Using the Tool

• Form your local knowledgeable and diverse stakeholder group to work with the existing CEDS EDD and local and regional officials and representatives.. This group should include your local representatives from workforce development boards, economic development organizations and agencies, local businesses and business associations, nonprofit organizations, local institutions, and schools, colleges and universities, among others.
  • Review the Jobs/Workforce/Education Report for information on the labor force and education resources available at a regional and local level.
  • Glean information about growing industries and trends from CEDS Regional and County reports—you will want to read the Regional Report before digging into county-specific information.
  • Work with COG staff to make initial decisions about how local marketing, investment, and business growth and entrepreneurial efforts can be developed to support the three to four “best bet” industry concentrations (clusters) for the county or community.
  • Set goals organized around your identified target industry cluster areas. Goals may include preparing the region’s workforce with the skills aligned to target industry needs, creating an entrepreneurial climate that drives innovation, ensuring that the region is well connected and accessible, competing at a global level, and investing in projects that enhance the quality of life for residents. (See the CONNECT region’s CEDS plans – Centralina Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy; Jobs, Workforce & Education Alignment Strategy; and the Catawba Region Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for alignment and context within the macro regional framework for maximum effectiveness and efficiency.
  • Consider how your economic development and job creation strategies support larger community goals, such as revitalizing downtowns, redeveloping brownfields or greyfields, or promoting infill. Not all job growth has to happen in large spec buildings outside town, so consider how you might link economic development and community development goals and strategies.
  • Think outside the box. Develop a series of strategies and actions that go beyond conventional economic development tactics and look at industries that are growing that might utilize local skills in a different way. Focus on multiple industries and direct efforts at developing job readiness skills and computer literacy in the workforce that cross-connects common skill sets over wide industry sectors.
  • Be accountable, and make it work in local communities. Develop a “to-do” list of actions and a set of measures or metrics that will help you track success. Consider updating this list and tracking performance yearly.
• The CEDS plan informs and compliments other tools in the CONNECT toolkit. For example, the Local Return on Investment Calculator can be used as a tool to help track the success of strategies in the plan by ensuring that resources are allocated in a fiscally sustainable way. The CEDS plan can inform data provided to job seekers on Career Headlight to help them match their skills and interests to relevant jobs and educational resources. Consider using these supportive tools locally in your economic development practices.
• Support the CEDS plan by ensuring that the public understands the value of these plans (e.g., greater understanding of the region’s workforce, allocation of resources to priority projects that stimulate the regional economy, cooperation between economic development organizations throughout the region, etc.). This may include a public support campaign, community-wide meetings, or print and web-based materials.
• Provide policy support for strategies and actions outlined in the CEDS plan. This could include supporting early childhood education initiatives, supporting the development of a regional multimodal strategy to improve connectivity, or supporting the development of amenities such as parks and trails to make the region and your county more attractive to young professionals.