From May 9-15, we join our partners across the United States in celebrating Economic Development Week. The week was first celebrated in 2016 to increase awareness of local programs to create jobs, advance career development, and highlight development activities happening in local communities. I am so proud of the work that our team at Marion Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO) leads both individually as an organization and collaboratively with our partners at the City of Marion, Marion Chamber of Commerce, and Uptown Marion.

MEDCO exists to be economic development thought leaders who drive competitive advantage for Marion. Led by a 21 member board of directors, everything we do is focused on our community, its people, and the vibrant companies that call Marion home. MEDCO is financially supported by 167 businesses who make our work possible. In fact, despite a global pandemic and major natural disaster, the number of companies partnering with our organization is at an all time high. Our team works hard every day to ensure the work we do aligns with the current day challenges being navigated in the workplace. Here are a few examples:

• MEDCO powers Community Promise, a workforce development strategy that invests in our K-12 students who are the future leaders of our community.
• During the 2020/21 school year, we launched Marion Community Build, a partnership that provides students the opportunity to learn various trades while rehabilitating run down properties in key Marion neighborhoods.
• When you see development and new construction, you’re often seeing MEDCO at work. We partner with developers and builders on front end of almost every project that you see under construction to best position them for success. Today there are 10 projects under construction in the community that MEDCO has worked with. This represents more than $111M of new investment into the community, supporting 118 jobs.
• In 2021 companies are navigating the most difficult environment ever when it comes to finding talent. Additionally, the global supply chain continues to struggle in its recovery from 2020. So we’re listening and developing strategies and tools to help businesses learn more each other as we face these challenges head on.
• 80% of the work that we do supports our legacy companies who have operated in our community and region for many years. But we’re also focusing on people with new ideas who are pursuing new opportunities to develop a new generation of businesses. We’d love for you to join our next Startup Exchange Meetup.

Check out our most recent Annual Report to learn more about the work we do every day in the Marion community.

If you are not an investor in Marion Economic Development, I invite you to consider the many benefits of being connected with our team. Check out www.medcoiowa.org/invest to learn more. Either me or a member of our team would enjoy the opportunity to stop by your business, grab a cup of coffee, and spend time learning how we can best support your growth.

Thank you for allowing us to serve as your economic development organization.

Nick Glew
MEDCO President