LEDC Update

We had the privilege of having leadership from Open Hearts Children & Family Services make a presentation at our LEDC Board of Directors meeting on Sept. 17. The meeting was a great opportunity for our LEDC board to meet face-to-face with Open Hearts and to hear what progress has been made in their site selection process for their residential treatment facility.

I’m ecstatic to report that Linden still sits comfortably at the top of their list. While still not a “done deal” by any means, concrete steps have been taken by Open Hearts to begin solidifying Linden as their final choice in their selection process.

In addition to meeting with our board, Open Hearts’ representatives also met with leadership from Community Services of Northeast Texas [CSNT] as well. CSNT is another fantastic organization headquartered in Linden that would serve as an effective community partner to Open Hearts should they chose to locate in our city.

However, CSNT isn’t the only organization in our community poised to be a community partner to Open Hearts. Our local Phynet Life Center (better known as our clinic), our ISD, and even our police department are all potential community partners to this new prospect. With that in mind, let’s discuss community partnerships and what they mean to economic development.

Community partnerships can be a critical part of any organization’s external environment that can affect said organization’s level of success in the long-term. These partnerships can take many forms including supply chains, occupational training & recruitment facilities, and auxiliary service providers.

Referring back to two of the three macro-strategies of economic development (business attraction and business retention/expansion), we can contextualize what role community partnerships play in each.

In regards to business attraction, very few businesses would ever choose to locate themselves in an area where there are no support structures whatsoever.

Even large industrial plants that might be looking for a certain amount of seclusion in a given site will still often need the benefits of law enforcement and emergency service systems nearby to their operations. Besides basic external needs, the more intricate the prospective business, the more availability of support and partnerships will play into its site criteria.

Organizations seeking to break ground in a new location will also be looking to establish early connections with that area’s leadership to gauge the reception of the community as a whole.

In addition to new businesses being attracted, in order for any existing business to expand in its environment, it must exist in an environment with room to grow.

As a business grows, so do its needs—a larger staff, broader supply lines, and even simply more physical space are all examples of such. Once again, community partnerships come into play to serve these needs.

Partnerships with job centers or workforce training facilities in a community can greatly advantage businesses seeking to expand their staff. Supply line expansion can be achieved through collaboration with other local businesses that have similar supply needs.

With cooperation, multiple businesses can seek out contracts with larger suppliers that can serve to benefit them without putting any one of them in a position of taking on more inventory than they are equipped to handle.

Finally, as a business starts to look for different locations with more room to breathe, an effective partnership with a local realtor can help find them new facilities.

As the LEDC continues to work with Open Hearts through their site selection process, we are helping them make more and more connections within our community to ensure that Linden will be a good fit for them.

It’s my hope that this article has effectively exemplified the truly gargantuan value that our various community organizations and businesses hold in attracting new prospects to our city.

Whatever role you might play in our community, you should take pride in the fact that your hard work is part of a collaborative effort to continue to grow our city!