State of the Association – WEDA President and CEO Mary Perry 

Hello Team Wisconsin! It is wonderful to finally enjoy long sunny days and warm weather, but that’s not the only thing that’s heating up in Wisconsin. At the Capitol, lawmakers are in the middle of putting together the state budget (which will impact economic development across the state) and key development projects are underway all over Wisconsin!

Let me catch you up on what we’ve been up to at WEDA… Last month, WEDA hit the road to attend the Wisconsin Rural Prosperity Summit. It was marvelous to learn about projects and initiatives around the state, celebrate with award winners, and network with all the “Up North” community champions.

WEDA was also in beautiful Green Bay, where approximately 50 economic developers and people in related fields gathered for the Wisconsin Basic Economic Development Course, which was taught by 13 subject matter experts –many possessing the coveted IEDC Certified Economic Developer credential. Personally and professionally, producing this course was very rewarding. It is quite exhilarating being in a room with all that passion for community prosperity!

While in Green Bay, we also convened approximately 30 bankers for a roundtable discussion of community revitalization and sustainability. Feedback from both these events really gave me confidence that WEDA is providing value through its professional development and networking.

Our CRA Network Project Advisor, David Kircher also recently exhibited and networked at the Annual Lenders Conference. And our CRA Network has more in store…  We will be in Fitchburg for an Affordable Housing Bankers Roundtable July 25^th and in Wausau on Sept. 27^th for a Community Revitalization and Stabilization event.

WEDA was also recently in Kenosha County, providing our ED 101 course for local officials. ED 101 provides elected officials, boards, and community members with foundational economic development knowledge so that they feel confident in marketing their communities and analyzing prospective projects for ROI. We hope to also provide the course for local officials in Middleton and Kewaunee County later this year.

We are currently all hands-on deck planning the WEDA Fall Best Practices Conference to be held in Wausau September 27 – 29^th. During the conference, we will also be celebrating economic development in Wisconsin at the 10^th Annual Community and Economic Development Awards (CEDA) on Sept. 28^th. Don’t miss the opportunity to nominate your hometown’s economic development success stories.

 

Why Join WEDA? By joining WEDA you can leverage key resources and training, impact state policies and build an extensive professional network of industry leaders and economic development professionals who share the same mission—growing Wisconsin! Our members are professionals from every area of economic and community development and related industries like architectural and design firms; bankers; community chambers; planners; construction services companies; consultants; engineering companies; mechanical electrical and plumbing contractors; Regional Planning Commissions; regional economic development organizations; residential commercial and retail developers; commercial real estate people; utility companies; workforce development professionals; city county and state officials; universities, and technical colleges.  If your work is in one of these professions, you should join too! We want to welcome you to the WEDA family! Join here today!