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Welcome To Hillsdale County!
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Economic Growth Group (EGG)
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The Economic Growth Group (EGG) of Hillsdale County is one of the newest formed committees of the Chamber. The committee has been meeting since June of 2003 and is currently applying for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The committee has been successful in raising in excess of $37,000 to develop an economic development program. The following is the philosophy and economic development plan that the grant and funds raised will be used to carry out:
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Hillsdale County is in the midst of a season on change. For many decades, assembly-style manufacturing has been the economic backbone of this small county in South Central Michigan. Now, with the rapid rise of competition from overseas, many in Hillsdale County have come to realize that we must change and adapt to the new world marketplace if we are going to survive as the pleasant heartland community we are today.
Hillsdale County is home to approximately 15,000 jobs. In the last year, the residents of Hillsdale County have learned that several factories will be closing, representing approximately 1,000 well-paying jobs. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that this will be the end of Hillsdale’s economic downturn. Several other companies are sending signals that they too may soon pull out of our community. The projection from the local industrial development director is for another 1,000 to 2,000 jobs to disappear from this community within a short period of time.
In order to protect the remaining retail and service jobs supported in large part by these disappearing manufacturing jobs, the Hillsdale County Chamber of Commerce called for a series of meetings to plan the economic future of Hillsdale County. Now, after five months of discussion, the economic development task force has reached a consensus on the method and approach to use to help our community identify its vision and direction for the future.
To that end, we seek the support of organizations and agencies to fund this planning process.
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The planning process will proceed according to the following outline:
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I. Select economic and statistical experts to gather hard data on Hillsdale County.
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a. Demographic analysis
b. Industrial analysis
c. Commercial analysis
d. Community comparison analysis
e. Economic forecasting
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II. Select the outside expert(s) to lead our community through a “visioning” process.
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a. Survey of local residents
b. Focus groups with local leaders and businesspeople
c. Analysis of Hillsdale County’s “quality of life”
d. Development of a vision statement, strategies, and specific goals for reaching our objectives.
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III. Develop the program and funding to execute an ongoing economic development plan
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a. SMART (Specific, Measurable, Aggressive but Attainable, Relevant, Timebound)
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Hillsdale County Chamber members are from: Addison, Allen, Bankers, Bundy Hill, Cambria, Camden, Frontier, Hillsdale, Hudson, Jerome, Jonesville, Litchfield, Montgomery, Moscow, Moserville, North Adams, Osseo, Pittsford, Prattville, Ransom, Reading, Somerset, Somerset Center and Waldron, Michigan.
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