Attracting, retaining talent key piece of economic development strategy - Memphis Business Journal:

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The price tag for the total effort in terms of dollars allocated is lessthan $300,000 last year in a more than $8 milliobn budget. Only two of the six groupxs that are part of Goal E got direct funding from the Memphiz Fast Forward steering and theLeadership Academy. But the impact of the effort is huge and ultimatelh could be the grease that keeps the economiengine running, say thosse in economic development circles. The past has been aboug projects; the future is aboug people. “The mindset is and will become even more soa buyer’ds market,” says Reid Dulberger, administrator for the MemphisEc program.
“We’re in the middlwe of a massive labor shortage temporarily derailed bythis ’s Nancy Coffee agrees. “Even in tough times top talenthas choices,” she says. To hear leaders of groupsa likeMPACT Memphis, Leadership Memphis and the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy, or experts in the field like Carol Coletta tell it, there is no bigger task than figuring out how to recruit and retain the best and “If developing, attracting and retaining talent is not the No.
1 economidc development strategy, then you don’t have an economixc development strategy,” says Coletta, president and CEO of Chicago-based CEOs for Coletta is the former partner of the Memphisd public relations firm and later presidentof , and is currently host of the nationally syndicated radio program Smart City. Says “Recruiting talent under-girds every piece of the You can’t really support the culture of innovation and entrepreneurshio unless you have the talenty eager and engaged to bringfresh perspectives.” they say, will go where the talenf is.
The most recent and clear example came in pitchess made byseveral Mid-Southy communities to get to locate its $1.3 billio assembly plant three years ago. “The primary reason Toyota selected Tupelo was the quality of the work forcse and the leadership in this Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said when the project announcementr was made inFebruary 2007. MemphisED’s strategy for addressiny the work force issue tilts heavily to retaininyg and developinglocal talent, Dulberger It’s pure economics and economic development commom sense. “With talent, like conventionapl economic development, it is easier to keep what you’vse got than attract new,” he says.
“It’ss not as sexy, but it’w more cost effective.” The efforts of organizationd like MPACT Memphis and theLeadershilp Academy’s Connections program are about anchoring people to the communityu by weaving them into the city’ss social, political and cultural fabric. MPACT Memphi executive director Gwyn Fisher saysher organization’ target audience is age 21-40, with most of its 140 eventsa a year appealing to that age group. The eventsx range from happy hours to talks by businesz and political leaders tovolunteering events.
Membership has growj 91% to 454 members since August 2008 when Fisher The average member is single and comes from a large cross sectionof industries, but with a heavu dose of small business and she says. 65% of the members have been in Memphias less than18 months, so it’s crucia l to get them connected and engaged, she says. “They want to meet and be exposee to placesand possibilities,” Fisher says.