2010.05.10 EDA Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Hugo Business Retention and Sponsorship Expansion Program This program is sponsored by the City of Communities recognize that helping Hugo, the Hugo Economic Development existing businesses to survive and grow Authority, Connexus Energy, Xcel is a vital economic development Energy, Hugo Business Association, strategy. The Hugo Business Retention Lake Area Bank, Postal Credit Union, and Expansion Program (BR&E) is Premier Bank, Reimer Photo, and WSB designed to assist local businesses in and Associates. thriving and expanding in the city. While BR&E History the attraction of new businesses and new business start-ups are important The Hugo BR&E Leadership Team components of any economic development strategy, research has approved entering into the Business shown that forty to eighty percent of new Retention and Expansion Program after being accepted into the program by jobs are created by existing businesses rather than by businesses new to the University of Minnesota Extension. The community. first Leadership Team meeting took place in July of 2009. The Hugo BR&E Program is a comprehensive and coordinated Business Visits approach to assisting existing businesses. Visiting current businesses A total of 38 businesses were visited by and learning their concerns is only one volunteers during the business visitation component of the process. The BR&E phase. The Leadership Team and Task program builds awareness in the Force's goal was to visit an equally community of issues that face representative sample of businesses businesses and builds capacity for the from each major industry classification community to address these issues. in Hugo. Businesses were selected The program also assists local leaders randomly from within each classification. and community members in working together to provide solutions to business During the months of October, concerns. November and December of 2009, the Objectives Leadership Team, Task Force and Volunteer Visitors conducted the The Hugo BR&E Program has five business visits. The teams had initially objectives: identified 70 businesses for visitation. 1. To demonstrate support for local Visitors worked in teams of two and took businesses responsibility for arranging and 2. To help solve immediate business conducting the interviews. concerns Warning Flag Review 3. To increase local businesses' ability to compete in the global economy After the surveys were completed and 4. To establish and implement a plan returned, the Task Force met to review for economic growth and each survey and decide how to handle 5. To build community capacity to the immediate follow-up. The Warning sustain growth and development. Flag review is designed to identify and ©2010 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. 1