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In 2010, a group of public and private leaders joined together to address concerns that the Twin Cities lacked a coherent strategy to help market our region. What started as a discussion has evolved into a non-profit organization known as GREATER MSP with a full-time staff, whose goal is to promote the 16 county region to the world. On January 8, 2018 Peter Frosch of GREATER MSP spoke to Coon Rapids Rotary about the group's work. Among the interesting tidbits: the Twin Cities has the 16th largest economy in the world as measured by GDP. The "secret sauce" as Frosch put it: the region's diverse economic base and long list of Fortune 500 companies, which has helped buffer against the boom/bust cycles that have happened in other parts of the country. While recruitment and attraction of new businesses is a key focus of GREATER MSP, the reality is that much of the job growth is organic; in other words from businesses that already call the Twin Cities home. In fact, 70% of the jobs created in the last 8 years have been home grown - meaning that business retention plays an important role in job growth. Frosch also talked about the fact that there will be a shortage of 100,000 workers by 2020 if the region can't attract or develop enough talent. Among the primary factors: our penchant of Minnesota Nice...well it isn't always so nice, at least in terms of developing friendships and social connections with newcomers. GREATER MSP is trying to change that and has deployed several new social-themed initiatives that allow newcomers to better integrate into our communities. In addition, economic inclusion (i.e. expanding workforce training for under-served populations) is also critical to the region's future success. Thanks to Peter Frosch for his informative presentation and to Matt Stemwedel for arranging the program.
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