MANSFIELD — Since the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce and the Richland Community Development Group became affiliated in June 2017, the two organizations have aimed to unite their economic and community development efforts.

Less than a year later, that intention has manifested in the form of a three-year strategic plan with four overarching goals: To spur economic development, to advance community excellence, to serve as the voice of business and to foster organizational stability.

An overview of the plan was first unveiled at the Chamber’s Annual Evening of Excellence in January, but Chamber president Jodie Perry provided a more in-depth look in a recent interview, noting the plan would only be finalized after the Chamber and RCDG boards vote to approve it.

“These are the things we think are most important. It doesn’t mean we’re going to stop doing things that we’re already doing,” Perry said. “We will certainly look at everything to make sure it still makes sense in light of things, but it’s more so that as we move forward, there’s a ton of ideas, but there’s a limit to how much you can accomplish in a reasonable way.”

After the Chamber and RCDG distributed surveys and collected data, about 35 individuals from the two organizations met to identify four areas needing focus.

“While none of this was a surprise, there’s a value to having everyone discuss it, agree on it and decide what to focus on in each section,” Perry said.

The goal is to execute the plan through December 2020.

Spur Economic Development

The first focus, or “bucket,” includes economic and workforce development. The objectives of this goal are to attract premier businesses to Richland County, encourage robust organic economic growth and to cultivate a seamless talent pipeline that will fuel business growth.

Perry said there was some discussion about whether or not workforce development should be a separate focus, but the group decided to group it with economic development as the two are interconnected.

“To attract businesses, you need talent. To attract talent, you need businesses offering jobs,” Perry said.

She calls the current job market an “employee’s one,” but says 10 years ago, it was an “employer’s market.”

“Now, there’s a lot of jobs and there’s not enough people,” she said. “We also want to look at attracting talent.

“We talk about attracting businesses, but also about doing some work around how we are marketing our community to people who might move here for a job.”

Programs like November’s inaugural “Rethink Richland” event will be key, but Perry hopes to see a year-round campaign centered around talent attraction.

“I think the easiest sell is someone who is born here and has a tie, but they are having a hard time connecting to the jobs,” she said.

While she’s uncertain what that barrier is or how to cross it, Perry believes identifying and eliminating this problem is crucial.

In regard to attracting businesses, Perry says the Chamber and RCDG’s resources will be used strategically.

“What businesses do we have the best opportunity of attracting? Who do we already have here? Are there suppliers for our existing markets that are an easier target?” she said.

RCDG’s economic development director Barrett Thomas will also be encouraged to continue expansion and retention projects with existing businesses to help those entities become “more successful.”

Advance Community Excellence

In order to advance community excellence, the strategic plan aims to promote and nurture a positive collaborative and inclusive community identity and to protect and revitalize community assets and infrastructure.

“It’s really looking at revitalizing our community assets and infrastructure, looking at continued emphasis on beautification and revitalization, especially in terms of neighborhoods,” Perry said.

But she doesn’t anticipate that this can or should be done by one organization alone. It will require collaboration and a community-wide push in this direction.

Another piece to “advancing community excellence” is increasing educational attainment and closing the skills gap, which Perry recognizes also relates to workforce development. She noted even the overarching goals are interconnected.

“Educational attainment fits here … We lag, in both the state and the nation, and we know that’s something we need to tackle.”

Serve as the Voice of Business

In the next several years, the Chamber and RCDG hope to continue to serve as the essential link between the business community and the public sector and to be a catalyst to unify community efforts on vital issues.

Without getting political, Perry says the organizations hope to advocate for legislation that will further and foster economic and workforce development.

Foster Organizational Sustainability

The last piece to the strategic plan is to fully unite the Chamber and RCDG.

“I pushed for that because I wanted to recognize that we’re still evolving,” Perry said. “We’ve just joined together. We just got married – I like to refer to it as a marriage – but we’re still trying to figure out what does it mean and how do we function in a unified way?”

After seven months of affiliation, she is pleased with where the organization stands and where its heading, but she wants to see further movement in this direction.

The objectives under this overarching goal are to increase member and community engagement and to strive for organizational excellence.

If These Goals Are Met

Perry is optimistic about Richland County’s future.

“I think that if we hit this, we should be seeing regular and hopefully substantial increases in economic development,” she said. “We should be a cohesive unit by then. And we should be a key influencer in continued development in the community.”

If done correctly, Perry believes the plan will have a unifying effect on the two involved organizations and the community as a whole. That desire to unite was something Perry heard “loud and clear” when the RCDG and the Chamber merged last summer and something she still hears now.

“That’s what the community is asking for. I don’t think we want duplication,” Perry said. “We want to know we’re all on the same page and working towards the same goal.”