Leaders reflect on need to evaluate economic development efforts

27 Dec 2017


Year in and year out for more than a decade, leaders in Wyoming have emphasized the need for economic development and diversification. With that focus in mind, over the years, a number of organizations formed both in Sheridan and statewide to focus on the business community.

The budgets for those organizations now reach totals in the millions, and community leaders have started to question whether they can do better by consolidating and reexamining the missions of those groups.

 A plethora of groups

Sheridan alone has more than a half dozen organizations that focus on business recruitment, retention and generally the economic health of the community.

Those organizations include groups like Forward Sheridan, Sheridan County Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Sheridan Association, North Main Association, Sheridan Travel and Tourism, Critical Air Service Team and the Sheridan Economic and Educational Development Authority.

Local governments, too, have invested in the idea of economic development.

On the statewide and regional level, even more groups focus on the issue. They include the Wyoming Business Council, Northeast Wyoming Economic Development Coalition, the newly formed ENDOW and others.

Having a variety of agencies working toward the same goal certainly has benefits.

“When you look at the different groups, some have very specific missions that let them become hyper-focused, leveraging time and resources to make the differences they do,” said Adam Bunker, Chamber board president.

“They are able to dial in and focus their efforts on specific parts of the economic development equation,” he later added.

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