Governor Culver Praises New Great Places Economic Impact Report
Adams County, Clinton, Coon Rapids, Dubuque, Fairfield, Guttenberg, Jackson County, Mason City, and Sioux City
For Immediate Release October 1, 2010
(DES MOINES, Iowa) – Governor Chet Culver today praised a new economic impact report that shows most of Iowa’s first nine Great Places are outperforming their peer communities in Iowa and across the Midwest.
“This report is a clear indication that the Iowa Great Places program is achieving results for Iowans in terms of economic development, job growth and quality of life issues,” Culver said. “I congratulate and applaud Iowa’s Great Places for the work they have accomplished and I urge them to continue to build on their success.”
Now in its sixth year, Iowa Great Places encourages communities to work together to achieve a better quality of life for their citizens. The program combines state resources with local assets to build capacity in communities, regions, neighborhoods or districts that cultivate their unique and authentic qualities.
The report titled “Analysis of the Economic and Place Impacts of the Iowa Great Places Program” examined the initial three pilot Great Places of Clinton, Coon Rapids and Sioux City, as well as the six Great Places designated in 2006: Adams County, Dubuque, Fairfield, Guttenberg, Jackson County and Mason City.
According to the report, “The Iowa Great Places program is unique to Iowa and a strong engine for economic growth and sustainability in the places chosen as recipients of the designation. In performance measures ranging from demographics to economic measures, the majority of Iowa Great Places are outperforming their peers in Iowa and across the Midwest. Retail sales growth, increases in hotel stays, business growth, and employment growth are evident in almost all of the first nine Great Places.”
In compiling the report, researcher and economist Meghan O’Brien looked at 12 categories: population, school enrollment, employment, retail pull, potential sales, sales capacity, per capita sales, retail firms, hotel tax revenue, specialty retail sales, tourism dollars and tourism employment.
Overall, the report said the first nine Great Places generated 1,012 construction jobs and 707 permanent jobs at a cost of under $9,000 per job, which is far lower than other economic development programs. Given the average wages of the Great Places, the return on investment in job creation for the program alone is almost 300 percent annually, the report concluded.
The return on Investment does not take into account the positive impacts of the program on existing businesses that might be expanding and hiring and it does not include the benefits that continue to accrue in future years as projects developed within the program create more economic opportunity.
The report also said the program is invaluable in stemming decline in population and the economic base in the Great Places communities, and, despite a relatively small upfront amount of funding, it has created the dynamic necessary to encourage private sector, individuals, and other state agencies to contribute to the economic development of each community.
“These nine communities have accomplished a great deal of work with a relatively small amount of funding ($6 million),” said Mary Cownie, Director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. “Those are remarkable results and I believe it shows the program should be considered for additional investment and support as it moves forward.”
Information specific to each of the nine Iowa Great Places communities studied in the report can be found at www.iowagreatplaces.gov.
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The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is responsible for developing the state’s interest in the areas of the arts, history and other cultural matters with the advice and assistance from its two divisions: the State Historical Society of Iowa and the Iowa Arts Council. DCA preserves, researches, interprets and promotes an awareness and understanding of local, state and regional history and stimulates and encourages the study and presentation of the performing and fine arts and public interest and participation in them. It implements tourism-related art and history projects as directed by the General Assembly and designs a comprehensive, statewide, long-range plan with the assistance of the Iowa Arts Council to develop the arts in Iowa. More information about DCA is available at www.culturalaffairs.org.
