Birmingham, Alabama

Greater Birmingham Regional Economic Development Strategy

 

The July 2009 merger of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Metropolitan Development Board, and Region 2020 into the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA) presented the community with a tremendous opportunity and a clear window to capitalize on the momentum of the efforts that went into the merger. The BBA is using that opportunity to engage the region in defining fresh goals and creating a holistic approach to achieve those goals. After selecting Market Street, the BBA and the Greater Birmingham Region are well on their path of creating a more prosperous future for businesses and residents.

Market Street’s strategic planning process will provide Greater Birmingham leaders with a clear understanding of the community’s strengths and challenges and a holistic strategy for moving Birmingham forward and increasing its competitiveness. A Steering Committee, made up of diverse business and community leaders, will oversee and guide the consulting efforts.

The four phases of the process include:

Phase I: The Competitive Realities examines Greater Birmingham’s competitive position, in terms of People, Prosperity, and Place, taking into account existing community and economic realities and the fact that there have been significant changes in the economy in the past year. A stakeholder input process that includes; focus groups, interviews, and an online survey, will provide business leaders, community leaders, and residents an opportunity to share their perspectives of the future of the region.

Phase II: The Target Cluster Analysis will assess the unique attributes of the workforce and the region, and industrial composition.

Phase III: The Economic Development Strategy is the means by which a community determines its roadmap for success and leverages past successes and current capacity to effectively position Greater Birmingham to enjoy sustainable, balanced and equitable growth.

Phase IV: Implementation Plan Guidelines ensures that Greater Birmingham can move forward in all aspects of implementation efforts, including selecting strategic options, prioritizing actions, and developing a realistic timeframe for implementation.

The Greater Birmingham Region is facing unprecedented challenges and the current state of the economy highlights the need for the region to plan not for today’s challenge, but for future opportunities when the recession ends. This process provides Greater Birmingham an opportunity to reassess their direction and goals in light of current community and economic realities in order to effectively plan for the future.

 

For more information, please see the project website.