Advocacy Group En'Visions' New Economy for Duluth, Minn.
A group of community leaders bent on revitalizing the Duluth, Minn., economy and ensuring economic opportunities for the city recently moved one step closer toward accomplishing its goals.
The Bridge Syndicate, a non-profit with more than 300 members, recently made public its plan for economic growth, issuing A Positive Vision for Duluth's Economy.
In the plan, the group's economic development task force of 20 young business owners and professionals focus on three main principles:
- Renew the spirit of local entrepreneurship. In this area, the group calls for investing in the workforce, land use and capital needs of businesses looking to expand. An "Innovation Center of Duluth" would serve as an incubator, enabling start-up companies to obtain seed and venture capital, technical assistance and access to marketing studies.
- Highly skilled workers = economic success. This area focuses on the region's ability to develop, attract and retain talented people. Included is a plan to develop a "SciTech Scholars" program to support high school students looking to pursue science, computer or engineering degrees at area colleges and universities.
- Higher Education & Industry: Partners in Success. The group recommends that higher learning institutions in Duluth offer a concentration in Entrepreneurial Leadership, including courses in accounting, economics, and foundations in entrepreneurship that students could take, as a supplement to their major, to start their own business.
A city which has had difficulty retaining workers in their late 20s and early 30s, Duluth and the future of its young people are a chief concern of the Bridge Syndicate.
"We want the city to focus on creating careers instead of jobs, growing specific industries that play to our strengths, while avoiding fleeting economic trends and industries that exploit our workers," the report states.
The Bridge Syndicate has yet to launch any of the plan's objectives; however, the group hopes the plan's timely arrival, preceding the Mayor's Economic Summit on November 14-15 in Duluth, will stimulate discussion in which "the community can identify a common vision." The two-day interactive event is meant to serve as a springboard for long-term economic growth in the region.
More information on the Bridge Syndicate, including a link to A Positive Vision for Duluth's Economy, is available through its website: http://www.oppna.com/bridgesyndicate/