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Missouri Economic Development Council Honors Rebecca Zoll-NCI for Ferguson Initiatives
North County Incorporated (NCI) announced that Rebecca Zoll, President/CEO of NCI, was recognized by the Missouri Economic Development Council (MEDC) at their annual conference. Zoll received the 2015 Resilience Award for the leadership she and NCI provided during the months following the Ferguson unrest in 2014. NCI’s work to bring regional partners together to help the area’s small businesses and school districts during and after the crisis was one of the reasons MEDC leaders honored Zoll.
“Rebecca Zoll and NCI are deserving of this honor due to their commitment to community based economic development in North St. Louis County. Rebecca’s bold leadership during a time of challenge and uncertainty should be commended. Her contributions to the small business community in the Ferguson area will have a lasting impact on the area,” said Joe Reagan, President and CEO of St. Louis Regional Chamber.
The broad initiative led by NCI accomplished the following: (1) stabilized the business community by providing immediate grant assistance to businesses impacted by the unrest; (2) provided high touch outreach to build relationships with business owners and to assess needs; (3) marketed Ferguson, Dellwood and Jennings businesses to attract more customers to the area; and (4) established a series of workshops to support the ongoing development and growth of businesses in the impacted corridors.
Zoll was nominated by the City of Hazelwood and the St. Louis Regional Chamber. “NCI has supported the North County community for nearly 40 years, this is a situation in which there was no existing organization ‘on the ground’ that could provide immediate support. NCI took this role upon itself,” said David Cox, Department of Economic Development, director for Hazelwood.
“Economic Development professionals pride themselves on being able to think on their feet and face challenges, but what Rebecca did to marshal local, state and federal resources, while addressing inquiries from around the world is beyond what many of us would ever expect to be faced with. The resilience that Rebecca has demonstrated with the support of her board is something we will be learning from for a long time,” said John Engelmann, CEcD, president of MEDC.
North County Incorporated, established in 1977, is a regional development organization that acts as a catalyst to define and advocate economic and community development for North St. Louis County. The Board is composed of community leaders and business owners, with Dan Boyle, Esq., of The Boyle Law Firm serving as the current chairman of the board.
