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Discover how your local economy compares to the rest of the nation, whether it is growing or declining and what is causing this to happen through this informative, yet entertaining presentation customized for your area.

Ideal for annual meetings of business organizations or as a special event, this presentation educates the local community on how your local economy works, its present economic condition, and motivates the community to reinforce the good in the economy and take action to correct the bad.

Every community can improve its "economic quality of life" by understanding how a local economy functions, studying the characteristics of successful areas, and determining the economic strengths and weaknesses of their own area.

From this presentation, the audience will gain unique insight as to what is truly driving their local economy, what directly influences their business and the community as a whole, and what they can do to enhance the "quality of life" for all residents in the area.

Analysis can be presented for a single county or multiple counties in the same presentation. Typically 1.5 hours.

Since 1997, POLICOM has ranked the metropolitan areas in the United States for "Economic Strength."  From the ranking, POLICOM studies the characteristics of the strongest and weakest areas.

This presentation highlights ten consistent characteristics of the strongest areas and provides a list of what all areas need to do to improve their local economies.

Specifically designed for city and county elected and appointed government officials, Fruth not only teaches the lesson on how a local economy works and reviews the economy condition of the local area, but also provides specific ideas and examples on how local government actions can improve the local economy.

Simultaneously, Fruth shows how actions by local government can also cause a decline in the local economy, lowering the "quality of life" of the people in the area.

Included is a discussion on "business incentives," whether they should be offered, and whether they actually work.

This program is ideal in conjunction with an Economic Development Workshop or as a stand-alone program for state associations of local government officials.

Perfect for associations whose members are affected by the condition of local economies or are in a position to cause the local economy to improve.

Attendees will learn how a local economy functions, how their state compares to the rest of nation, and gain insight into to the long-term trends in the state.

Additionally, between three to five local economies are examined to demonstrate contrasts within the state. From this comparison, the audience will learn why some areas in the state are growing in size and quality, while others are declining, and what to look for in their local area.

Economic Summit
All Day Workshop

Since ample time is available, there are extensive "question and answering" periods along with discussion among the participants regarding what needs to be done to improve the standard of living for the people in the area.

Most of the Topics listed below are included in the program, or it can be customized around the needs of the association or the community.

By understanding how a local economy functions, a community can better implement programs, which enhance economic quality of life and eliminate those activities which impair it.

Using the analogy that "all the wealth of a community is in bucket," Fruth demonstrates how money flows into a local economy, is churned and mixed and then leaves an area.

He identifies how this flow occurs, which industries cause money to be imported, and which cause it to be drained from an area.

Fruth demonstrates how the quantity and consistency of the flow of money into an area helps determine the size and stability of a local economy.

Some communities have consistent economic growth, while others boom, then bust. Still others are on gradual decline, some volatile decline. How a community is growing or declining economically demonstrates the strengths or weaknesses of its economic foundation.

The concept of "economic strength" is explained demonstrating why it just as important to measure the "stability" of an area as growth rates to help determine the future of the area.

Learn why this concept is important to local government, local businesses, and the average citizen.

Community, business and government leaders will discover the true essence of their local economy through this analysis.

The economic history and strength of the local area is analyzed by evaluating the employment and earnings history of several industries over a 25-year period through a series of graphs and charts which visually depict the local economy in an understanding manner.

The sources and amounts of imported dollars (primary earnings) are mathematically determined to discover which industries are driving the local economy, causing it to grow or decline.

Most in the audience will be completely astonished to learn which industries contribute and add wealth to the area, and which consume and absorb the wealth.

Economic growth comparisons are made to other economies to demonstrate the relative position the local area is economically to the rest of the country.

From viewing the graphs and discovering the comparative growth rates, the economic trends of the local area are easily discovered.

There is today, as there has been since the time of the first "organized government," a direct relationship between the actions of government and the condition of the economy.

Among the fifty states, one state might have a strong economy, while a neighboring state a weak economy. Within states, one county can have a dynamic growing economy, while its neighbor is on gradual decline.

Sometimes the cause of each situation can be partly or wholly attributed to the action or inaction of government, as virtually every action taken by government affects the economy, directly or indirectly, for the good or bad, immediately or in the future.

On a local basis, local government actions can have a direct impact upon the success of its most important contributory industries in the area. Typically, it is not one single act, but a series of actions, which individually have a small or minor impact, but cumulatively, add up to either significantly increasing or reducing the costs for these companies.

Communities, which are aware the actions of government can either enhance or detract from a "positive" business climate, typically have be best chance to develop or maintain a strong, vibrant economy.

During this presentation, Fruth identifies several specific actions by local government, which can either help an economy to grow, or cause it to decline. From this information, local government leaders will be able to better weight the social benefit of their actions versus the possible negative impact upon the economic quality of life of the citizens.

While the nation is composed of thousands of individual economies, most of which behave either better or worse than national averages, the country’s economy system directly and indirectly affects every local economy.

National leaders have advised the people we have "the strongest economy in our nation’s history." However, over the last 25 years, the nation has undergone the most significant change in its economic system in its history.

Through this presentation, Fruth will explore the impact of the massive growth of government "entitlement" programs on the national economy, the implications of the social security deficit, how we have had 25 consecutive years of foreign trade deficits, and the influence consumer borrowing on the consumptive sector.

You will be able to better determine if the decline in high wage manufacturing jobs and the proliferation of low paying service and retail jobs has improved the "economic" quality of life for the nation.

You will also discover the national economy system has transformed from one which produces wealth, to one which transfers, borrows, consumes, and loses wealth, and that perhaps we do not have the strongest economy we have ever had.

Communities and states around the country spend millions of dollars each year in the form of financial incentives to assist in the expansion of existing businesses and to lure new industry to their respective areas.

Utilizing the results of a national survey of local business incentives in which more than 600 economic development organizations around the country participated, Fruth identifies which areas of the country offer the most incentives, what kinds of incentives are being offered on a local basis, and why communities offer the incentives.

He explores which incentives do the most good, whether a community should offer incentives, and provides an alternative to financial incentives for a community to assist them in their economic development efforts.

In order to have a successful economic development program, the organization charged with the responsibility of implementing the program needs certain information, or tools, to conduct its business effectively. Prior to attempting to implement a program, many of these tools need to be in place or time, money, and effort are wasted.

Fruth inventories the tools, from a land-building inventory to training programs to a local network of experts, which are necessary for a viable program and explains why they are important.

It is much easier for a community to keep what it has than to recruit new companies to move to an area. An Existing Industry Program is designed to foster the retention and cause the expansion of the existing primary industries in a community. It is the most important yet least expensive economic development program.

Fruth, dubbed the "Father of Florida’s Existing Industry Program" by the Florida Department of Commerce in 1986, details step-by-step the various programs needed to help prevent facility closures, reduce the costs for existing production employers, and create an atmosphere conducive for expansion.

A Recruitment Program is necessary in every community to replace the inevitable loss of jobs due to the reduction or closure of existing companies, caused by market conditions or forces not controlled by a local community.

A Recruitment Program encourages new primary industries to locate in an area and helps diversity the economic base, making the community less susceptible to recession.

Recruitment is expensive, laborious, time consuming, and visible results from the effort can take years. Fruth reviews some the key programs for recruitment such as target marketing and clustering, and stresses the need for the community to have patience.

Many areas of the nation have "grown" their own economy by fostering the creation of start-up companies, which have evolved over a period of time to become major contributory employers in the area.

Fruth discusses some of the necessary elements relating to a "Start-Up" program, what some areas have done to be successful, and how  it can be a wonderful opportunity for quality economic growth.