A local company is partnering with Henderson County High School’s Career & Technical Unit to convert a VW Beetle into an electric car.
Green River Publishers, regional producer of Coffee News, has been looking for ways to “go green” for the last few years. Among other steps, they use soy-based inks and recycled paper to conserve resources. However, now the company is ready to take on their biggest challenge—delivery.
GRP produces Coffee News versions for Henderson, Owensboro, Union County, Madisonville, and Bowling Green. To help cover this broad area, the company is moving to delivery via an electric car.
GRP is working with Evolve-IT Motors from Colorado. They have begun converting a VW Beetle into an electric car. Now that the first half of the conversion is complete, GRP is going to partner with the students in the CTE unit to finish the conversion.
Students will working to finish fabrication, electronics, and welding to complete the conversion.
You can stop by and watch the students complete this conversion next Thursday, 4 June from 11–5 at HCHS.
Northwest Kentucky Forward will be participating later this week in the first event for K
entucky United, the Commonwealth’s new statewide marketing cooperative.
This will be part of five-days and two events of marketing/relationship building with site selection consultants this week. A recent study conducted by the Kentucky Association for Economic Development revealed that site selection consultants don’t think poorly of Kentucky, they just don’t think of us at all. We are ready to change that starting this week!
I’ll post more about the events and the reactions as the events progress. But first, I have a day and half of meetings in Frankfort (our state capital) to help a super prospective company secure incentives, discuss mineral rights, look for assistance for a non-food chain biofuels project, and work on an exciting new initiative to help our great Aluminum cluster centered here in Northwest Kentucky!
The Audubon Board of Realtors recently reported several very positive signs for the local housing market and economy:
- 30 percent more single-family homes sold in March than in January and February combined;
- the average time to sell a house decreased to 19 weeks during Q1 09;
- the average sale price increased Q1 09 over Q1 08.
You can read more at http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/may/23/realtors-report/ or at the Board of Realtors website at http://henderson-realtors.com/.
Recently, the International Paper Mill in Henderson was recognized by the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection for joining Kentucky Excel, a voluntary environmental leadership program sponsored. IP enrolled as a Master member, the most challenging level.
View this article from The Gleaner outlining IP’s involvement in this program—http://www.northwestky.com/news/documents/IPRecognized.pdf.
Sebree Fence, a maker of snow and sand fencing owned by Kahlinch Fence Company in Ohio, has recently added a 2nd shift! The company located in the Sebree South Industrial Park in 2006.
Additionally, an agri-business company in another county is finalizing plans for additional capital investment and to add more jobs.
Finally, another manufacturer in the region is finalizing plans now to add a second line within the next few weeks creating additional jobs for Northwest Kentucky!
Congratulations to Sebree Fence Company and watch for more information on these other expansions!
One of the targets for Northwest Kentucky Forward is Alternative Energy. While for many communities that may mean wind or solar or biofuels, for energy rich Northwest Kentucky that means any source of energy that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
As a result, we focus on
NWKF sponsored an incredibly successful Rally 4 Education Excellence back in March which was attended by nearly 600 area citizens concerned about education. The Rally was the kick-off for a larger, on-going effort aimed at rallying community support for outstanding education throughout our region.
Post-rally, Community Advocacy Teams were established in each county to direct and plan activities for that county. Katie French, NWKF Coordinator for Regional Education Initiatives, supports and works with each CAT.
The following is a description of the groups that have formed in Henderson County to support education excellence. This grassroots initiative is incredibly exciting and more than 70 people have gotten involved in just the Henderson County teams.
Read more…
Governor Beshear announced today that Scott Audus of Henderson had been appointed to fill the seat of the late Tom Latta on the Kentucky Economic Development Partnership Board.
The KEDP directs the state’s economic development initiatives. The 13–member board is composed of 8 private sector members and 5 public sector members. Audus, who is chief deposit officer for Independence Bank, is a private sector member representing the 1st Congressional District.
NWKF congratulates Scott on this appointment!
As I went to my next few appointments, I continued to think about what Ed had told me. Was there something different we could do to make a trade show work for us? If so, what was it.
After lunch, I decided that I would survey some of the states who had booths. Today was the last day of the Expo, and as usual, traffic was significantly slower in the afternoon.
Every state I spoke with told me the same thing—”Best Trade Show EVER.” Some were much more candid than others (economic developers being a competitive and suspicious lot), yet the story was the same. Here is what I learned:
- because this industry is still so new, the players and decision-makers come to the show;
- if you are going to do it, do it right. The states that had the biggest bangs were also the ones that planned other events in conjunction with their booth—the Governor came in for a reception, they made an industry announcement at the show, etc.;
- the decision-makers came to them and not vice versa. The C-level executives were not working a booth (and most didn’t have a booth), they were there working the floor;
- internationals are driving the interest which makes sense. If my business is in Europe or Asia, it would be much more efficient for me to come to one location rather than running all over the US.
So, if you are targeting a new or growth industry and can commit to a complete program, it appears trade shows and economic development can actually work together.
Now, can you identify a new or growth industry for your state/region where this same formula might make sense? Maybe!!
While I was on my way to an appointment this morning, I was surprised when I noticed a booth for McCallum Sweeney Consulting. For those of you not in economic development, MSC is probably one of best site selection consultants in our industry. Businesses hire firms like MSC to help them make site selection decisions.
Like any industry, some are excellent and highly professional (like MSC), some are okay, and some are struggling to stay one step ahead of the authorities. As I have already mentioned, MSC is definitely one of the top half dozen or so site selection firms.
Not only did they have a booth, but Ed McCallum was staffing it. So I stopped to chat. I told Ed I was surprised to see them there. We talked about the growth they have seen in the wind industry and how they have helped to site three of the most recent major announcements.
Then he told me that this show had been a great success for them. He was sure that they were going to pick up several projects out of it, mostly international.
At this point, we had to cut short our conversation because a real client walked up. However, it caused me to begin to question my own thoughts on trade shows. Was this show itself different or was MSC working it in a unique way? Were there some take-aways for me and other like-minded ED Pros?