RiverPark Center and college collaborate on Theatre Degree

RiverPark Center, Brescia University, Kentucky Wesleyan College and Owensboro Community and Technical College are pleased to announce they are developing a truly unique partnership – the creation of a Bachelor of Theatre Arts degree. Students enrolled for the degree will have the opportunity to participate in courses at each of the participating institutions.

As the Gateway Planning group analyzed the Owensboro and Daviess County community, they discovered a truly unique and significant arts and cultural environment and suggested that the downtown master plan should include an Arts Academy which would take advantage of the synergy that already exists downtown.  

Cheryl King, President, Kentucky Wesleyan College said:  “Kentucky Wesleyan College is pleased to partner with RiverPark Center and our sister institutions to provide this distinctive Theatre Arts program. Through a unique collaborative model, our students will have exceptional opportunities for learning and success. There is a lot of excitement on our campus, and we look forward to working with our sister institutions and the RiverPark Center.”

 Father Larry Hostetter, President, Brescia University added:  Brescia has had a long history of excellence in the creative arts. This will be a great "next step" in that tradition. The fact that we are collaborating with our sister institutions and the RiverPark Center makes this effort especially significant. I have no doubt that soon Owensboro will be recognized as the place to receive a theater arts degree.

The Owensboro Community and Technical College will offer a Certificate – specializing in technical theatre – where the vast majority of entertainment jobs exist.  

The program will provide a direct interface between the college students and many of the the touring professionals that often perform on the stage at RiverPark Center through the "Broadway West" program, where shows are built and rehearsed in Owensboro. 

“We look forward to our students creating an “alive” downtown and riverfront – it is our future and we can touch it” said RiverPark president Zev Buffman.  

Annual survey shows high downtown interest among Chamber members

Thirty-one percent of Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce members say they would “be interested in locating their business and/or starting a business downtown” and 17% say they would “be interested in living downtown” according to the annual legislative and local issues survey this fall.

Thirty-three percent of respondents indicated “their business would not work downtown” while 12% say they “are not in favor of the downtown plan.” Six-percent of respondents had no response to the downtown question. The survey was completed by 23% of Chamber members during September and October.

“That means that nearly half of respondents would like to have a business and/or live downtown,” says Chamber President Jody Wassmer. “That seems to be fairly significant support for what the plans the city and county have initiated in downtown Owensboro.”

The Chamber board of directors voted to support the “place-making initiative” plan last winter and subsequently took several members to Greenville, SC last May to see that city’s proactive downtown redevelopment. The group returned with the belief that Owensboro was on the right track to stimulate private downtown investment that would lead to increased commerce, tourism and economic development for the entire community.

Optimism Abounds for Economic Development Strategy Despite Set Backs

In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. remains optimistic about the economic development strategy created in 2006 to position the region for long-term economic vitality. 

EDC leadership stresses that it is important, now more than ever, to diversify the regional economy. 

“We have been watching this global economy evolve for a long time anticipating that we could be affected,” said EDC Board Chair Darrell Higginbotham.  “We have a three-year head start in adjusting to the shifting economic circumstances impacting us this year. “

The EDC Strategic Plan created a four tier strategy focusing on supporting existing businesses, targeted business attraction efforts, nurturing high technology company startups, and attracting and developing a highly skilled workforce. “Sitting face-to-face with individuals and companies impacted by this global downturn has further motivated us to work harder than ever on a multi-faceted approach to economic development,” said Higginbotham.  

EDC employs a business-attraction strategy, using a targeted approach to recruit new companies.  A thorough data analysis of the region’s economic base, supplier relationships, workforce skill location quotients, and innovations within industries has resulted in a more sophisticated approach in finding realistic targets.  This analysis is followed by targeted marketing efforts of high-growth companies in several sectors of the economy, including energy, advanced manufacturing, and professional services.

“We have conducted three coordinated campaigns this year,” said EDC President/CEO Nick Brake.  “One in green energy hoping to capitalize on stimulus dollars in that sector, one in back office and professional service areas similar to the jobs US Bank has in the region, and one in advanced manufacturing.”   Brake also indicated that EDC is a partner with the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and Kentucky United, a group of regional economic development agencies that work to promote Kentucky to site selectors. 

Owensboro was ranked eighth last year by Site Selection magazine for most economic development projects among small regions.  Brake said EDC is planning additional targeted campaigns in 2010.  

Communities around the country are shifting economic development strategies in response to the recession.  For example, Atlanta has a new strategy that uses the same targeted approach EDC is currently employing.  Additionally, Kansas City is joining a host of other communities in focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation as opposed to industry attraction. 

“Owensboro continues to be proactive in its job creation strategy,” said Larry Hayes, secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.  “During my recent visit with community officials, it was evident that they had laid the appropriate groundwork to accomplish their long-term economic goals.”

Support for existing industries is also a critical component of the EDC strategy.  Nearly two-thirds of new jobs in any given community are a result of existing companies.  In the past 12 months, EDC has worked with 16 companies on expansion projects totaling over $90 million in investment and more than 500 new jobs in the region.  

The existing industry program has also been busy working with companies such as West Irving Die Casting, GE, and Hon who have either shut down or will be closing their doors in the coming months.   The EDC coordinates with the Owensboro Community and Technical College and Green River Workforce Investment Board to assist in providing retraining opportunities to workers impacted by plant closings and layoffs. 

 “Our community college is a huge asset in the work we do with dislocated workers,” Brake said.  “While a plant closing is never a good situation, we’re able to provide affected workers the opportunity to receive free retraining all the way to a postsecondary degree.   This not only benefits the worker, but allows the community to retool its workforce in high-growth areas such as health care and energy.” 

Owensboro is feeling the squeeze that many other parts of the nation have felt with manufacturing.  Brake said the days of Owensboro being solely a manufacturing based economy are over.  “This is why the expansion of the Owensboro Medical Health System is so important.  It will further diversify our economy.”  Brake also says that hospitals and universities are increasingly drivers of small and medium size economies.   “The evidence is pretty clear that health care is no longer just a service industry—it is a significant economic base industry for many of the peer communities that we use as benchmarks.” 

EDC began an emphasis on high tech development and support for entrepreneurs thanks to funding from the state for the Emerging Ventures Innovation Center program headed by Madison Silvert.  Earlier this year, Silvert was invited to speak to the Kansas City EDC about the success Owensboro has had in nurturing entrepreneurs.  In the past three years, EDC has added significant infrastructure to support high tech company development in Owensboro.  Emerging Ventures has been successful in supporting newly formed companies and creating jobs with pay levels well above the median income in the region. 

“Working with entrepreneurs and high-tech startups has gained a lot of momentum with all of the plant biotech activities at Kentucky BioProcessing,” said Silvert.   “Our new business accelerator, the Centre for Business and Research will provide an opportunity of an entirely new dimension of economic development for this region.”

However, Higginbotham stresses that EDC has not put all eggs in one basket.  “Support for entrepreneurs is an important component of our overall strategy.  It just so happens that in times of economic distress, it is small businesses and entrepreneurs who lead the way out of these recessionary periods.”  

Hancock County Using College Credits and New Campus to Address Workforce Needs

As a potential workforce crisis looms in Hancock County, the local school system has created an innovative program to address the needs for a highly skilled workforce.  The needs are well documented.  According to Mike Baker, the economic development director in Hancock County, an aging workforce at many of the large aluminum and manufacturing employers means that as many as 42 percent of the skilled technicians could retire in the next three to five years.

That is a primary reason that Baker and other local officials have worked to create a satellite campus of the Owensboro Community and Technical College in the county.

Hancock County Schools Superintendent Scott Lewis has a vision that the new campus and the OCTC Discover College program that allows high school students to take college courses will mean that new graduates can meet the needs of local industries.


The project also will help the school district fulfill its vision for high school students to be able to take up to 60 college hours and have about two years of college credits "paid for" by the time they graduate, the superintendent said. "We're getting very close to having that plan worked out," Lewis said. "Students can do that now, but they pay for it. This would cost the school district, but it would be free to students."

The goal is for high school students to have the opportunity "to graduate with a vocational certificate and be employable or to have enough college credits to be close to an associate's degree," he said. Currently, students who are dually enrolled are "ones who would go on to college anyway," he said.  Local educators want to see more of their students who may not have thought about college to learn that they can succeed.

"A lot of our kids -- they may be the first in their families to go to college," he said.  The high school already has begun to align its curriculum with OCTC's, Lewis said.  "At the same time, that increases our rigor," he said. "We've done a good job of doing that in elementary and middle school, but our high school had stayed the same until now."

This model demonstrates the role that high school and community college collaboration can play in the economic development of rural areas.

KAN Members Share with Legislators the Importance of Aluminum Industry in Kentucky

Members of the Kentucky Aluminum Network (KAN) discussed the importance of the aluminum industry in the overall state economy to legislative leaders yesterday.  KAN members outlined the core issues and threats facing the industry to the Joint Interim Committee on Economic Development in Frankfort.  Top issues include the availability of cost effective energy, workforce development, facility infrastructure development, and informed and collaborative environmental policies.  Click here to see the presentation.  

Business Week Names Owensboro Best Place to Raise Your Kids in Kentucky

The combination of low crime, outstanding school test scores, and a low cost of living that makes Owensboro a great place to raise kids.  Check it out on http://www.businessweek.com/


http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/11/1117_best_places_to_raise_kids/index.htm

Congressman Guthrie will announce $1 Million Federal Grant for Owensboro Centre for Business and Research

Congressman Brett Guthrie will be in town to announce the award of $986,800 in grants from the Economic Development Administration to the EDC and the City of Owensboro for the purchase of equipment at the Centre for Business and Research.  The grant, which was applied for with the assistance of GRADD, is for communities damaged by Hurricane Ike and the recessionary effects of the market in 2008.

The Centre for Business and Research will contain approximately 30,000 square feet of office space for high-tech business start-ups in the food science and plant therapeutic industries, and will offer companies the ability to rent laboratory facilities "by the bench."  The Centre, scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2010, seeks to be the region's premiere business accelerator for biotech companies.

The announcement will take place tomorrow at 10:30 am at the Centre for Business and Research, 1010 Allen Street.