On Public-Private Partnerships

Here's another slide from the recent IEDC Leadership Summit.  During a "State of the Industry" report from IEDC President Jeff Finkle, this slide caught my attention.

The private sector, increasingly, is taking the lead on funding public-private partnerships.  In fact, this slide shows a reversal from just 14 years ago.

Jeff added that 85% of IEDC members had undertaken new partnerships in the last year and the most frequent such partnership was with a Chamber of Commerce organization.

We resemble these trends.  Licking County officially kicked off its new Grow Licking County CIC yesterday with the County and the Licking County Chamber joining forces with the Port Authority (an IEDC member).  Though its brand new and fundraising is still underway, there's hope for a public and private balance in funding too.

That balance is critical to success.