With the national unemployment rate hovering at 10%, and the economic condition of many states and communities even worse than the U.S. economy, what strategies are available for American communities to lead their own economic rebound?

Many communities hope to improve their economy by recruiting new companies to town. Unfortunately, with more businesses curtailing employment than announcing expansion plans, such business recruitment strategies are difficult to implement.

Still other communities are working hard to hold on to what they have. Business retention and expansion strategies focus upon existing businesses, and foster their growth.

For many communities, Business Recruitment and Business Retention/Expansion are the only two strategies deployed. One reason for this is that many times community leaders—both elected and non-elected— know of no other approaches.

Fortunately, a new economic development strategic planning book will soon be available which will present 25 executable economic development strategies.

Author and economic development practitioner Brian D. Cole has written Building Communities: 25 Strategies to Advance America. In this groundbreaking book, Cole presents 25 viable economic development strategies.

“Some of these economic development strategies are the traditional business development approaches. Still others are focused more on community development and quality of life,” said Cole.

The Building Communities book outlines four general business development strategies, four sector- specific development strategies, four value-added processing strategies, four tourism development strategies, four community development strategies, and five other strategies that can work for one or more American community.

“Business recruitment and business retention are two of 25 viable strategies that can help American communities improve their economic condition and overall quality of life,” said Cole. “Communities are well served, however, if they seriously consider every viable strategy.”

In his upcoming book, Cole graphically presents the relative job creation and quality of life benefits of each of the 25 strategies. In addition, Cole assesses the challenges that every community must confront to successfully implement one or more of the strategies. Cole refers to this as “strategy complexity”.

“These are challenging times, and local budgets are being cut,” said Cole. “Communities that continue to invest in economic development staffing and target the right strategies will be the winners in the economic rebound of 2010 and 2011.”

Comparative Advantages of using the Building Communities Economic Development Strategic Planning Metholodogy vs. traditional planning methods

Are you ready to begin the Building Communities planning process? Building Communities is ready for you!