“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.”– William Faulkner
This week offers a great opportunity to not only be grateful, but to express it to the people, organizations and institutions that help develop your economy. Each day, there are individuals who quietly help small businesses start and grow, enable placemaking by navigating the complexities of local processes, connect employers with government and private sector resources to maximize program benefits, and assemble new projects that allow companies and public-private partnerships to build new facilities.
These are just a few of the vital contributions economic developers make to improve our lives. If asked, most of them would tell you that their payoff is in lives changed, not jobs created, or capital invested. Without their expertise, so many entrepreneur’s visions, elected leader’s civic goals, and board room plans would fail. Economic developers piece together deals, translate between government and business leaders, and simply get things done. Few know their names, but everyone takes advantage of their results.
Finally, thank you to our economic development partners and stakeholders that enable these organizations to do their important work. Let’s have an especially great and grateful week, lift each other up, and move forward together!