An economic development strategy seven months in the making is helping the greater Paducah area seize opportunities for growth. Jonas Neihoff of Socially Present talks to Tracy Ross on Sounds Good about the second objective of Paducah Economic Development’s Forward Paducah Initiative: Helping Businesses Succeed.
The Initiative has six strategic goals: cultivating talent, helping businesses succeed, inspiring innovation, celebrating culture, telling your story, and investing in yourself.
The goal of helping businesses succeed relies on understanding the needs of local businesses. Neihoff says lacking knowledge of available resources, like tax breaks and credits and trainings, is a common obstacle to success.
“One of the things that is part of this working vision is to create programs that help support [businesses] retention and expansion in our area… that will help the overall wealth of our economy,” Neihoff said.
Neihoff says Paducah Economic Development has so far done a good job of bringing county and city officials together to develop a plan for the benefit of both greater Paducah and McCracken County. In the future, he says the goal is to have each entity focus on individual projects laid out in the larger plan.
Also included under the objective of helping business succeed is encouraging private business leaders to actively lead and participate in community development initiatives.
“Bringing people that are in the trenches growing their business and helping our community grow, bringing them to the table and listening from the frontline, what do you need to be better equipped to help us grow as a community, and getting their input and their wisdom back on ideas that we need to help our community grow,” Neihoff said.
Neihoff says another objective of the Forward Paducah Initiative addresses celebrating success.
“I think that in and of itself can sometimes do wanders for helping businesses succeed. Just creating a culture to where we’re encouraged and we see success all around us and it inspires us to keep going and continue to make that next move in our business.”
The full Forward Paducah plan is outlined at the city’s website.
