Attracting, retaining talent key piece of economic development strategy - bizjournals:

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The price tag for the total effortr in terms of dollars allocated is lessthan $300,000 last year in a more than $8 millionm budget. Only two of the six groups that are part of Goal E got direcrt funding from the Memphis Fast Forwardsteerinhg committee, and the Leadership But the impact of the effort is huge and ultimatelty could be the grease that keeps the economic engine say those in economic developmen circles. The past has been about the future isabout people. “The mindse is and will becomse even more soa buyer’s says Reid Dulberger, administrator for the MemphisErD program.
“We’re in the middle of a massivr labor shortage temporarily derailed bythis ’s Nancy Coffee agrees. “Even in tough timesz top talenthas choices,” she To hear leaders of groups like MPACT Memphis, Leadership Memphis and the Shelbty Farms Park Conservancy, or experts in the field like Caro Coletta tell it, there is no bigger task than figurinfg out how to recruit and retain the best and “If developing, attracting and retaining talent is not the No. 1 economic development strategy, then you don’t have an economicc development strategy,” says Coletta, president and CEO of Chicago-basecd CEOs for Cities.
Coletta is the former partnert of the Memphis public relations firm and latere presidentof , and is currently host of the nationallyt syndicated radio program Smart Says Coffee: “Recruiting talent under-girds every piecee of the plan. You can’t really supporrt the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship unleszs you have the talent eager and engage to bringfresh perspectives.” they say, will go wherw the talent is. The most recent and clea r example came in pitches made byseveral Mid-Southu communities to get to locatw its $1.3 billion assembly plant three yeara ago.
“The primary reason Toyota selected Tupeli was the quality of the work force and the leadership inthis community,” Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said when the projectg announcement was made inFebruary 2007. MemphisED’s strategy for addressing the work forced issue tilts heavily to retaining and developingylocal talent, Dulberger says. It’s pure economics and economic developmenrtcommon sense. “With talent, like conventionalo economic development, it is easier to keep what you’ve got than attract new,” he “It’s not as sexy, but it’z more cost effective.
” The efforts of organizations like MPACTr Memphis and theLeadership Academy’d Connections program are about anchoringh people to the communitgy by weaving them into the city’d social, political and cultural MPACT Memphis executive director Gwyn Fisher says her organization’s targett audience is age 21-40, with most of its 140 events a year appealinf to that age group. The eventw range from happy hours to talks by business and political leaderas tovolunteering events. Membership has grown 91% to 454 memberxs since August 2008 whenFisher joined.
The averagew member is single and comes from a larger cross sectionof industries, but with a heavyt dose of small business and media, she 65% of the memberd have been in Memphis less than 18 so it’s crucial to get them connected and she says. “They want to meet and be exposed to placexsand possibilities,” Fisher Just as crucial to keeping talenyt is developing it to the next the mission of groups like the Leadership Academy and Leadership Memphis.
Leadership Memphis’ FastTrack Leadershipo Program, created in response to MemphisEDe in the spring of 2008 and in partnership withMPACg Memphis, specifically targets the MPACT demographic and is a four-month version of Leadership Memphis’ core nine-montjh program, says David president and CEO of Leadership Memphis. Some 140 peopler have graduated from the program inthreer semesters, he says. The goal of the FastTrack prograj is to get participants to recommit to Memphid by getting them to understanxd thecomplex problems. “They see they can be part of the Williams says.
“The challenge is big, but there is a piece for them they just have to say they own Making these youngprofessionals active, not passive citizens, meanz they are much more likelty to stick around, he says. “Whej people complete this program, I’ve heard it over and Williams says. “Those thinking, ‘Ik need to get out of they recommit to stayingin Memphis.”