New entity works to sustain regional, local prosperity

The Springfield area economy for many years has been thriving. Millions of dollars of new capital investment, tremendous job growth in virtually every sector, construction, expansion and new business and industry have blessed this southwest corner of the state of Missouri. In recent months, unemployment has been at record lows, at less than 3 percent in our three-county metropolitan area.

We may get caught up in thinking that these activities just happen, that the economic gods have chosen our region for such prosperity and that the future vitality of Springfield's economy will remain constant and strong.

Further, many of us for years may have assumed that such strength and prosperity is limited to the corporate city limits of Springfield, with nothing economically significant occurring outside our borders.

Neither could be further from the truth.

We are a regional economy, a 10-county collection of individual and unique identities that interconnect in numerous ways.

And when we begin to identify and understand that what's good from an economic or community development perspective in one community is good for the entire region, we make tremendous strides toward a long-term, common market approach to economic development.

For more than four years, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has elected to emphasize the power of regionalism.

It is now preparing to take the concept to a new level with the creation of a full-time regional economic development program.

Aimed at identifying the benefits of new collaboration, establishing dialogue and working together to expand opportunities, the chamber's Regional Council has enlisted the formal commitments of more than 35 entities throughout our 10-county region through the signing of the Ozarks Regional Economic Development Partnership Agreement.

These entities include chambers of commerce, city governments and county commissions in Greene County and its contiguous counties as well as the economic-power counties in and around the Table Rock Lake area.

The partnership agreement is grounded in a set of common beliefs, primarily focusing on the mutual benefit that can be derived from sharing resources, developing opportunities together and invoking a spirit of cooperation.

The more than 35 entities have committed to developing action plans in support of the following strategic goals:

?To educate and inform the citizenry as to the benefits of maintaining a regional focus.

?To protect and reinforce individual community identities through regional cooperation.

?To identify and utilize regional assets to promote regional development.

?To develop and sustain regional leadership.

?To preserve and enhance the quality of life in the Ozarks.

The definition of economic development in one Ozarks community may be completely different than that of another.

But whether its foundation lies in industrial development or tourism, retail trade or community betterment, the big-picture focus will be on regional coordination, cooperation and collaboration.

The art and practice of regionalism in southwest Missouri is about to begin and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce is excited about the opportunity to help our region compete globally and thrive locally in the next century.

(Greg Williams, CED, is vice president of economic development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. This is his first contribution as a member of the roster of rotating columnists who appear on this page.)