Columbus unites: Columbus Area Economic Growth Council brings together community groups.

AuthorMayer, Kathy
PositionREGIONAL REPORT: SOUTH CENTRAL

EXISTING BUSINESSES want continued success. Economic developers seek new enterprises. Educators hope to provide viable learning opportunities. Tourism wants to increase its numbers. And the whole community wants to thrive. How might these interests come together to achieve separate yet linked goals?

In Columbus, the answer is the Columbus Area Economic Growth Council, launched in January 2007 to bring five nonprofits and three governmental groups together. John Burnett, volunteer council chairman and president of Irwin Financial Foundation, calls it a federation model.

"These organizations are very successful in their own right," Burnett says of the convening members. "We decided it was important to have discussions among these organizations, many of whom who worked together semi-informally for a long time. We asked, 'How could we build an even stronger community and quality of life?'"

The answer: "By converging ideas, thoughts and the work of all these wonderful organizations. We decided it would be more powerful if we worked together."

But the groups have not merged. They are not operating as a single entity with a single board. The Economic Growth Council has no office, no staff, no telephone number, no budget.

Instead, 17 members representing the eight groups meet monthly as a council to work on five shared goals. Those are: sustained economic growth, business recruitment and retention, aligned strategic plans focused on economic growth, sufficient human resource infrastructure and a welcoming environment.

Governmental entities in the council are the City of Columbus, Columbus Redevelopment Commission and Monroe County Commissioners. The nonprofit organizations are Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, Columbus Area Visitors Center, Columbus Economic Development Board, Columbus Enterprise Development Corp. that focuses on small businesses and Community Education Coalition.

"We have used the Growth Council to develop a strategic plan, and then the work is accomplished through the member organizations," Burnett says. "All the member organizations come to the council because they want to be there, working together."

"There was always a lot of interaction between the different groups, but it was more ad hoc," says Courtney Carr, executive director of the Columbus Economic Development Board, now on leave to serve with the National Guard in Iraq. "The Growth Council provides a medium to synchronize our respective efforts. We have a work plan...

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