One of the oldest and the boldest (Piedmont Triad Partnership: a North Carolina regional partnership)

If you had to pick one word to describe the Piedmont Triad Partnership, it would be ubiquitous. One of the state's first, it has a hand in just about everything that goes on within its sphere of influence, serving as a sort of supercatalyst for public policy.

"If anything needs to be done on a regional basis, this is where you find it," President Kenny Moore says. The partnership spearheaded the Piedmont Triad Strategic Plan, a 183-page document that took three years to create, involved input from hundreds of residents and sets out goals and strategies on everything from arts to health care. The partnership funded nearly half of the $200,000 report, which will be formally presented in February.

The report lists 17 initiatives. Some are already under way, such as applying for foreign-trade-zone status and starting film and sports councils. Among the other plans: creating a regional arts council and starting a work-force development program.

Most of the public-policy work is done outside the partnership, through a network of committees and task forces it helps sponsor. The seven paid staff members spend most of their time developing and following up on business leads. "We are first and foremost an economic-development agency," Moore says. "We devote 75% of our funds to that purpose."

There is no shortage of business in the Triad. The partnership has the good fortune to be based in one of the strongest industrial centers in the nation. But with three sizable cities - Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point - the region lacks a readily identifiable center the partnership can sell.

"We have to be the Piedmont Triad," Moore says. Having three fairly comparable cities "is our greatest challenge and our greatest strength. With the Piedmont Triad, we have an identity. Whether it's obvious to the outside world yet, I don't think so. That's why we were created."

The partnership uses a variety of methods to raise the region's profile and attract new business, from advertising campaigns and trade-show visits to a home page on the World Wide Web. In 1995-96, the partnership received 1,100 inquiries, about half a result of its own marketing. Of the total, 30 to 50 became qualified prospects that seriously shopped sites in the region. Site Selection magazine ranked the tri-cities as the seventh-best metropolitan area in the country for new and expanded facilities.

While the partnership does a brisk business in generating leads, it still finds that most...