Northwoods Economic SummitNew North UpdateOctober 6, 2009

Bill Ward, NEW Northstar Solutions, LLC

thenewnorth.com

The New North

18 Counties

1.2 Million People

2nd Largest Economic Region in the State

New North - Who• A consortium of business, economic

development, chambers of commerce, workforce development, civic, non-profit, and education leaders in 18 counties of Northeast Wisconsin who work together to promote and expand economic development of the region

• Supported by more than 120 investors since its beginning in 2004

Working Together - a Core

Value: Collaboration

“Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

- Vince Lombardi

…2004 2009….Capacity building…..via collaboration

NEWERA, NEWREP, NEWCC, WFDB(s), Planning Commission, etc.

Private Industry Leaders

Northeast Wisconsin Economic Opportunity Study (October, 04)

Branding Effort (December, 05)

Design and build collaborative regional organization: New North, Inc.

StaffingFacilities, etc

Organize task groups around six initiatives

Defined work

R&D

Web

Select markets

Task group coord.

New North Shared Vision…

To be recognized as nationallyand globally competitive forjob growth while maintaininga superior quality of life.

New North Manufacturing jobs

• Source: WI Department of Workforce Development / Bureau of Workforce Information, and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages

Metric New North

Wisconsin U.S

Manufacturing jobs 2007

23.8% 18.0% 10.3%

Total job growth, all sectors (2002-2007)

4.0% 3.3% 5.6%

Manufacturing job growth (2002-2007)

-4.4% -5.1% -9.1%

Strategic Priorities Update

• Business Development:• Implement Targeted Growth Opportunities• Support Entrepreneurial Climate And Small Business

• Talent:• Elevate Educational Attainment• Attract, Develop and Retain Diverse Talent

• Leverage Regional Brand as uniquely competitive

• Sustainability focused on the regional economy (new strategy)

Wind Power “Wins”Tower Tech (Manitowoc) added 100 jobs

Wausaukee Composites (Wausaukee and Cuba City) added 100 jobs

Merit Gear (Antigo) invests $22million dollars to expand

Badger Transport (Clintonville) transports towers and turbines

Lakeshore Technical College (Cleveland) has 25 new students enrolled in its Wind Energy TechnologyProgram

Support Entrepreneurial and Small Business Climate

Entrepreneur/Small Business Technical Assistance Resources

Entrepreneurship

Talent: Percent with education or training beyond high school (2000

census)

32 – 35 Percent

36 – 45 Percent

46 – 55 Percent

56% and greater

Wisconsin = 50.5%

United States = 51.8%

Source: Census 2000, SF3, PCT-25 per WI DWD report

Talent: Percent with Bachelor’s degree and more (2000 census)

10 – 15 Percent

15 – 20 Percent

20 – 25 Percent

Greater than 25%

Wisconsin = 22.4%

United States = 24.4%

Source: Census 2000, SF3, PCT-25 per WI DWD report

Talent: Education• 5th in the nation in Occupational (AA)

degrees (Technical Colleges)• Improve other education achievement

gaps – 4 year colleges– New College collaboratives for Engineering degree

programs UW Stout, UW GB, NWTC; also UW Platteville & UW Fox Valley

– Manufacturers Alliance– 21st Century Skill sets– Wis Careers

Talent: Attract, Develop, Retain Diverse Talent

• Attract/Retain– Marketing strategies development– Systems to assist trailing spouse/partners/others– Include diverse input for strengths of New North

• Develop– Improved online resource information for careers in

New North

• Diversity Support– Speakers Bureau– Linking of Affinity Groups– Recognition of Employers & transfer

of learnings

Sustainability• New Strategy Area for 2009• Promoting triple bottom line:

“People, Profits, Planet”

• Start regional Green Jobs Initiative

Focused on Collaboration

• Upper Menominee River Regional Alliance

• Niagara Mill site• Activities• Current status

How this applies• Workforce Development efforts (MI and WI)• Educational Attainment

– Work with NWTC to position the Niagra mill site re-training for re-use prospecting activities

• Entrepreneurial support systems– Niagara/Iron Mountain specific

• Targeting/Cluster development– Feedstock study by Resource Analytics– Work with Newpage/Sanabe/others– Reuse planning..Ayers and Associates report– Prospect work

• Sustaining assets, economy, new work, new opportunities• Branded as a demonstration of collaborative effort to a common set

of objectives.

Regional & sub regional initiatives

• New North’s strategic initiatives work at an 18 county regional landscape

• They also work at a sub-regional landscape like UMRRA

• They work at a specific economic development site at a very local level such as Niagara/Iron-Mountain.

Congratulations• The work is not complete, but it

has come a long way.