Business Courier Articles
Partnership’s next phase relies on visionary investors
June 2008
Neil Bortz
When the initiative now known as the Cincinnati USA Partnership was conceived in 1984, it promised to fill a crucial role: Coordinate the many entities involved in local business retention and attraction, and lead the continuous generation and cultivation of economic development opportunities to enhance our regional vitality.
A quarter century later, the Partnership has clearly delivered on its promise. Partnership-assisted projects have created 50,000 new jobs and largely shaped our regional identity and progress. Today, Cincinnati USA competes as an important global market. The Partnership is a model for regional collaboration across state and county lines, and we continue to open avenues for next-level growth.
From 2004-07 alone, the Partnership managed 800 leads and closed 78, resulting in 8,300 new jobs and nearly $1 billion in new investment.
• The Partnership expertly manages relationships with clients and their representatives, its many regional economic development partners, and governmental entities.
• The Partnership is skilled at prospect development, especially through “multipliers” — site location consultants, accountants, attorneys and foreign trade offices — all of whom have disproportionate influence on investment decisions.
• The Partnership is known for winning projects against competing communities, earning distinction as one of the top 10 economic development organizations in the U.S. in 2007.
Each phase in the ongoing campaign serves as a springboard for the next, and the 2009-2013 phase will revolve around several priorities:
• Because our own business leaders are our best ambassadors and are intimately involved in the Partnership’s efforts, more prospects will be personally engaged by their Cincinnati USA peers.
• Our development efforts will be more data-driven, with industry cluster-analysis defining our best specific investment targets.
• Our global resources will spur more leads, which the Partnership is adept at handling.
• Increased measurement of our progress and its critical success factors will add accountability and generate greater performance.
• Enhanced communications will let Partnership investors better understand their regional ROI.
In the next five years, the Partnership will significantly contribute to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, the attraction of over a billion dollars in new capital investment, an increase in the supply of talented workers, and the growth of the tax base in our urban core and throughout the entire region.
Cincinnati USA is at a tipping point as we enter the 2009-2013 Partnership Campaign. Remaining an economic development leader requires resources commensurate with our ambitions. Because the Partnership’s $6.5 million annual operating budget will come primarily from private funding, your financial support is critical as we look to grow the overall investor base.
When you invest in the Partnership, you are quite literally investing in the prosperity of the entire region. Each contribution covers the broad range of the Partnership’s work, including its two affiliated initiatives, CincyTech USA and the Minority Business Accelerator, which target high-potential growth businesses.
If you do business here, you’re already involved and invested in our shared future. I encourage you to make the next level of commitment by joining us as a Partnership investor. You’ll fill a critical role in transforming Cincinnati USA into a thriving economic center and destination for jobs, talent and new investment.
Bortz is Partner with Towne Properties.