James Grunke and Lesley Ridge Allen, of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, join us to talk about the Erie region’s economic potential and the steps they're taking to foster this outcome. According to their website, the partnership is "the voice of the business community, providing awareness, advocacy, and access to people, information, and education."
Sponsored by: Erie Regional Chamber & Growth Partnership
Music: Kevin Macleod’s "pamgaea" available via Creative Commons Attribution-International 4.0. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, No changes were made.
Music by audionautix.com. Audionautix's "Roboskater" by Jason Shaw available via Creative Commons Attribution-International 4.0. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, No changes were made.
Transcript
JAMES GRUNKE: If we're going to have an economic development strategy, what does it need to look like? And then how do we measure success? Because we believe economic development is a clearly articulated goal that you measure, and then you're held accountable for delivering.
NARRATOR: That's James Grunke and Lesley Ridge Allen. Grunke is president and CEO of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, while Allen serves as the business outreach specialist. They're the latest guests on Buzz Generated, a show that introduces listeners to businesses and business leaders that collaborate with the Northwest Pennsylvania Innovation Beehive Network.
The Chamber and Growth Partnership focuses on improving economic potential within the region by offering education and access to a growing network of people that share this vision. They're also sponsoring the entire first season of our program.
Join Tony Peyronel, executive director of Edinboro University's Center for Branding and Strategic Communication as he sits down with our guests to explore this story. Together, let's discover what the buzz is all about.
TONY PEYRONEL: We're joined in the podcast today by James Grunke, president and CEO of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, and Lesley Ridge Allen, that organization's director of business engagement. It's a pleasure to have you both on the show, and welcome.
JAMES GRUNKE: Thank you.
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: Thanks
TONY PEYRONEL: James, we'll start with you. And Leslie, we're going to invite you to jump in wherever you desire. James, you were educated in Idaho, and have worked in economic development roles in places as diverse as Atlanta, Georgia and Missoula, Montana. Let's start by having you give our listeners a summary of your professional background.
JAMES GRUNKE: Great. Thank you. Happy to. So like everybody, you only get involved in economic development by accident. And I just somehow found myself in the career right after I got out of graduate school. I worked in a really small town in a chamber of commerce that had me and a part-time secretary. And I've really been able to develop into large urban areas and rural settings. And I think that background in urban and rural has given me a real appreciation of economic development.
And so in the early 2000s, I was the head of the Boise Valley Economic Partnership, which is where I'm from. And I had the opportunity to spend about five years working as a consultant. And what we primarily did, is we helped communities craft an economic development strategy, and then raised the money to implement it. So I've seen this from very-- a variety of perspectives.
And in 2017, I was working in Montana. And for a variety of reasons, decided that was not where I was going to want to end up my career. And I was back in Idaho in Boise. And I just answered the phone one day from a person I knew who was-- he was with a headhunter firm.
And he called me up and said, hey, I've been asked to represent Erie. What do you think about Erie? And I said, I don't think anything about Erie. I don't know where it is. I don't anything about it.
And so that was over the summer of 2018, and I have to say, I'm really interested in projects in communities that want to be transformed. That's what I'm good at. And so Erie's been a good fit for me.
TONY PEYRONEL: Interesting. Interesting. Because my next question was going to be the obvious one. Having been so many places all over the country, what attracted you to Erie, PA? But you're saying it was actually-- it was that phone call that was your introduction, more or less, to Erie.
JAMES GRUNKE: It was, but it also is because of the challenges. As I said, I've worked mainly in the Western states. And there-- but I've only predominately worked in high-growth areas as well. But Erie reminded me of two communities that I've been in. One was Tacoma, Washington, which is just south of Seattle-- had some very similar challenges in the early 2000s that Erie has.
And actually when I went to Montana, to Missoula, Montana, also was similar. In Missoula, in 2010, they lost their largest employer, which was a paper mill. So about 2,000 jobs were lost. And the year before, their second largest employer had closed, which was a lumber mill.
So from 2007 to 2011, they lost 5,000 jobs in their community. And I could say today they've not only regained those five, but they've gained another 10,000, so 15,000 new jobs since 2011. So I saw enough similarities from other experiences that it made sense to me.
But the other thing that matters to me is, is it a community with people that I want to be-- work with and be affiliated with? And it became very clear the answer was yes in Erie.
TONY PEYRONEL: Interesting. Now, you arrived here in September of 2018. And I have to say, it really seems like you hit the ground running. Less than a year after your arrival, the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership hosted Erie Homecoming, an investor conference that was attended by nearly 300 individuals. In what ways did that event help to plant the seeds for greater economic development in the region?
JAMES GRUNKE: Well, part of our mission is we need to be able to show people why investing in Erie makes sense. And so this started as a kind of a concept that you're really looking for expat Erie citizens to come back and have a look and say, hey, I like the progress. I want to be part of it.
We really elevated that conversation this year to kind of a national conversation. We had investors from Los Angeles here, from across the United States. Because there's nobody laying around in the country thinking, oh, I wonder what it's like to invest in Erie, unless you bring them and show them why.
And I think we, today, have probably five different prospects that we're working with that are a direct result of Homecoming. These are not only just companies that are looking to maybe expand into the market, but we hosted an investment group out of Milwaukee just two weeks ago that said, we keep hearing about Erie. We need to come see what you're doing, and look for investment opportunities. And so that's what Erie Homecoming does. It elevates us to a conversation.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right. And I noticed that just last week, Erie Homecoming was cited as at least one factor in some great news, exciting news, that came relating to the federal opportunity zones, and the results of a national competition. I'd like to give you both an opportunity to elaborate on that a little bit.
JAMES GRUNKE: Well, and it's very timely. Because Leslie and I were just talking about this earlier today, about how do we properly leverage this? But anytime we're recognized by a magazine, such as Forbes magazine, to saying we're doing the best practices in the entire country, we're very honored by that.
And it's taken a lot of work for us to get that. This just doesn't happen overnight. But it's very satisfying to be recognized for being the best. Erie-- it's been a long time since they've been recognized to being the best. We think the narrative of poor old Erie is gone. We don't operate in the past. We operate in the now, in the future. And we think we have a very different story to tell.
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: Yeah. I would say there is a tremendous amount of momentum that definitely came out of Homecoming. And so through my role at the chamber-- I mean, I am on the front lines. I'm meeting with businesses on a daily basis trying to understand what are the challenges they're having, or the opportunities that they're looking to really dive into.
And so we see there's an excitement kind of bubbling up now that's finally reaching the surface, and at that point of really mass kind of reach, I would say, within the community to get people excited and have a different conversation about, what are those opportunities here, and how to kind of fall back in love with the community that a lot of people here-- you know, they've born and raised, haven't necessarily left, just kind of get them to see it with a fresh perspective. So it's been a great kind of experience over the last 12 months, seeing that play out in real time.
JAMES GRUNKE: And I don't think-- if the chamber had not stepped forward and said, yes, we think opportunity zones are an important new tool, and we're going to be the driver behind it, I don't think it would have occurred. And so luckily, we were able to put the right team together that could support this, and we're doing great work.
TONY PEYRONEL: And you can't get higher level impartial recognition of that than something coming from Forbes, for sure.
I serve on the board of the Northwest PA Public Relations Society of America. We have an annual student of the year contest. And it was interesting to me that this year we used Erie Homecoming as our contest prompt.
We asked the student applicants to create a plan for following up with attendees to keep their interest in investment projects. So I thought it was just natural that I would ask what your plan for keeping attendees engaged and informed is.
JAMES GRUNKE: Well, did you share with us what your students said to do?
TONY PEYRONEL: I didn't. I did not.
JAMES GRUNKE: Well, and that seems like we should be looking to them, not to us. But I think you bring up a really good point, is the Homecoming was not the end, it was the beginning. So we if we have an event, and we don't have a plan how do we maximize that, then there was really no reason to do it.
I bet we spent-- we knew since the first of the year that we were going to be the grand prize winner from Forbes magazine. It was not a surprise the day we were there to get it. And the only reason I say that is that means for the last two months, we've been saying, OK, when this hits, what's the plan?
And so we have a digital marketing firm that's working with us that's pushing out content. We have a newsletter. We have many activities that we're doing. We have a website that is highlighting projects. And I actually would be interested to hear what your students said, because so often an organization thinks the event is the culmination, and it's not, it's the start.
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: And I would say that we've really kind of taken on the mentality of documenting all of the hard work that's going on behind the scenes. I think a lot of times the day in and day out can get lost in kind of the splash that Homecoming or a Forbes hit makes for an organization.
And so what we've started to talk about a lot internally is, how can we really show this and bring people on the journey that the projects are going through, to kind of go from inception to-- the beginning phases of it, all the way through inception, and then becoming part of our community?
So a lot of, I think, what we hope to give and highlight is really just the volume and the amount of collaboration that has to happen for these things to become a reality. And mainly, the time that it takes to make them come to life. There's a misconception that it can just happen. But it really takes a lot of people coming to the table, being willing to work together, and make it exist.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right. I think-- I'm pretty sure there's another chamber initiative that fits that bill that is going to require collaboration from a lot of people. And that's Erie Forward, which is a regional five-year plan for recruiting, attracting, expanding, and retaining businesses. I'm wondering if you can share at least a few of the main points of that plan for our listeners?
JAMES GRUNKE: I take a very simple outlook towards economic development. And I would say looking at this community-- and when I say Erie, I don't mean just the city of Erie. I mean all of Erie County. I would say there is no evidence to me that real economic development has ever been done. And it's not because of a lack of interest and intent. It's always been because of lack of resources.
And so I spent most of 2019 developing-- not just me, but probably 100 community volunteers saying, if we're going to have an economic development strategy, what does it need to look like? And then how do we measure success? Because we believe economic development is a clearly articulated goal that you measure, and then you're held accountable for delivering.
So one thing that we've done is we say we're going to help create 2,000 new primary jobs over the next five years as a result of our efforts. I have to be candid and say, I think 2,000 new jobs over the next five years is a very modest number. But if we're in a community that's had nothing but flat or stagnant or declining, you have to start somewhere.
And so we have goals on capital investment. We have goals on job creation. And I would argue, job creation isn't really the goal, it's an outcome. If we do all these other things, this is what happens. But it's easy for us to measure.
NARRATOR: This episode of Buzz Generated is sponsored by the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, the voice of the business community in the Erie region. The Chamber provides advocacy and access to people, education, and information, so that businesses have the leadership, resources, and expertise needed for continued prosperity throughout the region.
Schedule a time to meet with the business action team and learn more about how the Chamber can help, or visit the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership online at www.eriepa.com. The growth of our vibrant community and Erie, PA depends on a dynamic business environment. The Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership aims to provide just that.
JAMES GRUNKE: And so there's only really four plays in economic development-- business attraction, business retention and expansion-- and that's really where Leslie spends the majority of her time, of how are we helping existing businesses grow and expand-- business startup, and then, of course, workforce development.
Really sophisticated communities-- they no longer really do business attraction. They do talent attraction. So companies follow the workforce nowadays. And so we have to have a robust strategy on developing the workforce.
Or in the institution that we're sitting in right now, how are we providing the pathways for these students into careers in Erie County, or future employers knowing what they have here? And so workforce development has to be part of economic development.
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: And I would just say the one piece on that, too, coming out of Erie Forward, what has really helped is the identification of six target industries for us. So I think for the first time, arguably, in a really long time, we know what six industries our community is really well-positioned to receive.
And so that helps us build up the resources, the programs, the strategy around attracting either the talent that would fill those industries, or the companies that are already aligned, while supporting any of the existing businesses that fall in those six. So it gives us a really clear directive, whether it's outreach or working with some of our strategic partners, of what we need to do to make some of these goals feasible and within our reach.
JAMES GRUNKE: So one of the subsets we're interested in in technology is actually digital-- digital gaming is we think is a target industry for us. Part of it is because of the alignment of what we have in the universities, here at Edinboro University. If we didn't have that alignment, if we didn't have these students right there, what they're doing, what they're working on, that would not be our target.
And so it's all-- it's a very holistic picture. And as Leslie said, we had never done that before, and we don't know who to go attract if we don't know what our strengths are.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right. Right. Now James, you've gained a lot of experience in economic development in other parts of the country, as we touched on earlier, but you're fairly new to this region. I've worked here at Edinboro for now nearly 30 years. But I'm in a relatively new role being part of the Northwest PA Innovation Beehive Network.
And I had become skeptical over the years whenever I'd hear talk of reinventing Erie. I have to admit, it seems to me that over the last couple of years, a critical mass of leaders and influencers appears to be coming together to really try to make that happen. Do you share that optimism?
JAMES GRUNKE: I do. And in fact, I had to see that. Part of it, when you're kind of at the career stage that I am at in my life, is it's a recruitment on both sides. I'm trying to see if the community is the right fit for me, and et cetera. And if I-- I ask hard questions.
One of the questions I asked is, you know, Erie's been on the decline for four decades. What have you been doing? And why now? And if I didn't see that same level of collaboration and leadership emerging, I wouldn't be in Erie. I can go work somewhere else. I have to have-- it's never going to be about me. I can help kind of guide the ship. But it's all about always successes based on leadership.
And my really simplest way of talking about economic development is think of a Venn diagram. So one would be the private sector. One would be education. And one would be the public sector. And where they all intersect, that's where economic development occurs. And if it's out of balance, you can't succeed. And today, I'd say they're all aligned. And that's why I want to be a part of it.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right. Right. And Lesley, you've been around here a while. Your thoughts on that? I mean, are you seeing something different happening here from what's happened in the past?
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: Yeah. So I would say I see it a lot with my generation. There's a lot of my friends that have moved away, and we're choosing to move back to Erie. I mean, I was living in Boston before I chose to come back, because I knew I always wanted to come back to Erie, make this my home, raise a family here and be here, after going out and experiencing living in some other cities.
And so I think that you see that a lot with people that have left and have really great memories of growing up here. And they want that for their own families and children as they get there, to that point.
I think the other thing, too, we're starting to see a lessening of the general fear. I think for a long time there was a fear of what if GE left? What if, you know, this larger employer shut down? And I just think there's a shift starting in the change in mindset where, we'll be OK.
There's all of these other collaborations and kind of partnerships bubbling up naturally, because of the alignment to James's point of those higher institutions kind of coming together and working together. And that's coming down into the community, where people are starting to, I think at the very beginning, see less of each other as competitors, and more about, well, how can we work together and grow this together?
Because they've made the commitment to set roots here and start a business here. And so why not find ways to do it from a strategic standpoint, so that it benefits more people in the community? That's what's going to help us thrive and move into the future with some great growth opportunities.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right. That's a great segue to my next question, because I mentioned my role in the Northwest EPA Innovation Beehive Network, which is a collaborative-- a collaborative between the four universities in Erie County and the Erie County Public Library system. And it's aimed at facilitating business startups and building overall economic growth. From your perspectives, how significant is it to have the four universities and the library working together in that capacity?
JAMES GRUNKE: It's very important, and we love it. I'm a huge fan of it. I love the concept of giving people permission to be an entrepreneur, and they don't know how to do that. And I love the fact that it's interdisciplinary. It's not just business students, that it's anybody of any walk of life, whether they be private citizen or a university student, to come and explore some entrepreneurship activity.
I think Erie has a history of entrepreneurship. It's somewhat been lost in the conversation. So everything that the Beehive is doing to encourage that and show and give examples for students to contribute, I think is critical to our success.
So I'll pick on two companies. So LORD Corporation-- LORD corporation has had a lot of-- been in the news a lot the last year with it being acquired. The story about LORD, which I love, was that some guy, just some guy, he found the patent that adhered rubber to metal. He didn't get the patent. He found it. And he created the LORD corporation.
Erie Insurance-- we all think of this huge, massive Fortune 500 company. No, it was two guys on a street corner back in the '20s who said, hey, we should try this. So both of those multi-billion dollar companies that started with just an idea.
So that's what I mean. Erie has a history. And so what we need to think as a community is, oh, not that LORD became Parker LORD, which is their new name. But who is the next LORD? And let's find them and let's grow them and do that. And that's how successful communities think.
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: I think it also gives smaller businesses or people with the idea a place to go. So I think for a really long time there was a misperception-- maybe it was accurate, maybe it wasn't-- that organizations like ours didn't care about smaller businesses, or didn't care about entrepreneurs or people who had these kind of aspirational goals.
And so I think one of the great things that the Beehive Network does is gives them kind of a systematic approach to understanding what goes into business ownership, what goes into innovation, and slowly rolls it out in a way that is manageable, so that they don't become overwhelmed and shut down from their own insecurity.
Because it's scary, right, to kind of go out into an experience like entrepreneurship if you've never had any prior exposure to that. So I think that that's probably one of the strongest and most positive things to come out of it, is just people who want to have some more direct impact and control over their futures and have somewhat of a creative outlet, now have a place where they can go and experience that and do it for themselves.
TONY PEYRONEL: I'll conclude our conversation here by asking both of you simply if there's anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners?
JAMES GRUNKE: Having Leslie as our director of business engagement is a brand new role for us. And so she's been very thoughtful of, how do we get our business services out throughout the county? So I'd like her to have an opportunity to talk a little bit about that.
TONY PEYRONEL: OK. Great. Leslie?
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: Yeah. So one of the things that we did last year in 2019 was we launched this idea of the road show. And it was myself and the other business outreach specialist, going out into communities throughout the entire county, and just sitting there and being available.
So if you think of it like office hours at a university, where a professor's there for students to come in, it was very much kind of that concept and model. So we're here. If you-- Sally's Sub Shop down the street, as the owner, if you have five minutes to come chat with us about some issues you're having with retaining employees or attracting new talent to come work for you on the weekends, we want to know about it. We want to hear what's going on.
Aligned with that, in the morning and in the afternoon, we were really trying to get out to the primary job creators in those communities as well-- so the larger manufacturing firms, some of the larger companies that employ 30 to 50 and up employees at their companies, just getting in with them to talk about kind of the bigger issues, more focus on economic development.
Are you prime for expansion? Are you looking to move into a new facility? Are you looking to get into international markets or government contracting? And letting them know that we can help make those connections for them.
So it was incredibly well-received. We were out here in Edinboro. We did a day in Corry. We did a day in Girard. We were out in Northeast. I mean, we really covered the county. We did about 10 stops and targeted 22 of the 38, I think, municipalities throughout Erie County.
But what we learned from that is that there was just such an appreciation from businesses to know that they have this resource that they didn't know that they had. To sit down with anyone from the outreach team, you don't need to be a chamber member. You just have to have a business that operates within Erie County.
JAMES GRUNKE: Or an idea.
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: Or an idea. Correct. And we're really there to do an intake, if you will, much like a primary care physician does kind of an overall general health analysis. And then we connect you to the specialist--
TONY PEYRONEL: That's a good analogy.
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: --to help your businesses really thrive. So we're not doing the marketing plan for you, but we're connecting you with freelancers out of Radius CoWork, or maybe students that are starting to transition into gig work on the side. We're connecting you with more established firms, if you have a more robust budget to do some of that.
But we're really that gateway into the entire system, so that business owners aren't wasting a lot of time trying to figure out where to go. Instead, they have a menu of options that are tailored to the needs that they've expressed to us that they're experiencing. And we make sure that they're connected and able to take advantage of that.
So it's been a great year, getting that out there more and more, so that businesses feel that support that I think can really easily go by the wayside when you're just kind of in tunnel vision, and in that grind of the day-to-day running your business-- been a lot of fun.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right. And I'm sure those municipalities appreciated that. We joke a lot here about Edinboro being in South County. And there was a former, many presidents ago, who was famous for saying something like, well, you know everyone looks at it as a 20-minute ride from Edinboro to Erie, but it takes 20 days to come in the other direction. So I'm sure those municipalities, in what we might say the outer loges of Erie County, I'm sure they were delighted to receive you and to be aware of that help.
And so along that line, I want to thank the two of you for making that either 20-minute or 20-day trip down here to our new studios to do this podcast. So thank you both very much, seriously, for investing that amount of time out of your day, which I realize is very busy, to come be with us and to share your thoughts with our listeners.
JAMES GRUNKE: Yeah. We appreciate it.
LESLEY RIDGE ALLEN: Happy to do it. And I would just say, make sure to be on the lookout. I mean, our new program director and our event coordinator, we're in the works on all sorts of things to do more down in Edinboro, out in Corry, and other places. So definitely look forward to seeing us more.
TONY PEYRONEL: Excellent. We'll look forward to it.
NARRATOR: You've been listening to Buzz Generated. This podcast was released through Edinboro University's Center for Branding and Strategic Communication. It's produced by Keith Hepler, Britton Rozzelle, and Chris Lantinen.
Thank you to our guests for their insight, and to you, our listeners, for taking the time to experience innovation alongside us. Consider subscribing if you like this episode to get more as soon as they drop. And if you really enjoyed it, jump over to Apple Podcasts for a five-star review. Thank you for listening.
