped the ante and distributed not 12 but nearly 1,500 copies of the book to officials and business owners throughout the county.
“They actually had to reprint the book,” says Cheri Hottinger, president of the Licking County Chamber.
After community members read the book, the coalition hosted three town hall meetings for anyone who was interested. As it turned out, that was a lot of people. The combined attendance of the meetings reached nearly 300.
“We just talked about the assets and opportunities that are here. It was not to talk about problems,” Hottinger says. “It was pretty easy to see what the key areas are because they were repeated over and over again, so we took those and called them ‘areas of interest.’”
The 23 areas of interest fit into four categories: education, talent, place, and infrastructure and development. The coalition then invited folks who were interested in specific aspects of improvement to attend one or all four meetings based around the categories. The specialized groups formed subcommittees on the 23 original areas of interest, and the community was off and running.
“People were buzzing with excitement after the three town hall meetings we had initially,” Hottinger says. “There hasn’t been a community project like this since I don’t know when. I don’t even know if there has been one.”
Education was one of the first broad issues to bubble to the surface during the town hall meetings, along with the infrastructure and development leaders hope will attract job-creating industries to the area.
The talent category calls for keeping educated young people in the community and persuading brainpower from around the country to settle down in Licking County. Place dovetails with attracting talent, outlining internal and external marketing strategies and quality of life improvements.
Specific areas of interest range from revitalizing downtown Newark to funding scholarships for local students to creating a small business incubator.
“We want a thriving community, and it can only be a thriving community if the community wants it to be that way,” Hottinger says. “It can’t just be one organization running the whole thing. We have to have buy-in and participation from the community.”
And there is no shortage of participation in Licking County’s groundbreaking project.
“If you take the concept of TEAM, Together, Everyone Achieves More, we’ve got a heck of a dynamic effort here through the businesses,” says Rob Klinger, manager of Licking County Economic Development. “All the egos are checked at the door. Nobody’s trying to make a name for themselves, but they all take responsibility.”
Story by Michaela Jackson
