Quarterly Newsletter
Community Stakeholders Report - Quarter Two - 2020
Clay Walker, CEcD - CEO
Email: cwalker@networkstn.com
Website: linkedin.com/in/clay-walker-cecd-67bbb18
Location: P.O. Box 747 Blountville, TN 37617
Phone: 423-279-7681
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NETWORKStn/
Twitter: @ClaytonRWalker
From the Desk of the CEO
The Long and Winding Road to a Regional EDO
Along with the Rest of the World, Northeast Tennessee’s Plans Have Been Complicated by COVID-19, But We March on Towards a Better Way of Representing Our Region
Pardon my lifting from The Beatles for the title of this Quarterly Newsletter report. I’m sure many of you have also been watching a great deal of movies lately, as well as finding other ways to entertain yourselves through our social distancing (it feels weird to write that term without preceding it with a hashtag). I recently saw a movie called Yesterday, referring to the Beatles hit of the same name. (By the way, yes, I recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet.) The movie is about a struggling musician who finds sudden stardom after an unexplained event that wipes the history of the British icons away from almost everyone’s memories but his, so he begins to share them with the world. That experience also has led me to listen to more Beatles music and, let me tell you, those songs are hard to get out of your head, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Coronavirus definitely made our most recent meeting with NeTREP’s leadership and staff difficult with some participants – including our facilitator – having to attend via Zoom. For those of us who were able to Come Together, masks and other social distancing measures made participation less than ideal. Still, under those circumstances, we managed to move forward, but not as far along as we would have liked.
Both EDO’s officers went to work determining conclusions along with volunteers from each organization on three aspects identified in our planning session: Structure, Scope, and Governance. My chairman, Bill Sumner, asked me to revisit the white paper, The Right Time for the Right Organization, which offered multiple pathways in those categories along with Funding, and put together a summary of my recommendations (which I have done).
A few days after our June 25 meeting, the Tri-Cities Business Journal ran a story detailing the plan Sullivan County Mayor Richard Venable’s and Washington County Mayor Joe Grandy’s Blue Ribbon Task Force had put together in concert with the First Tennessee Development District Board of Directors.
We are all in touch with some of regionalism’s champions from the private sector to get their thoughts – or formal plan, which, to their credit, I would imagine they have in light of all the work and thought they have put into this – so that their views are understood and taken into account. Their input is beyond just providing Help to this effort; we need their insight, guidance, and participation and will throughout the life of the new organization, should the formation of one be the outcome of this work.
It appears to me that everyone’s focus is sharp and our priorities are in line with one another’s; it is simply a matter of working out the details when all Get Back together. We have made progress in our collaboration across Northeast Tennessee and, when appropriate, Southwest Virginia, apart from this effort over the years, fueling my faith that We Can Work It Out. We are far enough down this Long and Winding Road to believe we land where we should. And the work will be just beginning, it is exciting to work that the experience In My Life tells me will reap greater rewards for our region. It would be a terrible conclusion if we don’t come together now in some form or fashion because this road will have ended up going Nowhere… Man.
Oh yeah, and while I didn’t find a way to work these, in, when you get some time, revisit these classics:
All You Need is Love
…You’re welcome.
Ensemble to fine-tune Ballad’s revenue cycle management
Ballad Health and Ensemble Health Partners announced Thursday morning a partnership that will bring up to 500 new jobs to the region in the next five years. Around 1,100 Ballad employees in the areas of revenue cycle management will become employees of Ensemble, which has committed to building (or occupying an existing property to house) a service hub in which to expand.
Ensemble will assist Ballad in its transition to the EPIC electronic health records system through October and will train the 1,100 former Ballad employees to better handle revenue cycle management, with Ballad as their primary customer.
Ensemble, which employs around 5,000 and has hubs in Ohio and North Carolina, is in the process of discussing options for the location of the hub with economic developers from Tennessee and Virginia.
Governor Lee, Commissioner Announce eight new Site Development Grants
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe announced today eight new Site Development Grants, totaling more than $2.3 million.
“These funds will continue to help Tennessee communities attract jobs and enhance the quality of life for their residents,” Governor Lee said. “I congratulate the recipients and thank them for their efforts in building and growing businesses here in Tennessee.” Click here to learn more.
Sync Space announces $50,000 Restart Accelerator program
Sync Space Entrepreneur Center announced their accepted applicants for two accelerator programs that help startup companies grow their business in Northeast Tennessee. The application was open to companies both locally and outside our region that have a product, technology or service that can be successful in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Of the applications to the SIGNATURE and CONNECT programs, 15 entrepreneurs have been accepted, representing a diverse group of startups in areas of medical device, healthcare technologies, advanced manufacturing, virtual media technologies, and other industries. Click here to read more
Economic development consultants to public, private-sector leaders: You’re better together if you can get past the hurdles
The message Thursday to regional leaders from high-powered consultant Mark Fuller wasn’t terribly different than the one he delivered at a September 2019 economic summit in Johnson City. Circumstances certainly were.
“You haven’t always taken advantage of this region’s opportunities, and I think now’s a really excellent time to change that,” Fuller told a joint meeting of NETWORKS Sullivan County and the Northeast Tennessee Regional Economic Partnership hosted by NETWORKS.
Fuller, a Harvard-trained business consultant and the chairman of Rosc Global, has spent more than a year meeting with leaders from Northeast Tennessee’s public and private sectors as they grapple with the road to a more regionally unified approach to economic development. Click here to read more
Coordinating a region: Economic development officials look to streamline efforts
A recent trend toward coordinated economic development efforts among Northeast Tennessee’s and Southwest Virginia’s business organizations will likely continue, experts say, as officials realize the strength in numbers.
Mitch Miller oversaw the creation of the Northeast Tennessee Regional Economic Partnership two years ago. He’s now the nonprofit’s CEO.
The organization serves as a single point of contact for companies considering conducting business in Washington, Carter and Unicoi counties. Public officials and business representatives pay for seats on its governing board of directors to guide its activities and initiatives.
So far, the partnership’s staff have produced some positive results. Two recent announcements will bring jobs and industry to Unicoi County, and its program to market the region’s outdoor recreation opportunities will bring the Meet the Mountains Festival to the area next month. Click here to read more
NETWORKS-led partnership to survey businesses about SBA loans, offer help
Another collaborative effort designed to help area businesses cope with the trials of COVID-19 is launching, this time with a focus on federal small business lending.
In a Zoom call that included Kingsport Chamber of Commerce CEO Miles Burdine, NETWORKS-Sullivan Partnership CEO Clay Walker described the coming launch of a website, Tri-Cities Business Support Page. The site, www.tricitiessupport.com, will include links to outside resources, but that won’t be its main purpose, Walker said.
An embedded, confidential survey asks businesses for input about their experiences with SBA loans such as the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan — whether they’ve applied, were approved or denied, specific issues they may have had and more. Click here to read more
Socially speaking
Celebrating Economic Development Week (May 4 - 9, 2020)
Upcoming Meeting - Networks Sullivan Partnership Executive Committee Meeting
Join Zoom Meeting
Wednesday, Aug 12, 2020, 08:00 AM
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RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Michael Parker - Director of Economic Development
Email: mparker@networkstn.com
Website: linkedin.com/in/michael-parker-5179115a
Location: P.O. Box 747 Blountville, TN 37617
Phone: 423-279-7193
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NETWORKStn/
Twitter: @FIRST_to_WORK
Abby Mease - Administrative Assistant
Email: amease@networkstn.com
Website: www.linkedin.com/in/abby-mease-1b69a98
Location: P.O. Box 747 Blountville, TN 37617
Phone: 423-279-7680
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NETWORKStn/
Twitter: @AbbyatNETWORKS
Ronnie Price - Economic Development Specialist
Email: rprice@networkstn.com
Phone: 423-279-7681