First Phase of Growth Strategy Complete

The Manhattan region has certainly had its share of challenges over the past decade. We’ve seen negative economic activity among our largest employers including less jobs, less students, and less soldiers.

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However, we are resilient. Despite these actions, we have continued to be an attractive community where people choose to visit, choose to work, and choose to make their home. The Manhattan region is a great place with great opportunities.

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Now is the time to begin identifying those opportunities and prioritizing our activities to attract growth. At the Chamber, we have defined these growth initiatives as adding more people and jobs, and seeing the people in those jobs make more money. We believe this healthy growth can be sustainable and is great for our members and maintaining our quality of life.

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We engaged a consultant to help us by prioritizing growth initiatives. He began his work in the spring and will conclude later this summer. Matt Tarleton was a key member of Market Street Services when that firm completed Region Reimagined in 2018. After that, he struck out on his own and has worked on several economic development initiatives including the State of Kansas Framework for Growth in 2020.

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He will be presenting the first part of our strategic plan at 7:30 a.m. on June 25, at the Advantage Manhattan Investors Breakfast. That event will be at the Manhattan Conference Center. Because of the importance of this initiative, we are making it open to any Chamber member. AM Investors will get free admission while everyone else will pay $10. Coffee and assorted pastries will be available.

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Matt’s first report will be a community assessment, outlining our economic performance as a region and how we stack up to our peers.

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Please try to make plans to attend. We think this is the first step in a very important conversation regarding our future.