The intent of the Rural Idaho Economic Development Professional Program is to build economic development capacity in rural Idaho. To accomplish this, state funds have been appropriated to help employ full-time economic development professionals, who with a local board of directors, will manage locally directed economic development programs.
The Department of Commerce and Labor wishes to be a partner in spearheading rural economic development initiatives. The Economic Development Professionals will work on business retention, expansion and diversification projects, in partnership with the Idaho Department of Commerce, to achieve economic development goals in rural counties and communities and those of the Department.
In no case will state funds from this program be used to replace locally funded efforts unless a proposal includes the geographic expansion of an existing program to an eligible, adjacent county. The Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor is the state’s lead agency for economic development. Historically, the larger cities in the State have had more economic growth than rural areas for a number of reasons, one of which is the ability to employ professional economic development staff.
Rural areas have not had the financial capability to fund such positions and therefore have had to rely on dedicated volunteers to provide the day-to-day resources needed to carry out economic development programs. In most cases, these hard working volunteers have neither the time nor the expertise needed to successfully carry out these duties.
Therefore the Governor proposed and the legislature approved this funding program to provide towards the salary and benefits for professional economic development positions in economically distressed rural areas around the state. Although not direct employees of the Department of Commerce and Labor, these professionals will act as an extension of the Department’s staff in economic development projects around the state. The Department will participate in the selection, hiring and training of the economic development professionals.
Scope of Work: A local board of directors with representation from all partnering counties, cities and organizations along with two ex-officio representatives from the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor will manage the program. This board, meeting at least four times a year, will develop a specific plan of work for the economic development professional along with a plan for oversight and evaluation of the program. All projects must be focused on economic development, preferably projects that create new jobs either through the expansion of existing businesses or startup or recruitment of new businesses. Projects that will lead to the creation of new jobs and private investment (e.g. business park development) are also approved activities.
Under the direction of a board of directors and the Department, the ED Professional will perform tasks directly related to economic development projects throughout the project area. The Professional will assist the board in developing a yearly work plan and budget. The Professional will assess and document business development assets, develop marketing materials to promote business opportunities, assist existing businesses with expansion plans, assist existing businesses to deal with issues that threaten job loss, provide entrepreneurial training and support, pursue leads to recruit new businesses, develop projects that will lead to business development such as incubators, business and industrial parks, organize community response teams to respond to business development inquiries and build collaborative networks to ensure maximum use of existing resources. The Professional will provide monthly progress reports to the Department.