This morning, the EDA met with the board of the Northfield Enterprise Center for a strategic planning meeting.
A little history may be in order. From the earliest days of the EDA's existence (early 1990s), part of its vision was for a "business incubator" or service/facility to encourage businesses in their initial stages of startup and growth. An organization independent of the EDA would be able to operate faster and more flexibly than a municipal entity is able to do, and it was determined that an organization with non-profit status would be in the best position to accomplish some of the EDA's goals. Due to a change in Minnesota state law in the late 90s, the City/EDA was unable to incorporate a non-profit entity, so the decision was made to establish the NEC as a fully independent organization with only the loosest possible (informal) affiliation with the EDA. The NEC was spun off from the EDA in 2001 and incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and the EDA has contributed the major portion of funding for the NEC since that time. The allocation for 2006 is $45,000.
This morning's meeting focused on the future direction of the NEC. Over the past three years, the NEC has achieved several notable accomplishments, among them partnering with Carleton, St. Olaf, First National Bank, Community National Bank, and Wells Fargo Northfield to establish a $1.5M community investment fund. Along the way the NEC also provided many businesses and individuals with management and technical assistance as a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) partner; coordinated the efforts of student interns in Northfield's College Board of Business Consultants (CBBC); and worked closely with City staff to provide information and service to companies requiring certain kinds of assistance.
It is to be hoped, and seems likely, that the NEC and the EDA will continue to partner in promoting the economic health and vitality of Northfield. I'll be blogging on new developments as they occur. For now, suffice it to say that there may be some exciting new directions for both organizations as we continue refining and reshaping our goals and objectives in response to the community's changing needs.
Full disclosure:
I was one of the initial organizers of the NEC, and served on its Board of Directors until just a couple of weeks ago. Obviously, I believe that what the NEC is doing is a worthwhile expenditure of tax dollars. Regardless of any additional accomplishments, the services provided to area businesses is done more cost-effectively by funding the NEC than if the City hired additional staff to do the job.
At the 3-22-2006 meeting, the EDA approved funding of $20,000 to the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation. The NDDC has achieved several visible accomplishments in the past year and has many more plans for 2006 and beyond. The NDDC is the organization to thank for providing the impetus for the new street banners, the full-color Downtown Directory in Bridge Square, renewed Third Thursday cultural programming, ArtSwirl, and many retail initiatives. Their partnerships with the Northfield Arts Guild, the colleges, local businesses and downtown property owners, and others leverages the dollars invested and helps promote both the economic vitality of Northfield and a serious amount of goodwill between these organizations with different priorities and focuses (or foci, in the case of the colleges).
In that spirit, I'll offer up an interesting link, "
Last Monday, 2/27, the City Council received a feasibility study/market analysis on three options proposed for the 
