Economic Development Authority

Georgetown-Quitman Economic DevelopmentAuthority

Local Economic Development(LED) offers local government, the private and not-for-profit sectors, and localcommunities the opportunity to work together to improve the localeconomy.  It focuses on enhancing competitiveness, increasing sustainablegrowth and ensuring that growth is inclusive.  LED encompasses a range ofdisciplines including physical planning, economics and marketing.  It alsoincorporates many local government and private sector functions includingenvironmental planning, business development, infrastructure provision, realestate development and finance.  

The practice of localeconomic development can be undertaken at different geographic scales.  Alocal government pursues LED strategies for the benefit of its jurisdiction,and individual communities and areas within a local government’s jurisdiction canpursue LED strategies to improve their economic competitiveness.  Suchapproaches are most successful if pursued in partnership with local governmentstrategies.  LED are thus about communities continually improving theirinvestment climate and business-enabling environment to enhance theircompetitiveness, retain jobs and improve incomes?  Local communitiesrespond to their LED needs in many ways, and a variety of approaches can betaken that include:

• Ensuring that the local investment climate is functional for local businesses;
• Supporting small and medium sized enterprises;
• Encouraging the formation of new enterprises;
• Attracting external investment (nationally and internationally);
• Investing in physical(hard) infrastructure;
• Investing in soft infrastructure (educational and workforce development, institutional support systems and regulatory issues);
• Supporting the growth of particular clusters of businesses;
• Targeting particular parts of the city for regeneration or growth (areas based initiatives);
• Supporting informal and newly emerging businesses;
• Targeting certain disadvantaged groups

Information taken from http://go.worldbank.org/EA784ZB3F0

P. O. Box 114,

Georgetown, GA 39854

229-334-0903

229-334-2151

BOARD MEMBERS

Danny Blackmon, Chairman                                 Leslie Culver, Vice Chairman

Mike Thomas                                                          Jerry Green                                                                 

Tyrice Foster

 

RELATED LINKS

U.S. Economic Development Administration

Georgia Department of Economic Development                                                                                                                          

River Valley Regional Commission