Reaching out beyond bordersRegional collaborations finding success years after breaking down traditional barriersStory by Sean Fitzgerald REACHING OUT ACROSS traditional borders can be uncomfortable when long-held parochial turf gets in the way. Today the New North region of Wisconsin boasts an economic engine with a population of 1.2 million people, tens of millions of dollars in venture capital, and world-class workforce training opportunities. And the various regional collaborative efforts that have been in place since 2001 are helping to fine tune this economic engine with the intent of expanding the wealth of the region, ensuring each separate community a proportionately larger slice of the pie. Here’s an update on the work of some of these groups, as well as the agenda of each moving forward. Chambers of commerce CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE ARE traditionally a staple of local government advocacy for their members in the communities they represent. But outside of the community – at the regional, state and national level – a local chamber loses a bit of its bite in terms of swaying opinion at the state capitol or out in Washington. The Northeast Wisconsin Chamber Coalition – or NEWCC, for short – is proving to be an exception. By combining the membership strength of the four chambers representing the Fox Cities, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac and Green Bay, NEWCC has carried a unified voice to legislators on certain state and federal issues that’s garnered the respect of a large metropolitan area. That’s been critical in grabbing the attention of lawmakers. “When it came to addressing state legislative issues, it had been the Milwaukee area, the Madison area, and then the rest of the state. Frankly, we weren’t just the rest of the state,” said Dave Schultz, president of Borsche Roofing in Hortonville and the founding and still-current chair of NEWCC. “It was obvious that the Valley was becoming a megalopolis.” Voicing support for initiatives such as the successful Jobs Creation Act of 2003, or fighting against the failed Taxpayers Bill of Rights in 2004 marked some of the early victories for NEWCC, which represents more than 6,500 member companies employing more than 250,000 workers across the New North. Combining the resources and influence of each chamber has made it possible for an annual joint outing to Washington, D.C. to meet with Wisconsin’s Congressional delegates, a trip that wasn’t otherwise as cost-effective for each chamber to make on its own. In addition to policy persuasion, NEWCC has provided other benefits to its members such as a comprehensive regional wage and employment report, said Schultz. Each of the four chambers had conducted their own wage surveys annually for more than a decade, and continue to do so. Through the work of the chambers coalition, the four chambers were able to develop a standardized survey methodology which allowed the results to be combined to offer a broader regional perspective. Looking to the future, Schultz said NEWCC’s radar continues to focus on health care discussions at both the state and national level, as well as pushing the issue on tort reform, both of which have proven to be costly issues for business. Education INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION across the New North region drive the quality of the workforce area employers tap into for delivering innovative, high quality products and service. Up until the end of the 20th century, many of the technical colleges and two- and four-year universities that dotted the landscape of northeast Wisconsin had little to do with one another. Beside the students from two-year University of Wisconsin colleges such as UW-Fox Valley or UW-Fond du Lac moving directly into a third year of their baccalaureate studies at a four-year campus like UW-Oshkosh, there was little reason for other educational institutions to communicate and coordinate. As the workforce in northeast Wisconsin becomes increasingly made up of a worker who’d taken courses at one school – perhaps even received a degree – started their career, and decided to go back to school at another institution, educators have found more need than ever before to develop a familiarity with one another. A groundbreaking collaboration between the 12 public colleges and universities in northeast Wisconsin in early 2002 lead to the creation of the Northeast Wisconsin Educational Resource Alliance, or NEW ERA, as it’s come to be known. Nearly eight years later, NEW ERA is regarded by legislators and policy makers in Madison as a model of how nearby educational institutions should work together to advance the skills, knowledge and capabilities of a region’s workforce. In fact, in a recent visit to the area from an entourage of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, representatives from that group said they haven’t seen anything else like NEW ERA across the entire country, said Jim Perry, campus dean and CEO at UW-Fox Valley in Menasha and the past chair of the NEW ERA executive board. One of the most visible successes of the past two years has been the formation of a faculty dialogue group, Perry said, which was created this past spring to bring academic colleagues of the same subject discipline together. These discussions are leading toward what might become a sustainability institute in northeast Wisconsin, among the first of its kind in the country. “If you don’t start thinking outside the box, you never get anywhere,” said Perry. Initial discussions are pointing toward a degree in sustainability that wouldn’t be resident on any one NEW ERA campus, but would draw upon a curriculum of classes from all of the educational institutions to matriculate toward a degree conferred by the new regional institute. Fox Valley Technical College President Susan May, who recently stepped in as the new chair of NEW ERA this past month, finds the faculty group a catalyst for accomplishing tasks of which top-level leadership sometimes doesn’t have total control. “As administrators we can sit around for years and years and talk about these things, but it’s really the faculty in the classroom who make these efforts happen,” said May. Economic Development WHEN THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE created its Technology Zone tax credit program in 2002, the tech zone region encompassing the Highway 41 corridor became one of the early success stories in this innovative economic development program. The Northeast Wisconsin Regional Economic Partnership, or NEW REP for short, had formed to review and administer tech zone applications for valuable economic growth projects in the region. A somewhat unprecedented union at the time, NEW REP became a way for county and community economic development professionals across the region to achieve better results by combining the amenities each had to offer. It was a stark break from the tradition of neighboring communities battling one another for the location of a new manufacturer, for example, in order to claim growth in jobs and taxable property value for their own. Within five years, NEW REP would use up all of the nearly $5 million tech zone funding allocated to the region – the only one of the eight designated tech zones in all of Wisconsin to do so. With unused dollars from other technology zones around the state and unused funds from other economic development programs administered by the state commerce department, the New North was at a disadvantage to continue enhancing the technological capabilities of the region’s employers. Through the advocacy of NEW REP economic development professionals and the state economic development association, Wisconsin merged together its five tax credit programs earlier this year, allowing the region access to millions of dollars more in assistance to New North business developing advanced products or using advanced technology in their production, operations or manufacturing processes. Bill Wheeler, the current chair of NEW REP and executive director of Tri-County Economic Development Corp. serving Waushara, Green Lake and Marquette counties, said that’s just one example of NEW REP’s contribution to the region. A recent initiative, the Executive Pulse business retention and expansion data base survey, rolled out in the latter part of 2008, affording NEW North’s business community a tool it never before had at its disposal. “The system provides a shared data base that provides a full array of customized technology, management and survey solutions for businesses to utilize,” Wheeler said. This past year marked the fourth year for NEW REP’s Business Plan Contest, itself a collaborative effort to encourage entrepreneurial growth across northeast Wisconsin. The annual competition provides $25,000 in prizes to top business plans to help those entrepreneurs get off the ground. As a brand new initiative this past February, NEW REP coordinated a regional trade mission to Mexico City to explore business opportunities south of the border. A total of six area companies participated in the trade mission, which included 19 targeted business appointments and a series of other briefings and networking events, Wheeler said. For its first attempt, the trade mission appears to be a success. “The mission participants reported that over $850,000 in direct sales will occur within 12 months,” Wheeler said. Wheeler said NEW REP is currently exploring the possibility of coordinating another trade mision elsewhere. Through its nearly seven years of working together, participants of NEW REP have discovered they can enhance the entire region’s economic and business development environment as well as the quality of life of people living and working throughout the New North. Manufacturers WITH THE DIVERSE PORTFOLIO of manufacturers across northeast Wisconsin serving so many different industries, what benefit could possibly be gained by bringing together, for example, a metal fabricator with a food processor? More than meets the eye, particularly as it relates parallel issues across their respective workforce. A total of 24 percent of the workforce in the New North is employed in manufacturing, said Ann Franz, an economic project manager through Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and the Bay Area Workforce Development Board. Franz is one of the coordinators for the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, an industry-led group working to improve the region’s future manufacturing workforce. A handful of manufacturers in the region had come together informally in early 2006 with common concerns about an aging workforce on the shop floor, lamenting that fewer high school graduates were heading into manufacturing as a career path – either directly out high school or after earning a post-secondary degree. What evolved was an initiative – backed by the Fox Valley and Bay Area workforce development boards and the New North’s four technical colleges – to highlight different opportunities in manufacturing and create a positive perspective of the careers manufacturing affords. The NEW Manufacturing Alliance currently has 64 members – 51 of which are manufacturers – and is always encouraging new members. “This really had to be driven by business,” Franz said, noting that this initiative couldn’t have been successful if it were strictly driven by support agencies. To date, the organization has developed a Web-based tool for dislocated employees to find skilled positions with other manufacturers within the region, Franz said. It’s also conducting outreach to K-12 educators throughout the region and recently awarded an inaugural round of four $1,000 scholarships to area high school graduates planning to head into a manufacturing career after attending tech college or a university. Medical practices LIKE MANUFACTURERS, INDEPENDENT MEDICAL practices might appear to benefit little from familiarizing themselves with one another. From urologists to heart specialists to neurologists, the varying scope of patient issues is as diverse as the colors of the rainbow - until one considers many independent medical practices in a given region use many of the same hospitals and are paid by many of the same insurance carriers. “We all face the same challenges as far as registering patients or dealing with collecting unpaid claims. We’re all doing the same thing in terms of dealing with a tumultuous health care industry,” said Larry Sobal, chief executive officer of Appleton Cardiology Associates. Three years ago, Sobal and some of his administrative colleagues from other independent medical practices in the Fox Cities began gathering monthly to share best practices in procedures like patient admitting or in management issues like structuring an employee benefit model. The group – now formally known as Independent Practice Leaders, or IPL – includes between 25 to 30 specialty medicine practices from less than 10 to as many as 130 employees. Sobal said independent medical specialties are a bit of a cottage industry, and tend to feel a bit isolated within a region. In addition to meeting with one another, the group collectively provides a common voice to the hospitals its physicians service, rather than leaving the hospitals to reach out to 25 separate independent practices. In time, the group hopes to bring some uniformity to procedures like billing practices, Sobal said, ultimately leading to a genuine consistency in how patients across northeast Wisconsin interface with the medical practices that care for their health. “Most of us would have had very little to do with one another previsously,” Sobal said. “But we’re all in the medical profession, and we all have our particular specialties. It’s all part of the aspect of learning from each other,” Sobal said. And that’s what is truly at the heart of collaboration. |