Dr. Rhine said meeting was the beginning of a conversation about a “collaborative approach to economic development” for the County
About 90 persons gathered at Yavapai College’s 2019 Economic Leadership Summit, held Tuesday, February 5, at the Prescott Club at Stoneridge. “Today is about starting a conversation,” said Yavapai College’s president, Dr. Lisa Rhine. We’re here today to begin the process of working, thinking and acting together – for the good of the economy and the citizens who call Yavapai County home.”
The event was sponsored by Yavapai College’s Regional Economic Development Center (REDC). It brought civic leaders together with local business owners, school superintendents and workforce analysts to identify existing economic trends and apply shared resources in response.
The summit began with a statistical portrait from Community College Institutional Research Director Dr. Tom Hughes. He described several “headwinds” preventing the county from expanding its industrial base: an aging population; low salaries and high housing prices that do not support a younger workforce; and a scarcity of the advanced training resources needed to compete in today’s job markets.
According to Trevor Stokes, from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, Yavapai County must favorably position itself for emerging industries. Stokes said their must be collaboration to create the lifestyle and educational amenities companies crave and to establish a “regional identity” to make the county more competitive. Stokes gave several examples of small communities coordinating resources – most notably, the eastern Tennessee towns that worked together to lure a Volkswagen plant. “Is this a community that could benefit from getting all your different organizations collaborating on a regular basis to create a regional strategy?” He asked.