With our partners from the City of Riverside and the Kansas City Aviation Department, the Platte County Economic Development Council was a sponsor of Insight Missouri which is a marketing event coordinated by the Missouri Partnership and Missouri Economic Development Council and Missouri Department of Economic Development. The purpose of the event is to learn from and connect with site selection consultants. This year’s event had eight consultants from all over the U.S.
Center stage topic for many of the conversations was workforce, specifically skilled workforce. General consensus was that the community that can show it is addressing the national workforce shortage will win projects. This information was particularly timely given the completion of the Platte County Labor Availability Assessment.
In lock step with workforce was ‘placemaking’. In the past, job seekers found a job and then moved. But today, job seekers decide first where they want to live and then find a job. Platte County is in a good position to get their attention since we are the fastest growing county in the state and rank high for quality of life and healthy life. We are making a place where people want to live.
One other point of discussion was regarding incentives. All consultants noted that incentives are a point of negotiation which can come anytime in the course of a project but never the opening statement.
Lastly, branding is critical – for the community, for a business park, for a development corridor. Good thing we have started our work to identify opportunities in the I-29 Corridor. We simply must maximize KCI’s impact on the area.
As always, we could not have sponsored without our partners.