The BBER’s update to its project “An Organizational Chart of the Region’s Economic Development Agencies,” which was funded by the Area Partnership for Economic Expansion (APEX), has been used by economic development agencies for intra-industry knowledge and communication. Below are ten interesting facts the BBER found from doing the project.
- More than thirty entities perform some type of economic development service in the ten-county region (Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, Pine and St. Louis Counties in Minnesota and Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, and Washburn Counties in Wisconsin) of Northeastern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin. .
- New entities added to the publication in the 2021 update include Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
- More than half of the entities included in the final report list “business retention and expansion” as one of their top three specialties, while only six agencies listed “workforce development” as a top-three specialty.
- Lake County, Minnesota, is the only county in the ten-county region without a dedicated economic development agency.
- Nearly every entity that responded to our survey listed multiple partner organizations—including city governments, local banks, chambers of commerce, foundations, tourism organizations, and nonprofits.
- Don’t get confused, but there are FIVE economic development entities in the area whose titles begin with the word NORTH: Northeast Minnesota Small Business Development Center, NORTHFORCE, Northland Connection, Northland Foundation, and Northspan Group, Inc.
- The economic development agency that is actually furthest north is the Koochiching Economic Development Agency (KEDA), which is located in International Falls, Minnesota, and serves all of Koochiching County.
- Nine of the 30 entities have headquarters in downtown Duluth, all within a five-block radius.
- While only seven entities are located in Wisconsin, 15 list some portion of Wisconsin as part of their service area.
- Key industries served by local economic development organizations include aviation, forestry, early childhood, housing, senior services, telecommuting, agriculture, tourism, healthcare, technology, data storage, commercial fishing, and many more!
Click here to access the full report, which includes detailed information about all of the regional economic development organizations.