Impact Wayne kicks off
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 5, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Grey Morgan, left, CEO of Southern Bank and chairman of the Wayne County Industrial Alliance's $1.1 million Impact Wayne campaign, introduces Tony Nolan, campaign director, at Thursday night's public kickoff event at the Terrace Room downtown.
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Mayor Chuck Allen, left, who is also Development Alliance chairman, talks with Grey Morgan, CEO of Southern Bank, and campaign chairman and Jimmy Edmundson.
The Wayne County Development Alliance's Impact Wayne Campaign has raised $870,500, or 79 percent, of its $1.1 million goal to implement a public/private economic development initiative in the county.
Campaign Chairman Grey Morgan announced the total during Thursday night's public kickoff for the Impact Wayne Campaign held at the Terrace Room downtown.
It is the second five-year Impact Wayne Campaign conducted by the Development Alliance.
"I think this is going to be one of the most important meetings of the Development Alliance this year," said Goldsboro Mayor Chuck Allen, who is also serves as Development Alliance chairman. "It is very important, and I think you will like the message you will hear.
"As citizens, I think you all know we are all affected by economic development, and all of us need to participate."
Morgan, CEO of Southern Bank, encouraged local leaders at the event to work to raise the remaining $228,500 within the next few months instead over the full five years.
Development Alliance President Crystal Gettys outlined the programs that would be funded through the campaign.
Over the next five years the campaign would raise $225,000 for business retention and expansion; $375,000 for business development and marketing; $375,000 for product development; and $125,000 for investor relations and development assistance program.
"We have completed the goals of the first campaign and we have strong goals for the next five years," she said. "Even though the initiatives for the most part have not changed from five years ago, we still have those core initiatives.
"The last time we had six goals. This time we have combined a little bit. It doesn't look like as many initiatives because we folded some things up into programs that didn't need to be standalone. They needed to be supported under a program."
The programs also were reorganized some as well, she said.
"Personally, I think existing industries in Wayne County are our first and foremost most important part of what we do is to support them," Mrs. Gettys said.
The county has just come out of recession and did not see companies wanting to move here, she said.
"Where we saw our growth in jobs was from our existing industries," she said. "They are the largest taxpayers and help lessen the tax burden on our citizens. So in my mind, supporting them, making sure we are there to assist them in any of their needs, is our first priority.
"But we are not going to slack up on looking for new industries to come to Wayne County because the more we recruit, again, lessens the tax burden on us. It creates those jobs that we desperately need and want."
Since July, the campaign leadership team has worked to secure pledges of major investors in the Development Alliance, Morgan said.
That group of about 30 businesses and municipalities has provided a "good start" toward the goal, he said.
But it is only a start, Morgan said.
"When I was asked to chair this second Impact Wayne Campaign, it was an easy decision," Morgan said. "I truly believe that the fruits of this campaign will have positive and lasting results for the people of Wayne County.
"Over the next five years, we will work to help existing businesses succeed and expand; recruit new businesses to create high-paying jobs; generate new growth potential through strategic product development; expand its investor base and increase assistance to small businesses and entrepreneurs."
The return on what will be an aggressive plan can be "significant," he said.
Every 1,000 jobs created through economic activity generated by the plan will result in nearly $52 million in new annual payroll earnings for the county's citizens, Morgan said.
That increase in new earnings will result in more than $28 million in new annual consumer expenditure, he said.
"With results such as these, every investor will receive a return on their investment, and the citizens of Wayne County can achieve a better quality of life," Morgan said. "But these returns will only be realized if WCDA is successful.
"Wayne County is a community ascending. We have built a strong and diverse economy rooted in agriculture, emerging in technology and soaring on the wings of the U.S. Air Force."
The county's future economic progress is "in our hands," he said.
Bob Kornegay of Tri-County EMC is serving as Impact Wayne liaison to the WCDA board.
It was just 10 years ago that the Committees of 100 in Mount Olive and Goldsboro merged with the Wayne County Economic Development Commission to create the Development Alliance, Kornegay said.
"This successful merger of public and private efforts to fuel economic growth has been regarded as a model community achievement for economic development," he said. "Wayne County Development Alliance exists today because our county and municipal governments work to find common cause among themselves, and with the private sector, for the greater good of all Wayne County citizens."
The county must continue to cultivate its "extra ordinary cooperative ability" if it wants to accelerate economic growth, Kornegay said.
The Development Alliance must secure sufficient resources to compete at the highest level, and without the funds winning is only a dream, he said.
Impact Wayne is an opportunity for the county to take ownership of determining its future, Kornegay said.
He used Thomas Edison's work on the light bulb as an example for the county to follow as someone who had a dream and assembled a team that worked tirelessly to change the world.
"Drive, dream and determination were vital in Edison's quest," he said. "Key, too, was financial resources. Without the backing of financial-minded people, the technicians needed and the labs required for such an undertaking it would have been impossible," he said. "The idea before us today is to gather the resources we need to pursue the businesses, technologies and educational tools that bring Wayne County to a bright future.
"Think long and hard about the ways you might give. The future is determined by your actions."