Windsor-Essex joins communities across Canada and the United States to increase awareness of jobs, career development and programs that enhance and provide local economic impact.
Windsor-Essex County, Ontario, May 6, 2019 –
Today, the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation (WE EDC) and regional partners including all municipalities in the Windsor-Essex region, the WindsorEssex Small Business Centre (SBC), WEtech Alliance, Workforce WindsorEssex (WFWE), and the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade launched Economic Development Week in the Windsor-Essex region.
This week-long initiative is part of the International Economic Development Week and was created by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) which is the largest professional membership organization for economic developers and is recognized by economic development professionals across Canada and the United States. The goal is to increase awareness of local programs that create jobs, advance career development opportunities and increase the quality of life.
“We are pleased to participate once again in the National Economic Development Week and collaborate with the region’s economic development organizations. It’s our goal to encourage businesses in the region to take the 2019 Business Retention and Expansion survey. This survey is a valuable tool that provides insight into the needs of our local businesses and our role in supporting them to stay successful.”
– Stephen MacKenzie, President and CEO, Windsor Essex Economic Development Corporation
This is the third year of participation by the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation (WE EDC) in collaboration with the other ecosystem partners and the nine municipalities across the region – Amherstburg, Essex, Kingsville, Lakeshore, LaSalle, Leamington, Pelee Island, Tecumseh and Windsor.
The goals for #EconDevWeek includes engaging the region’s business community – small, medium, large and across all sectors to “take the survey”. This survey identifies the needs of business, assist economic development professionals to develop strategies that will support businesses to stay, grow, and become more competitive. The survey also provides an inside view of the top positions’ employers hired, the age group of those hired, the number of planned hires for the year and many other important metrics that is published by WFWE.
The one survey concept was created by the regional partners to receive feedback from the business community, and to share the aggregated collected data results among all economic development practitioners. Since all participants are using the same survey data they can analyze trends which improves the validation of the information. The data collected helps the city, county and region identify specific issues and challenges faced by Windsor-Essex companies and helps to promote continued collaboration and teamwork among the partners. Through communications and face-to-face meetings, the companies will be encouraged to ‘take the survey’ that is available to them throughout the entire month of May. In 2018 over 130 companies took the survey; the goal this year is to increase the number of participants.
Throughout the week of May 6th to the 11th the partners will feature tools or services relevant to the business community and the survey will be active until the end of May 2019. All activities will be promoted online and through social media accounts of the local economic development agencies. This will provide businesses with important information about the support and services available through the region’s economic development practitioners.
QUOTES:
“The City of Windsor is once again pleased to collaborate in International Economic Development Week. The Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E) survey is one tool that takes the pulse of our local business community and enables us to provide the resources needed to help our businesses grow and become more competitive. I encourage all of our businesses to participate by completing the BR&E survey.”
– Drew Dilkens, City of Windsor Mayor
“The County of Essex is proud to provide businesses in Windsor-Essex the support and tools they need to thrive and prosper. Businesses can share how we can best help them by taking the BR&E survey and advising us of their challenges and ideas when it comes to economic development. It’s all about communication, collaboration and team work. We want to foster an environment where businesses can innovate, expand and inspire.”
-Gary McNamara, Essex County Warden
“Since our investment of over $3Million into our Windsor operations over the last couple of years Dainty Foods continues to grow significantly. Our recruitment plan is currently underway to hire more employees to fill several positions at our Windsor rice mill. It’s our pleasure to participate this year in Economic Development Week and reassuring to know that supporting businesses to grow and succeed is a priority in the Windsor-Essex region.”
-Richard de Palmas, CEO of Les Aliments Dainty Foods Inc.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WEEK ACTIVITIES:
Monday, May 6 – Media are invited to the Kick-Off Day– At 11:00 a.m. WE EDC will visit Dainty Foods at the Rice Mill on Broadway St. where CEO Richard dePalmas, of Les Aliments Dainty Foods Inc. will officially launch Economic Development Week by “Taking the Survey.”
Tuesday, May 7 -Using their own data, Workforce WindsorEssex will announce new monthly job reports that shares insight on how people search their job finding tools and what jobs are being posted online.
Wednesday, May 8 – SBC features “Cutting Through Food Business Regulations” seminar for those looking to start a business in the food industry.
Thursday, May 9 – WEtech-Alliance will be highlighting in their Thursday blog – 4 new pillars of programming created for scaling SME’s in our region. These pillars focus on – Client perks, their 4/8/12 milestone strategy document, Full day development workshops and finally, their relationship with the newly revitalized WECAN Angel Investors Network.
Friday, May 10 – WE EDC “Blitz Day” A business visitation blitz throughout Windsor-Essex highlighting “Take the Survey.”
