Public and Private Investment in Economic Development Paying Dividends for Owensboro

The 2010-2011 EDC Annual Report shows that public and private investment supporting the work of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation is paying dividends for the Owensboro region.

Over the past two years the $650,000 has been invested by local government and $260,000 has been invested by private sources through the Investment 2020 program supporting the operating expenses of the professional economic development staff and growth strategy for the region. This financial support has lead to over $104 million in direct private business investment by firms supported by the EDC.

Every dollar spent in support of the EDC translates to nearly $50 spent in the community. In terms of public money, every public tax dollar used to support the EDC translates to an $83 return on investment in private business investment.

Visit EDC Annual Report on the web.

Centre for Business and Research: Six month progress report

Last week economic development officials presented a status report to the Owensboro City Commission on the Centre for Business and Research, the 40,000 square foot business accelerator that opened last October.

In the six months since the facility opened, three tenants have moved into the Centre.  Additionally, the biotechnology lab used by industries and the Western Kentucky University biotech research program is opened. EDC Executive Vice President Madison Silvert is currently finalizing leases with three additional companies.  He projects that the Centre will have 8 to 10 companies occupying space by the end of 2011.

"At the current rate of growth the Centre will be near capacity by the end of 2012, a full three years ahead of schedule," said Silvert.  By the end of 2012 the Centre will generate a dollar in lease revenue for every dollar invested by the City for the project.  If occupational taxes of the new jobs, with an average salary of $95,000, in the building and net profit taxes for the new companies that locate there are factored in, the City will generate a positive return on their annual investment of $300,000 in very short order.

"Few investments in economic development provide as rapid a return on such a small investment," said EDC President/CEO Nick Brake.  "This project was originally proposed as a long-term endeavor.  We are very pleased with the initial results, but it is important to be patient and stay the course for the entire commitment of ten years," he said.

"While such a positive return in such a short time is nice, the ultimate goal of the project is to help form scalable companies that can grow and eventually locate in the region and employ several hundred people," said Silvert.  

OwensboroU site makes debut

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer

OwensboroU.com is now live.

This new website — touted as an economic development marketing tool — brands Owensboro as an exciting and safe college town and puts a lot of information about its four partner colleges in one place, officials said Tuesday.

Representatives of Western Kentucky University-Owensboro, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Owensboro Community & Technical College and Brescia University joined Nick Brake, the president and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., in officially launching their partnership at a news conference in the Commerce Center.

A small crowd of educators, business and community leaders and public officials attended the launch.


“Economic development has long been based on the location decisions of companies,” Brake said. “The overall goal of our partnership is to focus on the location decisions made by college students and their parents.”

The EDC is continuing to pursue a strategy that educational attainment drives the new economy. The goal of this partnership is to boost the community’s college enrollment to 10,000 from its current number of nearly 8,000, he said.

The idea is for the community to be able to continue to retain at least two out of three graduates to live and work in the community.

The web portal is the primary marketing tool the partners will use to “Enroll, Engage and Employ” students who choose Owensboro.

The site lets the institutions sell themselves and lets parents see what the colleges and the community have to offer.

Links to the colleges as well as to social media and other sites also are plugged into OwensboroU.

“Our hope is that this initiative will help us work together as a region and recognize the role that higher education and a baccalaureate degree play in economic development,” Brake said.

As the partnership continues, other organizations will be engaged to tie the college population together, he said.

The new website and partnership provides a way to demonstrate the collaborations the four colleges already have and an opportunity to continue those relationships, said Gene Tice, Western’s Owensboro campus director.

The four leaders have been meeting regularly for a number of years.

“Parents are very interested in the community where their students will live,” said Cheryl King, KWC’s president. “This gives us a chance to showcase our community for its safety and amenities such as our emerging downtown which is exciting to students and to show that we are a community that will care about them.”

The partnership shows that more may be achieved through collaboration, even though each college is different, King said.

Jim Klauber, president of Owensboro Community & Technical College, likes the idea of each institution sharing the message that it’s an exciting time to be a college student and to come to Owensboro. That message rings true for OCTC as it is creating niche programs to help students pursue their careers, he said.

Bringing together both the message of quality education with quality of place in Owensboro is important to Brescia, said its president, Rev. Larry Hostetter.

“Our students who come here do tend to stay,” he said

Brake said city and county officials support the idea that “education is about preparing for work, but it also is about making your life better.”

Lyn Cooper, president and CEO of First Security Inc., said the partnership and website is a unique collaboration among the colleges and EDC.

“It promotes knowledge of what we have in Owensboro,” Cooper said. “And we especially like it because on one site, students and families can compare the institutions. I applaud the EDC, and I think this is a great move in the right direction.”

Students, including existing college students, will find information links about internships, activities and housing.

Parents have their own sections with separate links to a number of data points including crime statistics, arts, jobs, housing and night life.



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EDC AND LOCAL COLLEGES ANNOUNCE LAUNCHING OF OWENSBOROU.COM

The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation (GO-EDC) along with Brescia University, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Owensboro Community and Technical College, and Western Kentucky University - Owensboro will announce a partnership at a news conference tomorrow to focus on quality of place and amenities to make Owensboro a destination for college students. We will be officially launching OwensboroU.com – a web portal to market Owensboro to current and prospective students and their parents to help create the best college community experience possible.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 10, at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Commerce Center
200 East Third Street, 3rd Floor Training Room
Owensboro, KY

Tri-state economic leaders visit Washington to support I-69 and energy policy

Regional Chamber and EDC delegation with Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar

A delegation of chamber of commerce and economic development executives from Henderson, Southwest Indiana, and Owensboro visited Washington, D.C. earlier this week to push for federal help with Interstate 69 funding more job-friendly energy regulations, and responsible fiscal policy,

Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce President Jody Wassmer and EDC President Nick Brake joined Henderson-Henderson County Chamber of Commerce President Brad Schneider, Chamber of Commerce of Southwestern Indiana President & CEO Matt Meadors, Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana Board Chairman Jeff Deig and  Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana President Greg Wathen to make the trip.

On Tuesday, May 3 the group was briefed on the status of energy, workforce and transportation legislation by U.S. Chamber of Commerce policy experts , then attended meetings with Kentucky congressmen Ed Whitfield and Brett Guthrie, Indiana Congressman Larry Bucshon, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell and Indiana Senator Richard Lugar. On Wednesday, May 4 the delegation met with Indiana Senator Dan Coats and also got a briefing on transportation issues from staff members of the Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors.


"I-69 and energy are two of the most significant large-scale economic issues the communities of the Tri-State share in common," Henderson Chamber's Brad Schneider said. "So it's important that we take a regional approach to advocacy efforts on those subjects. The lawmakers we visited appreciated that and encouraged us to continue to work together."

Brake said the feedback from lawmakers was similar in each meeting. "We delivered a powerful message about how our region works together," he said. 


"They all support the construction of I-69 in Indiana and Kentucky, and they all understand the importance of a new bridge to link the two states," said Wassmer. "Funding is the problem, especially with the debate about the budget deficit now under way in Washington and the reauthorization of the federal highways bill still in limbo. But we hope our lawmakers can help get the I-69 bridge in the bill in some form or fashion, and in our meetings we discussed some ways that could happen."


"As for energy, all the legislators we met with are dedicated to reign in unreasonable EPA regulations that threaten not only coal and power producers in our region but all the manufacturers and other businesses that rely on our relatively low energy prices. We told them we wholeheartedly support them."


This is the second straight year area chamber and EDC officials have travelled together to Washington to tout I-69, energy policy, and responsible fiscal policy.   

Independence Bank ranks second in the nation among community banks

Independence Bancshares Inc. has grabbed the No. 2 spot in a leading financial intelligence provider’s ranking of the best-performing community banks in the country with between $500 million and $5 billion in assets.

Texas-based Westar Bank Holding Co. Inc. was No. 1 in the national rankings.

Independence, with $1.012 billion in assets, did not significantly out-perform the top 100 banks in any one category used for the analysis, but it scored well enough across the board to lock in second place.

That assessment came from SNL Financial, which provides information and analysis for banks, financial, insurance, real estate, energy and media/communications companies.

“That means there was nothing extreme in any one area,” Independence President Darrell Higginbotham said. “We performed well enough in all categories to earn that second ranking.”

Of the 760 community banks that fit SNL’s criteria for the rankings, none has more than 60 offices.

If consolidated information was reported, the bank was ranked at the holding company level. Otherwise, SNL used commercial bank subsidiary data.

Higginbotham said another major takeaway from the No. 2 ranking is that it’s an asset for the community to have a nationally-ranked bank with the strength and stability to meet the region’s financial needs.

Here is Independence’s performance in the six areas that were ranked: 1.89 percent in return on average tangible assets before tax; .11 percent in net charge-offs as a percent of average loans; .46 percent adjusted nonperforming loans as a percent of total loans; 54.46 percent operating expenses as a percent of operating revenue; 4.37 percent net interest margin; 9.02 percent loan growth rate.

Higginbotham and CEO Chris Reid attribute the company’s success to its quality employees.

“We also think that it’s a validation of our strategies, of how we provide community bank services, and that communities are responding to how we do business,” Higginbotham said.

Northern Bancorp Inc. of Woburn, Mass. kept its net charge-offs to almost zero (.01 percent) to make it into the third slot.

Kentucky placed seven of its 22 banks eligible for this analysis in the top 100.

Independence Bank’s roots are in McLean County where Farmers & Merchants Bank opened in 1909. The modern-day history, however, began in 1971 when Charles A. Reid and Maurice E. Reisz purchased that bank and Providence State Bank in Webster County.

Soon after, current CEO Chris Reid joined his father and uncle and assumed a leadership role in the banks. In 1997, the two small banks were incorporated under one name, Independence Bank.

The bank has grown fast with offices now in Henderson and Owensboro, Sebree, Beech Grove, Hawesville, Lewisport, Bowling Green and Paducah.

The banks now employ more than 250 people.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

Community Campus receives grant funding

Community Campus has received two grants totaling $125,000 to fund and help expand the campus’ biomedical and energy technology academies that will enroll students in the fall and next year.

An experimental partnership between local school districts, colleges and businesses, Community Campus is tasked with finding new ways to educate students. The goal is to better prepare students for college or the job market by teaching them real-world situations and applications of their lessons.

These grants are both funded by the national education initiative Project Lead the Way, according to a release from Daviess County Public Schools, one of the key partners in Community Campus.

Marcia Carpenter, DCPS College and Career Readiness Coordinator, said Project Lead the Way is an education initiative based on improving education, just as Community Campus is.

“Project Lead the Way, what makes it unique is that it is relevant, the learning that students do is meaningful and everything is related to a real-world situation. Students are hungry for relevance,” Carpenter said. “I think the fact that we received the grant is an acknowledgement of the faith they have in what is being done in this area.”

The first grant, $50,000, will go to the Life Sciences Academy that is due to enroll students for the 2012-13 school year. The funds will be used to implement a four-class course of study under the academy.

“The Life Science Academy will start for the 2012-13 school year and this grant provides the start-up money for the Project Lead the Way Biomedical Program, which will be the anchor for that academy,” Carpenter said. “It’s all learning by doing. All of the projects are based on simulations of real-life situations ... “It (the grant) also directly meets the needs that have been identified in our community for a growing health care community.”

The second grant, worth $75,000, will go to fund the Construction, Energy and Trades Academy and create an integrated pipeline course that will help middle school students interested in energy-related fields get on track to that academy.

“The energy-technology side starts with middle school. It’s a pipeline program that will lead into high school for an awareness on the kind of energy that we are using, the kinds of energy we’ll be using in the future and the consequences of energy use, such as pollution control,” Carpenter said.

Daviess County Public Schools Superintendent Tom Shelton said the grant funding is a big boost to Community Campus.

“I think it’ll definitely help us move Community Campus and our academies forward,” Shelton said. “This really builds the foundation for us in each of these programs.”

Shelton added that because of the cooperative nature of Community Campus, this money goes to help more than just one school system.

“It’ll benefit not only our district, but students from other surrounding school districts as well,” Shelton said. “These grants allow us also to have further conversations about how to structure programs for the future and continue to expand opportunities for students that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Dariush Shafa, 691-7302, dshafa@messenger-inquirer.com