The Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corporation (Tri-ED) created the Build and Elevate Campaign after the pandemic to study what could disrupt growth in the region.
The four initiatives outlined in the campaign as ways to avoid growth disruption are:
- Data-informed community decision-making
- Activate the Northern Kentucky Port Authority
- Deliver customized workforce solutions
- Target business attraction
The Kenton County Fiscal Court approved the investment into the Tri-ED Build and Elevate Campaign at its July 26 meeting.
Kenton County will invest $100,000 annually to the campaign over five years, for $500,000 total.
“If we can address these four things, it really does give us an opportunity to build and elevate that prosperity in the economy and quality of life we enjoy today,” President of Tri-ED Lee Crume said.
Tri-ED helps existing businesses grow and recruit new businesses in Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties.
“As of today, about 80% of the contributions we have in the Build and Elevate Campaign are from the private sector. And we’ve asked the counties, Kenton, Campbell, and Boone, to invest,” Cume said.
The goal is to raise $4.5 million over five years, Cume said. With the contributions they hope to see from Boone and Kenton Counties, he said they would be at just over $4.6 million.
Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann said the court had budgeted its contribution and commitment to Tri-ED for its efforts over the next few years.
“We’re working right now on putting together really kind of a request for proposal (RFP) to help study that (workforce) project,” Crume said. “But I think as we get down the line, you know, a year from now being able to say here are the underlying problems that affect the workforce, here are ways that we can solve workforce and then operationalize those over years two, three, and four.”
Here’s a breakdown of the four initiatives:
Data-Informed Community Decision Making
The annual budget outlined for this is $125,000 to retain economic data.
Crume said Tri-ED wants to bring data to the community for decision-making in forums like government meetings and in public discussions that Tri-ED might convene so that people understand what drives business and what are limiting factors of growth in the community.
According to the campaign initiatives, Tri-ED plans to do this by bringing together resources from the NKU Center for Economic Analysis and Development, NKY Chamber, Cincinnati Chamber, and others to develop a list of regional challenges.
Also outlined in their initiatives is a plan to make data publicly available by developing an interactive website.
According to the campaign outline, Tri-ED also wants to facilitate community discussion around data.
Port Authority
According to the campaign outline, the annual budget is $400,000 to identify sites for future private commercial and industrial development and redevelopment.
A Port Authority is a government commission that manages ports and other transportation infrastructure.
Tri-ED’s actions outlined in the campaign to make this viable will be implementing a plan for sustainability for the Northern Kentucky Port Authority.
Another goal outlined in the campaign is to develop the Âfinancial ability to do projects that create tradeable sector growth or services that are “traded” to other cities or counties in our region and create career opportunities.
“We’re kind of unique, and we’re kind of not unique in the workforce, but we’re a prosperous community with a very high labor participation rate,” Crume said. “So, if we’re going to grow the economy, how do we address workforce needs? The judges’ executives, all three of them, have already started to convene to say, as a community, how do we come together and create some solutions because this is not going to be easy.”
Deliver Customized Workforce Solutions
Tri-ED has a $200,000 annual budget for this goal to address current and future workforce needs in tradable industries.
According to the campaign initiatives, they plan to do this by conducting a workforce analysis of skillsets, employee needs, etc., in the trade sector. The campaign says they will conduct company surveys and interviews to measure success.
The last action outlined is to develop programming aligned with recruitment and programs that leverage education, training, and incentives for future needs in the trade sector.
Targeted Business Attraction
Tri-Ed outlined an annual budget of $175,00 to retain and attract companies to Northern Kentucky.
According to the campaign initiatives, the company plans to boost its existing Business Retention and Expansion program. Work with partners like REDI Cincinnati, CVG, and post-secondary education to develop growth solutions to grow new and existing businesses.
The campaign also outlines business expansion through marketing and in-person business attraction programs.
“We have a finite opportunity to grow the economy of Northern Kentucky. Because the amount of land that we have to develop is finite, the amount of workforce that we have to develop is finite, and the amount of office space is finite,” Crume said. “What we really want to be targeted and what we try to attract to the community for the greatest gain.”
The four initiatives total $900,000 yearly, over their five-year plan, for the $4.5 million goal Tri-ED set in fundraising for the campaign.
