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Grow Cedar Valley outlines business recruitment, workforce programs and a Cedar Valley population study
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Summary
Grow Cedar Valley told council it engaged 18 new prospects since December, completed 55 business visits this fiscal year (32 in Waterloo), plans site-selector visits in September, emphasized foreign direct investment and hired Civic Soul to lead a Cedar Valley population study with stakeholder roundtables June 24.
Katie, representative, Grow Cedar Valley, and Grow Cedar Valley staff gave the City Council and mayor a multi-part update on economic development, business retention and expansion, workforce initiatives and a new population study for the Cedar Valley.
Adrienne Miller, director of business services and advocacy for Grow Cedar Valley, said the organization has expanded business retention engagement across the Cedar Valley and reported 55 business visits completed or scheduled this fiscal year, with 32 of those in Waterloo. "We continue to find that in person engagement is the most effective way to connect with companies," Katie said when describing lead-generation trips and outreach.
The presentation reported 18 new prospects for Waterloo since December. Grow Cedar Valley described recent lead-generation trips that began with large prospect lists — the West Coast trip started with 1,051 companies and produced five new business opportunities; the East Coast trip began with 1,548 companies and produced four opportunities, two of which were advancing to visit planning.
The organization said it participated in the SelectUSA Investment Summit with five one-on-one meetings and planned a lead-generation trip to the Netherlands with six meetings scheduled. Grow Cedar Valley said it plans to host three site-selection consultants in the Cedar Valley Sept. 9–11 to assess sites, incentives, workforce and quality-of-life factors.
On workforce and talent, Stephanie Detweiler, director of talent and workforce, described the Cedar Valley Intern Connect program: 30 participants last year with 100% reporting increased connectedness to the Cedar Valley, and 32 interns already signed up for the current year representing 19 businesses. Detweiler also described the Cedar Valley Young Professionals program launched this year with membership starting July 1 ($90 for non–Grow Cedar Valley investors; $75 for Grow Cedar Valley members) and said the group has had 274 young-professional attendees at five events since January.
Grow Cedar Valley outlined a population study intended to reverse a projected five-year population decline in the Cedar Valley MSA (Black Hawk, Bremer and Grundy counties). The organization said it issued an RFP in January, received 15 proposals, interviewed five firms and selected Civic Soul (Austin, Texas) for the study because of Civic Soul’s partnership with the Lightcast data provider and their emphasis on stakeholder involvement. Civic Soul is scheduled to visit the Cedar Valley in June and Grow Cedar Valley asked council members to participate in roundtables planned for June 24.
Operational and coordination items listed included a goal of 60 business retention and expansion (BRE) visits in the coming year, quarterly economic development office (EDO) roundtables with city staff and utility partners, more aggressive external business recruitment and continued emphasis on foreign direct investment once Grow Cedar Valley’s board finalizes the next fiscal-year budget.
Council members asked for the roundtable schedule and meeting logistics; Grow Cedar Valley said it would email save-the-date and roundtable invitations. There was no formal council vote; the update was informational and Grow Cedar Valley closed by thanking the city for the partnership.
