Press Release
For Immediate Release

August 4, 2009                                                                                                                    

FMI, Contact:Donald E. Alexander, Director

Robin Hamby, Assistant Director

Wilkes Economic Development Corp.

336.838.1501

336.838.1402

Wilkes Economic Development Corp Named as one of the 25 Top
Economic Development Organizations in the Nation.

Wilkes EDC was recently selected to participate in ENGAGE, an economic development  "think tank," as one of the top 25 economic development organizations in the United States. This is the second consecutive year that Wilkes EDC has received that designation from this group. As part of that designation, Wilkes EDC has been again invited to participate in a best practices conference later this year.  Participation in this conference is by invitation only, and limited to the 25 selected organizations

ENGAGE was created in 2004 by Blane, Canada Consulting and two nationally prominent economic developers; Ron Kitchens of the Greater Southwest Michigan Partnership, and C. Jones Hooks, then-President of the Hampton Roads Partnership in Virginia. The concept was to create an economic development "think tank" where delegates would gather to discuss current best practices, learn about emerging trends affecting the economic development industry, and develop innovative approaches for adapting to those trends.

"Naturally, I am very excited that Wilkes EDC has been chosen for the second consecutive year as one of 'The Best of the Best,' and, frankly, I am as amazed as anybody. There are over 10,000 economic development organizations in the United States, many of which are from much larger metropolitan areas and have much larger budgets and capacities than does Wilkes EDC. For us [WEDC] to have even been noticed among all these other organizations, much less recognized for what we are doing, well, in a word, that's amazing!"  According to Alexander, of all the participants in last year's conference, Wilkes County was by far the smallest organization represented.  Other participating organizations included Amarillo, TX; Baton Rouge, LA, Richmond, VA, and Tacoma WA. Others represented regional or state organizations, such as Enterprise Florida and the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama. Participants in this year's conference will not be known until the first day of the conference.

Although Alexander doesn't the exact criteria used in the selection process, he has speculated that Wilkes was selected at least in part for having implemented a number of innovative and successful initiatives. As examples, Alexander pointed out that Wilkes EDC is the only sub-regional economic development organization in the State to utilize GIS-based information systems in its "Buildings and Sites" database, and the first economic development organization in the state to employ social media marketing. Alexander went on to state that "time and again, from the outside consultants who have presented at the EDC's last two planning retreats to comments we've received in the field and from Site Location Consultants with whom we've worked projects, the comments have been that we have been 'doing the job right.' With the national global economy in the state that it is in, we may not be showing the results that I personally would like to see, but it's very reassuring to know that we are on the right course."