The Partnership Strives for Transparency

Posted by on August 12, 2011

One of the goals of the LSCP in 2011 is to be more transparent in our economic development activities and outcomes.  The theory being that, if we are communicating factual information to our stakeholders, there is less chance for misinformation to be generated.  In order to do this, we became an early adopter of social media and web based tools to assist us.
Following the example of the State of Michigan, we created a “dashboard” that is on our website (www.marquette.org) and updated on a monthly basis.  Four major areas are covered, complete with a comparison over the previous year and an arrow that indicates if that area is stable, needs improvement or has improved in each area.  The four categories are:
* Economic Development:  Here we disclose the number of clients that we have worked one on one with to provide business startup, attraction, retention and expansion services.  It also provides information on the amount of Revolving Loan Funds that have been lent, as well as the jobs saved and created by the clients we have worked with so far in 2011.  It’s important to mention that economic developers do not create jobs, private investment creates jobs.  Our role as an economic development organization is to provide resources and support to the investor while removing roadblocks. 
* Employment:  These numbers measure the employment climate of Marquette County, such as unemployment rate, total employed and unemployed citizens.    We collect these stats each month from the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.  Please remember that these statistics are released on a month delay (ex: June statistics are released at the end of July). 
* Marquette County Wealth:  Yearly demographics and economic indicators such as Property Tax Revenue and Median Household Income are tracked to quantify the growth of our community wealth.  In the end, successful economies need to generate wealth within the community.
* Communications: In this section we give a quick overview of our monthly web traffic, as well as social media interaction such as number of RSS Newsfeed postings, block subscribers and Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn engagement.   The goal of our social media network is to keep stakeholders informed while driving traffic to our website for additional information and opportunities.  How each individual chooses to receive information is unique.  Maybe you are strictly a website surfer, prefer an automated RSS feed, or are more interactive using Twitter or Facebook.  The LSCP understands these differences and strives to share information with you no matter what your media preference is.  Our social media efforts didn’t happen by accident.  It has been a part of our marketing and communications objectives for the past year and what you see as an end user is strategic by design.
Next time you are online, take a moment to check out our various communications tools.  Take advantage of the opportunity to receive our countywide information in a format that meets your individual needs.  If your business would like additional information or assistance on breaking into the social media scene, let us know.  Our professional communications staff is prepared to share this valuable business resource with you and your staff.
For more information, visit the Lake Superior Community Partnership online at www.marquette.org or call our office at 226-6591. 
Content