An economic developer must also be a community developer. Some may not appreciate the distinction, as the terms “community development” and “economic development” often are used interchangeably. A successful community recognizes and understands the strategic relationship between these distinct but interrelated and interdependent roles.
In today’s competitive global economy, that relationship must be emphasized in the work of the Economic Development Partnership and our partner organizations, while it must be advocated to our local governments, businesses, civic groups, and the citizens. Thanks to the editorial leadership of the Advocate-Messenger for providing this opportunity to share some thoughts on this and other important development issues in the future through the format of this column.
So, what’s the difference between economic and community development? A veteran economic development professional, Robert W. Shively, hit the nail on the head in his book, “Economic Development for Small Communities: A Handbook for Economic Development Practitioners.” Quoting Frank Sinatra’s old tune, “Love and Marriage,” Shively uniquely describes the relationship between community development and economic development: You can’t have one without the other. Says Shively: “The two activities are complementary, not competitive. They are different sides of the same coin.”
Shively’s point should be taken a step further: Community development must precede economic development. To use chess terms, community development involves the crucial opening and middle games that determine whether the end game of economic development can be won. Community development builds a community’s capacity to attract the creation of wealth (or economic development) through:
• public facilities, such as schools, libraries, parks, hospitals, cultural attractions and recreational facilities
• public infrastructure, such as roads, airports, water, sewer, broadband, electricity and natural gas
• public governance, including local government leadership, organization, procedures, services, regulation and tax policy
These three main aspects of community development are important quality-of-life factors existing and new businesses seriously consider before making a decision to invest capital or create jobs in a location. These features are largely the functions of public (government) decision-making and financing.
Continuing the chess analogy, economic development is the end game of wealth creation, in which both existing and new businesses invest capital and/or create jobs. Economic development results from decisions and investments made by the private sector (business) in a community.
In other words, if economic development is the product, community development is the process to get there. A progressive cycle of growth then develops: Community development provides the capacity for economic development (wealth creation) to occur, which expands the tax base and enhances tax revenues to empower local governments with the financial resources to improve community development, which in turn promotes an ever-improving environment for continued economic growth.
Consider a local example: Last year, the Danville City Commission wisely decided to update and expand its aging water treatment plant on Lexington Road, not only to meet new federal water quality standards but also to build additional excess capacity for future growth in our region. As with any complex infrastructure project of such magnitude, the price tag was considerable — estimated at $28.6 million. This project is a critically important initiative for our community’s economic development.
Why? With more excess capacity of treated water, Danville-Boyle County becomes an even more attractive location for water-intensive industries like food processing. Food processing is not a business that can easily go “off shore,” nor will Americans ever accept our staple food items having the label “Made in Mexico” or elsewhere outside of our federal food safety regulations. Therefore, with sound community development of our water resources, economic development opportunities for the food processing industry are enhanced. Community development thus makes economic development possible.
EDP’s strength derives from its partnership between our community’s public and private sectors. Together, we will continue to be aggressive in advocating for the crucial relationship between community development and economic development. Again, you can’t have one without the other!
Jody Lassiter is president and CEO of the Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership.
