Rural Economic Development
Taking economic and strategic plans from facilitation into action while targeting key areas of rural economic development including employer-led, data-driven workforce strategies and rural tourism planning and preparation.
Workforce Development
By engaging rural employers in the development of skill-based talent pipelines, standardized job descriptions can be developed, disconnect youth and displaced adult workers can discover local opportunities, and relationships between educators and employers can be improved in rural communities across the state.
Tourism & Marketing
To embark on a tourism initiative, it is critical that a destination has a fully developed promise of an experience and a system that supports visitors’ expectations. Local First Arizona works with rural partners to identify community assets, create their tourism message, and to understand their unique community proposition or strategy for audience targeting and measurement.
Economic Leakage Assessments
Examines the spending patterns of local residents and identifies market gaps and opportunities for existing or new businesses that may want to expand/enter into the market. By identifying which products or services are most likely to be leaking, recommendations can be made to guide targeted business procurement and/or community campaigns that promote a more localized economy.
Strategic Planning
Strategic plans can provide a roadmap for tangible steps that can be taken to achieve agreed-upon goals within a community or organization. Local First Arizona offers a variety of planning programs that can jumpstart a project of any size and keep it guiding down an intentional, measurable path towards success.
Local Procurement & Banking
Since our inception over 15 years ago, Local First Arizona has helped to shift a significant portion of Arizona’s business and consumer deposits to locally owned banks and credit unions. In addition, we can provide technical assistance on procurement policies that support a localized economy and build stronger communities one financial transaction at a time.
Follow The Work: Economic Development
Community Partnerships
Local First Arizona’s Rural Development team is an active strategic partner in communities and networks across the state in order to grow economic opportunity, retain youth, create jobs, develop robust food systems, and increase revenue through tourism.
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