Economically Speaking: Reaching out to employers and entrepreneurs
The Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) is continuing its efforts to enhance services to the employers and entrepreneurs who call Missouri home.
Under the leadership of Gov. Matt Blunt, we have reorganized the department to focus on attracting and retaining good, family-supporting jobs and have merged key departments to improve services to job creators.
We created the Missouri Partnership to serve as the premiere statewide, private-sector business recruitment organization. The Missouri Partnership is a consortium of successful business and state leaders who work to boost our state’s economy through strengthened public and private partnerships that help make Missouri communities more attractive for economic growth.
In response to the governor’s call for more accountability, we have merged the division of Business Development and Trade with the division of Community Development, forming the division of Business and Community Services. This change directs the resources of these combined departments toward helping Missouri communities reach their full economic potential.
I am also pleased to report that we are stepping up our efforts to recognize ingenuity and our visionary entrepreneurs by placing more ded representatives in the field to improve communication and create new funding opportunities that attract and retain businesses. Because we have a diverse state economy, our representatives will specialize in the fields of financial services, life sciences, the automobile industry, defense and homeland security, information technology, agricultural business, and energy transportation and logistics.
Having trained specialists in fields that are having a dynamic impact on our state’s economy will show leaders in these fields at home and abroad that we are serious about creating long-term partnerships that will enhance opportunities for all Missourians.
The Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (meric) is now a part of the department’s Division of Business and Community Services. This change will harness meric’s vast informational resources toward helping the state and local communities expand their research and innovation efforts.
Gov. Blunt has challenged us to build upon the success we’ve had in creating more than 46,000 new jobs since he took office. We fully accept this challenge and look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead.