The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) was engaged by the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in Pikeville, Ky., to review plans and make recommendations for the development of a regional economic development initiative, One Eastern Kentucky. One Eastern Kentucky is an initiative supported by five chambers of commerce in a nine-county region (Floyd, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, Perry and Pike counties).
A panel of experts from the IEDC membership, along with two IEDC staff, visited the region on May 12 – 14, 2014, to meet with Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce staff and regional stakeholders. Expert panelists included:
• Howard Benson, Founder/CEO, National Community Development Services (NCDS)
• Austin Burke, former President, Scranton (Pa.) Chamber of Commerce
• Brett Doney, President/CEO, Great Falls (Mont.) Development Authority
The panel was accompanied by IEDC senior associates Dana Crater and Louise Anderson.
During the visit, the IEDC team focused on the potential organizational structure of One Eastern Kentucky, fundraising strategies to support the new organization and staff, the structure of the new organization’s leadership, involvement of the public sector, and identifying qualifications for its first president/CEO.
The project was funded by a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration focused on helping regions prepare for and respond to the economic impacts of disasters. The IEDC team believes that forming an organization focused specifically on economic development will strengthen the region’s economy and increase its resilience in responding to future disasters from an economic perspective. The following report discusses the findings from the site visit and recommendations to support the formation of One Eastern Kentucky.
IEDC would like to acknowledge U.S. Economic Development Administration for funding this grant. IEDC also would like to thank Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI) for their donation of software and Southwest Airlines, a community partner, for flying team members to the site visit.