The following FEC meeting was held at the Chamber of Commerce on December 17, 2009.
Part 1 - Terry Bledsoe introduced Norma Owen and members of the FEC introduced themselves. Terry talked about wordle and the image it produced from the text of a grant proposal submitted last summer.
Terry turned the session over to Danny Hearn who made a presentation about the FEC's role in the Stability Plan put forth by the Chamber and the EDC. He announced that the Beaver Foundation gave $5,000 to the FEC. He also thanked Kevin Spencer for a $1,000 donation that helped get the FEC off the ground. Danny went into the Master Capacity Building schedule.
Danny next went into the stimulus/stability package and the things that have happened in the last year. He stated that we have a lot of good things happening, but a lot of times people aren't discussing things with one another. This is all about having 3,4,or 5 things that we can be on the same page about, going forward. (We have presented this previously).
Part 2 - Danny Hearn talks about Scott Millar's strategies for 2010, such as the branding of the Apple-Google data Corridor. Once again he addresses the Manufacturing Solutions Center. He also goes into the aspects that were discussed by Hickory's Small Business Job Growth Team.
Jay Adam's discusses the Small Business Job Growth Team and that the consensus is a thought that the committee be reformed with people from outside of Hickory. What is reformed will serve Hickory, but it will be a system that other communities can duplicate. He states that he isn't concerned with overlapping of activities of entities. He believes there should be interaction and he resists the segmentation he has seen in the past.
Steve Ivester said he has discussed an idea that the city has a unique interest in the Greater Hickory concept. He sees a person being hired to Work with the EDC to push that concept and that branding. This would develop a regional outreach.
Danny Hearn says that the City of Hickory has to drive this and communities in Catawba County have to be comfortable with us. We need to invest in events happening in other communities in our region. Further thoughts were expounded about Hickory's centrifugal force and other communities not wanting to get lost in that. There was also a statement that Hickory has done things in the past that created this animosity. It was also stated that the City of Hickory is not the place to advance ideas in the four county region. They do not advance outside of the box ideas. Where is the sense of urgency.
Part 3 - Steve Ivester talks about how he was excited by the possibilities of the Appalachian State Partnership, but others stated it was nothing new. He stated that at the Intra-City visit he didn't come away with that feeling at all. He thought it was something new and exciting. Dr. Jane Everson stated that was part of the frustration of moving slowly. It took 5 months to put up billboards in this area to promote Appalachian's interests in the area.
I stated that I would like to see people from Burke, Caldwell, and Alexander county come in and visit with this organization (the FEC). We are less formal than our local halls of governance. That is where the abrasiveness comes in. Doug Rongo stated that he believed there were more people in Catawba County who were upset that Lenoir got Google than there were from Caldwell County when Maiden got Apple. People in this room don't care where businesses locate.
Harry Hipps stated that he is astounded that we don't have deeper relationships with Charlotte. We are talking about it here and they are doing it there. We aren't going to outCharlotte, Charlotte. Jay Adams stated that we could be the best part of Charlotte. Harry stated that he doesn't understand why we aren't looking that way. We need more initiatives and contacts looking that way.
Jay Adams discussed the heavy traffic patterns in Charlotte. Charlotte could be a great incubator for us. Ivester stated that Charlotte markets itself effectively. Jay stated that we aren't taking advantage of our advantages. He was amazed that Charlotte wasn't looking up Highway 16 for relief. Houston asked if that made us like people looking for scraps. Doug Rongo asked about the quality of life of people commuting in their cars 2 1/2 hours every day.
Terry Bledsoe asked about the role of the FEC ande how it fits into the roles the Chamber has. Houston asked if the FEC can be the lubrication to accomplish these goals and if so can we extend an olive branch to the outside counties to allow them to be a part of this group if they would. Terry stated that he believes this committee has the freedom to do a whole lot of things. We just don't have the financial resources to do a whole lot of things. We can extend welcomes and rebuild bridges. I stated that that may open up more avenues to those needed revenues.
Part 4 - Rick Smyre addressed the group. He stated that one of the key issues is that we are shifting into systems and constant change. Connection is important. This group is transformational connectors. Interlocking networks must be comfortable with new ideas.
Systems of change allow a shift of reality. Realities must be dealt with in the long run and short run. You can't quantify things that don't exist. When you build a national network, it is for the purpose of branding an emerging idea. Houston Harris's business is designed around the Creative Molecular Economy. He went into the tree economies again (Industrial, Creative, Organic). We have to have connections because of the complexity. This helps to build an emerging brand. This is a bottom-up development. In a systems age, a brand is not just one thing.
Ideas that help a community shift over often come from outside of the community. By 2040, 40% to 50% of people will work out of their homes, right now that is 9% to 11%. Economic Development will be different. During the transition time, we must begin to attract creative people to the community. We need a workforce that will help us deal with increased technology.
Part 5 - Norma Owen from Dallas, Texas is involved in what is called the Future forward workforce. She made a presentation to the group. She stated that she was glad to hear the term resiliency used. Her focus is within developing human capital in an area.
In Wake County, they developed a program rooted in career transition. What she saw happening is that technology was changing so fast that they were having to rapidly reinvent themselves. She saw three levels of people being able to cope with the changes happening. Level One meant people had to become globally aware. Some high level (qualified) individuals had no idea about the changes that were going on around the globe that were changing (had effect on)their work locally. The second level allows people to become contract aware. You are no longer an employee, people will have more of an entrepreneurial mindset. People must know how they can contribute to creative businesses and help them compete. The third level is about self-awareness and being able to brand yourself. She creates systems that allow people to take advantage and cope with the changes that are happening. People don't know how access what is available.
People must have capacities and capabilities of complexities that are way beyond just finding a job. There is a next level of digital literacy and awareness. There is a new way of networking interlocking networks. You have to be able to connect disparate ideas and be able to take them into a new arena. You have to exponentially increase people's ability to learn.
Rick then went into the tie-in of the Future forward Workforce and Master Capacity Building. The idea of the Future forward Workforce is to take it to another level and augment the assets we have in place. Norma talked about career transition and being an advocate for community resources. She stated that people were from all levels. Wake Tech funded the project in Wake County. They helped individuals become marketable.
Part 6 - Terry closes out the session.
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