Newton County heard from its neighbors, as representatives for the Joplin Regional Prosperity Initiative visited the county commission on Thursday.
The initiative functions as a follow-up for the Joplin Business and Industrial Development Corporation’s “Magnificent Seven” campaign to produce 7,000 area jobs. More than Joplin proper, the initiative is to reach into the four state area.
The new program begins in 2010 and runs through 2014 with the goal of producing some 4,000 jobs.
The plan calls for four overall goals. First is support and growth of existing businesses with a target budget of $500,000. Second is evaluation of workforce skills and increasing high school graduation rates from 75 percent to 87 percent. $900,000 is devoted to the education leg of the plan. The third priority, with a budget of $800,000, is to enable small businesses, entrepreneurs and innovators to create 400 new jobs. The fourth priority is to attract new jobs and new industries like software development, logistics and renewable energy to the four states, raising the average wage from $36,000 to $40,000. The initiative plans to use $1.3 million to aggressively market the region to specific business sectors and companies.
If they succeed in upping payroll earnings, the initiative expects consumers to have more money, and that, they say will bring in some $6.7 million in new sales tax revenues across the area.
Area businesses and organizations are being recruited to support the $3.5 million project. When it launched on Oct. 1, the group had raised $2.45 million, now, nearly a month later they are at 80 percent of their goal at $2.8 million.
