SeonAh Kendall, Economic Health Manager in Fort Collins, Colorado, is a part of a very unique economic development team. Her department was one of the first organizations to be formed under the triple bottom line and they also have a state-wide sector partnership that is driven by the private sector. See the excerpt below to read how they utilize their sector partnership.
Back in 2012 Governor Hickenlooper had brought up the idea of sector partnerships for all of Colorado. They did some mapping to understand what the different sectors were that were driving the economy in Colorado.
For Northern Colorado the industries that they identified were manufacturing, health and wellness, creative, and then energy. Those were the sectors that they identified.
One of the unique things about sector partnerships is it brings in private industry, government and educators together. The unique part about it is it’s not driven by the government entities or the higher education. It’s actually driven by the private sector. Our manufacturing sector, the NoCo Manufacturing Partnership is one that’s recognized actually nationally for the work they’ve been doing. Again, it’s really driven by the private sector and we’re just there to help coordinate, align, and make sure that everything is moving forward in the way that they need to find the talent as well as we address the challenges they might have.
Click below to listen to SeonAh’s full interview:
