Northwoods Economic Summit

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Northwoods Economic Summit

• New North Update
• October 6, 2009
• Bill Ward, NEW Northstar Solutions, LLC

thenewnorth.com
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The New North
18 Counties 1.2 Million People 2nd Largest
Economic Region in the State
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New North - Who

• A consortium of business, economic development,
  chambers of commerce, workforce development,
  civic, non-profit, and education leaders in 18
  counties of Northeast Wisconsin who work together
  to promote and expand economic development of the
  region
• Supported by more than 120 investors since its
  beginning in 2004

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Working Together - a Core Value Collaboration

• Individual commitment to a group effort -- that
  is what makes a team work, a company work, a
  society work, a civilization work.
• - Vince Lombardi

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NEWERA, NEWREP, NEWCC, WFDB(s), Planning
Commission, etc.
Design and build collaborative regional
organization New North, Inc.
RD
Select markets
Staffing Facilities, etc
Web
Task group coord.
2004
2009
.Capacity building..via collaboration
Organize task groups around six initiatives
Defined work
Branding Effort (December, 05)
Northeast Wisconsin Economic Opportunity Study
(October, 04)
Private Industry Leaders
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New North Shared Vision

• To be recognized as nationally
• and globally competitive for
• job growth while maintaining
• a superior quality of life.

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New North Manufacturing jobs

• Source WI Department of Workforce Development /
  Bureau of Workforce Information, and U.S. Bureau
  of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of
  Employment and Wages

Metric New North Wisconsin U.S
Manufacturing jobs 2007 23.8 18.0 10.3
Total job growth, all sectors (2002-2007) 4.0 3.3 5.6
Manufacturing job growth (2002-2007) -4.4 -5.1 -9.1
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Strategic Priorities Update

• Business Development
• Implement Targeted Growth Opportunities
• Support Entrepreneurial Climate And Small
  Business
• Talent
• Elevate Educational Attainment
• Attract, Develop and Retain Diverse Talent
• Leverage Regional Brand as uniquely
  competitive
• Sustainability focused on the regional economy
  (new strategy)

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Wind Power Wins
Tower Tech (Manitowoc) added 100 jobs
Wausaukee Composites (Wausaukee and Cuba City)
added 100 jobs
Merit Gear (Antigo) invests 22 million dollars
to expand
Badger Transport (Clintonville) transports towers
and turbines
Lakeshore Technical College (Cleveland) has 25
new students enrolled in its Wind Energy
Technology Program
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Support Entrepreneurial and Small Business Climate
Entrepreneur/Small Business Technical Assistance
Resources
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Entrepreneurship
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Talent Percent with education or training beyond
high school (2000 census)
Wisconsin 50.5 United States 51.8
Source Census 2000, SF3, PCT-25 per WI DWD report
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Talent Percent with Bachelors degree and more
(2000 census)
Wisconsin 22.4 United States 24.4
Source Census 2000, SF3, PCT-25 per WI DWD report
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Talent Education

• 5th in the nation in Occupational (AA) degrees
  (Technical Colleges)
• Improve other education achievement gaps 4 year
  colleges
• New College collaboratives for Engineering degree
  programs UW Stout, UW GB, NWTC also UW
  Platteville UW Fox Valley
• Manufacturers Alliance
• 21st Century Skill sets
• Wis Careers

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Talent Attract, Develop, Retain Diverse Talent

• Attract/Retain
• Marketing strategies development
• Systems to assist trailing spouse/partners/others
• Include diverse input for strengths of New North
• Develop
• Improved online resource information for careers
  in New North
• Diversity Support
• Speakers Bureau
• Linking of Affinity Groups
• Recognition of Employers transfer
• of learnings

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Sustainability

• New Strategy Area for 2009
• Promoting triple bottom line
• People, Profits, Planet
• Start regional Green Jobs Initiative

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Focused on Collaboration

• Upper Menominee River Regional Alliance
• Niagara Mill site
• Activities
• Current status

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How this applies

• Workforce Development efforts (MI and WI)
• Educational Attainment
• Work with NWTC to position the Niagra mill site
  re-training for re-use prospecting activities
• Entrepreneurial support systems
• Niagara/Iron Mountain specific
• Targeting/Cluster development
• Feedstock study by Resource Analytics
• Work with Newpage/Sanabe/others
• Reuse planning..Ayers and Associates report
• Prospect work
• Sustaining assets, economy, new work, new
  opportunities
• Branded as a demonstration of collaborative
  effort to a common set of objectives.

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Regional sub regional initiatives

• New Norths strategic initiatives work at an 18
  county regional landscape
• They also work at a sub-regional landscape like
  UMRRA
• They work at a specific economic development site
  at a very local level such as Niagara/Iron-Mountai
  n.

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Congratulations

• The work is not complete, but it has come a long
  way.