Blueprint for Regional Economic Growth to hold town hall meeting

Organizers of the Blueprint for Regional Economic Growth (BREG), a new 10-county regional economic development effort, will hold an introductory town hall meeting 9:30 a.m.-noon, Thursday, April 2, at the Meridian Center, 1420 E. Broadway Court, Newton, Kan. Wichita State University is a sponsor of the BREG initiative.

At the meeting, leaders of the initiative -- which include WSU President John Bardo and Jeremy Hill, director of WSU’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research -- will introduce goals and methodology for moving forward. Co-chairs of the effort are Charlie Chandler, chairman and CEO of INTRUST Bank and Brad Dillon, founder of Gilliland & Hayes LLC. Paul Masson and Jim Gollub of StarNet LLC, specialists in alliances and regional economic development, are advising the initiative’s leaders.

Private and public leaders across the south central Kansas region believe that together they can do more to accelerate near- and long-term growth. BREG will build on individual efforts in a practical and integrated way to achieve growth and continuous regional economic advantage.

This initiative is about coordinating existing assets in new ways. BREG has identified eight industry clusters necessary to achieve a diverse regional economy. BREG will work to define challenges, identify needed actions, and forge agreements among producers, suppliers and input providers to work together to implement changes. This effort does not end with agreements, but rolls into continued, positive action by each cluster to enable continuous improvement of the south central Kansas economy.

The eight economic clusters that have been identified for the south central Kansas region are:

Advanced Materials: Companies formulating, supplying and using composites, metal alloys and plastics.
Aerospace: Companies that manufacture and overhaul complete aircraft, parts manufacturers, services suppliers and flight training services.
Agriculture Inputs and Processing: Food and livestock production from the fields through processing to final consumer products.
Data Services and Electronic Components: Manufacture of electronic components and services such as creating customer software, integrated hardware and software service systems and on-site management of data systems.
Healthcare: Organizations that manufacture medical devices, provide specialized information systems, operate test facilities and support medical practices with protocol development.
Machinery and Metalworking: Manufacture of machinery for agriculture, home/garden use, construction, woodworking, building systems (HVAC) and consumer products. Metalworking companies that formulate test and qualify metals and metallic-based components.
Oil and Gas Production and Transportation: Exploration and production of crude petroleum and natural gas along with their associated collection and transportation systems regional refineries, transport trucks, railcars and pipelines.
Transportation and Logistics: Long-distance trucking, short- and long-distance railroads, air cargo operators, warehousing and logistics services firms.

Understanding each cluster’s specific needs and opportunities is key. Leaders from each cluster will build on experience and analytic insights, delve even deeper to the firm level and then bring them all together to shape action plans.

Other sponsoring organizations for BREG are the City of Wichita; Wichita Downtown Development Corp.; Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition; Regional Economic Area Partnership of South Central Kansas; Sedgwick County; and Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce.