Here’s a new mantra: Yes, we can

By Dee Baird and Barry Boyer

For two years, our community has bounced between angst and anticipation. Angst over flood recovery and the economy. Yet for many, a time of renewed hope for the city, county, and region. But to transform this anticipation into a new reality of recovery and economic prosperity, we must let go of the language of limitation and see ourselves in a new way.

These sentiments harken to the roots of Priority One 25 years ago, when we saw almost 6,000 jobs in our community evaporate in a few short years. The founders had a vision, but to achieve it, they had to make a choice: Was the community willing to organize and reinvent itself in a way that met the challenge? The answer was yes. We are at a similar crossroads today.

In the past year, national experts Richard Bendis, founder and president of Innovation America, Michael Langley, former CEO of the Alleghany Conference, and Richard Longworth, senior fellow at the Midwest Council on Global Policy, have been in our region to help us evaluate our opportunities and understand the best practices and models to use as we move forward.

They also gave us a wake-up call to understand what will happen to our region if we don't change.

Our future as a community, a corridor and a region depends on our ability to work together. We must adopt a new playbook - one that takes the strengths of our natural nested communities and combines them in a way that meets the increased demands we face in the global arena.

We know from research by Dave Swenson at Iowa State University that this area boasts the only true regional economy in the state. The only way in which we can compete in an international economy is as a region.

At Priority One, we are in the business of retaining, recruiting and nurturing businesses and talent.

The staff is working with 22 companies planning to make expansion decisions within the next six months.

These companies could create more than 1,500 jobs and more than $273 million in capital investments.

But it's not enough to continue conducting

business as usual. We intend to move forward with a sense of urgency.

As the two of us transition into our leadership roles at Priority One, we invite everyone to join us in visioning a better, more vibrant future. At Priority One, we will:

l Be proactive.

l Begin with the end in mind, so that the organization's efforts are shaped around a common vision with broadly understood outcomes.

Dee Baird is president and Barry Boyer is chair of Priority One, the economic development division of the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. Comments: dbaird@cedarrapids.org and bboyer@vmind.com