What is the LSCP?
Posted by Lake Superior Community Partnership on January 5, 2015
We get many questions on what exactly the LSCP does. Do we only provide services for our partners or for the whole community? Are we a Chamber of Commerce? Are we an economic development organization? Are the services we provide free? Hopefully, I can clear up some of these questions.
The Lake Superior Community Partnership is an Accredited Economic Development Organization (one of only two in the state of Michigan). This means we have gone through the comprehensive peer review process through the International Economic Development Council that measures economic development organizations against commonly held standards in the profession including documentation review and a site visit. We are membership based and offer many great marketing and networking benefits to our partners, but we also provide economic and business development services throughout Marquette County. It is our wonderful partners who invest in economic development who allow us to assist the community in this capacity.
Some of the services we provide for all include expansion, site location, financing, talent development, strategic planning, business planning, budget/profit optimization, grant writing, data research, advocacy and state and federal incentive support. If you are a business with questions, we can either assist or point you in the right direction, oftentimes at no cost. Our mission is to stimulate and sustain a vibrant regional economy by facilitating growth and prosperity and we do so by offering these type of business services.
In addition to the business services we provide, we also work in attraction. We frequently visit and communicate with site selectors showing off our beautiful community and encourage them to consider Marquette County for their clients who are expanding, starting up or relocating.
At the LSCP we spend a lot of time working in legislative advocacy as well. There are many issues that affect our partners and community. Our staff stays current on what is happening not only locally but in Lansing and Washington D.C. as well. We have excellent relationships with our government officials and are able to call upon them when issues arise. The Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance is also a great way for us to strengthen our voice in government relations. We have been a member of that group for four years and are able to accomplish more by collaborating with those who have a similar agenda.
While Chamber of Commerce is not in our name, we serve many functions of a traditional chamber for the county. We are probably best known for our Business After Hours and ribbon cutting ceremonies. Networking is a large part of economic development and events like Business After Hours, our Annual Dinner and Golf Outing are a great chance to learn about local businesses and network with the business community in a more casual setting. We assist ANY business (partner or not) with ribbon cutting ceremonies to celebrate a grand opening, relocation and expansion. If you have something to celebrate, give us a call!
In addition to connecting you to other partner businesses, we are able to offer some outstanding marketing benefits. As an LSCP partner you have your own page on the business directory that can include your logo, website, social media links, video, website, hours of operation, map to location and more. Visit our business directory at www.marquette.org (upper left hand corner) to check out all of our partners.
We are grateful to our partners who invest in our economic development mission each year. I often ask the question “whose responsibility is it to fund economic development?” and I would argue that the obligation belongs to all of us. If you are not already a partner, we hope you’ll consider joining the LSCP to help us take economic development in Marquette County to the next level! Contact us at 906.226.6591 or lscp@marquette.org.
Amy Clickner, CEO, writes a bi-weekly column for the Mining Journal
