Center for Community and Economic Development

CCED » Economies

 

Growing Local Economies

Economic development is the process of retaining, expanding, and attracting jobs, income and wealth in a manner that improves individual economic opportunities and the quality of human life.  This section of the web site provides educational resources, tools, and data designed to help community development educators, economic development professionals, and elected officials influence the economic development process for the benefit of the community.

Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Communities - The economic impact of Wisconsin's hospitals

Wisconsin Basic Economic Development Course, September 10-13, 2012, Madison, WI - Graduation from the Wisconsin Economic Development Course fulfills one of the prerequisites for those who wish to pursue the Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) designation through the International Economic Development Council (IEDC)

BIG BOX Retail - This new section of our website provides tools and resources to help you understand Big Box retail and its affect on your community

Broadband - Planning for Community Connectivity - This page contains a list of resources, articles and studies intended to assist communities in planning for broadband connectivity.

"Building Communities" Educational Series - The Center provides "just in time learning" opportunities via this webinar series.

Community Economic Analysis: A How To Manual - This manual by Shaffer, Pulver and Hustedde was first published in 1984 but updated in 2005 by Ron Hustedde. You can order a copy of the manual from the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development for $12, by going to: http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/pubs/contents/186.htm or you can look at a read-only version of the manual for free by going to: http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/pubs/contents/rrd186-readonly.pdf

Community Economic Profiles/Data Sources - Many Communities and Counties prepare fact sheets with relevant community and economic information. These county/community profiles come in a variety of shapes and sizes but this page provides links to County profiles, or data that you might want to include in a profile. Obviously, thought should be given to the intended audience for the profiles before making a decision about what to include in your community profile. This is not an exhaustive list bur rather a short list of some of the better data sources on the web.

Community Economic Development Preparedness Index - The purpose of this preparedness index is to help communities analyze strengths and weaknesses before developing a plan to improve economic development opportunities. The index is based on your perception of activities and conditions in the community; over which you may or may not have some level of control. The compiled responses will provide a reflection of your community's readiness to: retain existing businesses and income; attract new businesses, residents, and income, and; expand small businesses and income within your community.

Community and Economic Development Toolbox
The Community and Economic Development Toolbox is a web-based resource created to guide community groups through the process of preparing for economic development action. This tool was developed by the University of Wisconsin Extension Community Economic Development Preparedness Team and has links to many useful resources and tools developed by Extension.

Community & Economic Development Toolbox, Penn State - Tools designed to help you address a number of important questions such as: What are the current employment conditions in your community, What parts of the local economy have been growing? Which industries have been declining, How does the local economy compare to other nearby economies? The state?, What are the factors leading to local employment growth? How do we identify new opportunities? This tool box was originally developed by Martin Shields who is now at Colorado State University.

Community Guide to Development Impact Analysis. In addition, there is a Flash Animation program that provides a detailed discussion of what impact analysis is, and is not, the components of conducting an impact assessment, and methods for pulling all the information together. This software (ATIOD) is now available for downloading.

Community Indicators - On-line templates that provide practical thought provoking information and stimulate discussion about significant community trends. The templates are designed to provide easy access to a variety of data about your community. They will also enable you to obtain similar data about other communities throughout the United States for comparison purposes.

Economic Development Organizations - Resources intended to assist communities with creating and managing economic development organizations. Includes links to County/Regional Economic Development Corporations in the state of Wisconsin.

Economic Snapshots - Economic Snapshots are featured weekly on the business page of the Wisconsin State Journal. Each SNAPSHOT highlights an interesting fact about the economies of Madison, Wisconsin or the Capital Region.

Econ Quiz - Econ Quiz is published Thursdays in the Business Section of the Wisconsin State Journal.

Employee Turnover Calculator - The Employee Turnover Calculator is a worksheet that will help you calculate the cost of employee turnover for your company. Knowing the cost of losing and then replacing an employee will help you determine how much you can afford to invest in keeping them. It will also help you analyze whether your investment in keeping your employees is adding to your bottom line.

First Impressions - A community assessment tool to be used to gain a visitors perspective of a community. Volunteers from two somewhat similar communities (size, location, county seat, etc.) agree to do unannounced exchange visits and then report on their findings. Participants became "secret shoppers" for the day to discover what they can about their sister city.

Fund-Raising & Grant Writing Resources - A list of resources to assist individuals, organizations, and communities in sorting through the myriad of public grant/financial assistance programs. We have also provided you with some links to assist with grant writing/proposal writing

A Guide to Preparing the Economic Development Element or a Comprehensive Plan - Wisconsin's land-use planning law (commonly called the Smart Growth Initiative) applies to all local government entities (cities, villages, towns, counties and regional planning commissions). By January 1, 2010, all incorporations, annexations, boundary changes, plat approvals and zoning ordinances -- essentially all land use regulation -- must be consistent with the adopted comprehensive plan. The statute specifies nine required elements in each comprehensive plan, as a minimum. One of the specified elements is economic development. This guide published in 2003 by the Wisconsin Economic Development Institute was drafted by an 8-member advisory committee made up of economic development professionals.

Mapping Wisconsin's Economy - Mapping Wisconsin's Economy is a visual examination of economic trends and conditions. New issues are published on a regular basis and analyze different community and economic development topics. Each issue of Mapping Wisconsin's Economy includes maps and data for download and local use.

The Northern EDGE Initiative (Economic Development and Growing  the Economy) - Northern EDGE is a demonstration project that contributes to building foundations for local job growth and business development in twenty-nine (29) targeted counties in Northern Wisconsin . This demonstration project focuses on building capacity, creating economic and workforce resources, and stimulating business and industry activity.

Resources for Communities Facing Plant Closures - The Wisconsin Department of Commerce provides information for local leaders interested in proactively responding to plant closings and layoffs in their communities. Obtain key information to assist your community in mitigating immediate negative impacts and in accessing resources to guide your long-term recovery efforts. For a list of Wisconsin Plant Closures/layoffs on the DWD Worknet site, click here.

Tourism & Community Development Resources and Applied Research Clearinghouse - A clearinghouse with links to literature and web-based resources on the topic of tourism development.

Tourism Toolbox - Resources to assist tourism entrepreneurship in Your Community.

Trade Area Analyst LT Software - Trade Area Analyst LT uses Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to map data collected by zip codes. While GIS is a powerful technology with many uses, the purpose of GIS in this application is to transform simple database information into a map format.

Publications

Labor Information - Labor reports and commuter studies are available for download.

Regional Economic Impact Assessments: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Wisconsin Studies

Using Labor Market Information to Understand Your Local Economy: A Wisconsin Cookbook , Wisconsin Economic Development Institute. What data should we use to analyze our labor market, where do we find the data, and how do we make sense of it? The Cookbook is intended to answer these questions. The guide provides an overview of labor market analysis, a list of prepared labor market reports for Wisconsin and its communities, and ends with a "cookbook" approach to performing your own labor market analysis. The appendices provide more information on data sources including descriptions, uses, and limitations, and a glossary of commonly used labor market terms. July 2004.

Community Organizational Assessment Tool

Guidelines/Commentary for Using the Community Organizational Assessment Tool, by Robert D. Bright (Retired from the Community Dynamics Institute, UWEX)

Community Economic Analysis: A How To Manual, Ron Hustedde, Ron Shaffer, Glen Pulver. This manual was revised in 2005 and is now available as a "read only" pdf file on the NCRCRD web site. Or you can download a printable copy for $12 by clicking here.

Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) Law of Wisconsin for Cities and Villages - The purpose of this fact sheet is to help elected and appointed local government officials and economic development professionals better understand one economic development tool, tax incremental financing. Authored by Joe Moskal.

Walworth County Fair: Economic Impact Analysis - Dr. Russ Kashian, Fiscal and Economic Research Center, University of Wisconsin Whitewater.

Staff Papers

Wisconsin Economic Summit White Papers

The Journal of Regional Analysis & Policy