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NEWS SUMMARY
AND MARKETING |
After a tornado swept through Berea in 1996, the city's Tourism Office contacted the Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CEDET) at EKU for assistance with the damaged Old Town section, home to a number of working artisans in Kentucky's designated Folk Arts and Crafts Capital. As word spread about the storm, however, visitors stayed away, even after clean-up was complete. CEDET then became a neutral partner in facilitating cooperation among a variety of interests, including Berea College, EKU, City of Berea, Madison County, the Berea Chamber of Commerce, Peoples Bank, Mountain Association of Community Economic Development (MACED), Will Linder and Associates and the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen. Together, they explored funding resources and began to develop a plan for an Appalachian/Kentucky Artisan Gateway Center. Construction of the Artisan Center, to be located near Exit 77 of Interstate 75, is expected to begin next year. The tentative completion date is Spring 2002. Now, those efforts have garnered CEDET its second national award in as many years. The Center, which is housed in EKU's College of Business and Technology, received the 1999 Outstanding Economic Development Project award from the National Association of Management and Technical Assistance Centers (NAMTAC). A year ago, CEDET captured the same award for the success of its Jackson County Entrepreneurship Center. In 1992, the Center received a second-place award from NAMTAC for its efforts in developing Kentucky's secondary wood manufacturing industry, culminating in the creation of the Kentucky Wood Products Competitiveness Corporation (KWPCC). CEDET has served the partnership working on the Artisan Center in numerous ways, including networking, communications, public relations, research, planning, grant writing and project management. Several academic areas of the University have assisted with the project. "The multi-disciplinary teams we can put together to address a problem in industry or a community enable us to deliver assistance unlike some other agencies because we have experts working together seeing the project as a whole," said CEDET Director Cheryl Moorhead. CEDET's work in Berea also has earned plaudits from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, which awarded the Center its Certified Community Partnership Program's Innovation Award "in recognition of outstanding local accomplishment in community and economic development." "We've been successful because EKU has set this center up so that we're able to tap into the University's human resources. Considering all the faculty and students at EKU, whether you need expertise in business, technology, art or planning, someone can help." In addition to faculty and staff, graduate and under-graduate students also have assisted with the Artisan Center project. "Colleagues (at other centers) often tell me how impressed they are with the support this center gets from the University," Moorhead said. "It is widely viewed that it is that support that has allowed us to have such a high degree of success." Meanwhile, the Jackson County Entrepreneurship Center, under the direction of Phil Danhauer, continues to thrive. In four years, it has assisted 36 entrepreneurs in opening new retail, service and manufacturing businesses in Jackson County. Of the 66 new and existing ventures assisted, only 10 percent have sold or closed, well below the national norm, according to the Small Business Administration. Most of the entrepreneurs participated in one of the 12-week training sessions offered by the JCEC. "Often, our clients are people who had always wanted to start a business, but didn't know how to go about it," Moorhead said. "In addition to the classes, we set up a full-time Main Street office in McKee. Through the funding provided by the Empowerment Zone grant, we have been able to provide services that are affordable and accessible." (The JCEC is a Kentucky Highlands Rural Empowerment Zone initiative operated by Jackson County EZ Community Inc., through a contract with EKU.) "When you talk about traditional economic development, you're talking about industrial recruitment and retention, but our work has more of an entrepreneurial focus and involves public-private partnerships," Moorhead said. Because of CEDET's involvement in public-private partnerships, Moorhead was one of 20 selected internationally to participate in the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies' Partnering for Results Institute, where she spent a week in September learning more about effective public-private partnerships. The Center continues to work with the secondary wood manufacturing industry and is working to develop a secondary wood manufacturing Productivity Training Center to be located in the College of Business and Technology's Department of Technology in conjunction with the KWPCC. Center staff also provides needed technical assistance to area industries, including custom training and on-site consultations regarding production, machining or productivity. CEDET focuses primarily on eastern Kentucky, but assistance may be provided throughout the Commonwealth. Any individual, business or industry wanting assistance may call the Center at 606-622-2334. |