Blog

By Rebecca Zoll
Executive Director
This past year proved to be challenging due to the economy, yet North County Inc., Regional Development Association remained active in their quality of life efforts on behalf of North County. We remained focused on economic development, healthcare, infrastructure, education and marketing North St. Louis County.

NCI’s efforts for economic development included completing the first phase of the Business Retention Stakeholder Initiative, which provided data on trends for local use of retail and other services, with the assistance of US Bank, the Public Policy Research Center and HDR Engineering.

This information will help in the development of a plan to increase the use of local companies. They also provided marketing materials on area investment, housing, transportation, and development opportunities, and offered free educational opportunities for community leaders and members on sustainable economic development practices with the assistance of St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley.

NCI’s focus on infrastructure this past year saw them celebrating the opening of the completely reconfigured Route 367, along with MoDOT, HDR Engineering, and many other stakeholders who served on the Community Advisory Group for this multi-year improvement project. With the Route 367 project complete, they identified the I-270 Corridor Study as their next infrastructure priority and developed a taskforce to start working with officials to explore ways to fund to complete this study.

Our organization recently worked with METRO leadership on trying to retain as much transit service as possible for the North County area. Although the area will still see deep cuts as METRO works to balance their budget, however, North County did fare better than many other communities. This was due, in part, to METRO’s willingness to work with local groups, such as NCI to look at local employment hubs and service providers closely before arbitrarily cutting out all services beyond I-270, as originally planned. This effort by METRO to save some of North County’s more important bus routes and work with NCI leaders was appreciated.

For education, NCI continued our support of the North County School/Business Partnership, which links educators and business professionals together to increase student’s preparedness for careers and future jobs. We also supported legislation that would provide equitable and adequate funding for schools.

NCI marketed the use of area health care providers, providing an online directory of North County doctors, as well as, advocating for MoHealthNet legislation, which would maintain the safety net for those who cannot afford health insurance, in order to increase access to care and long-term create a healthier community.

The regional development association’s members benefit from several marketing tools that NCI provides, including a new monthly E-newsletter that promotes local events and accomplishments. NCI marketed the area through the distribution of 5,000 Explore, Experience, and Embrace North St. Louis County Community Magazine. Members also benefited by distributing information about themselves on our kiosks at Jamestown Mall and St. Louis Mills. As we do every year, NCI expanded our regional resource website www.NorthSt.LouisCounty.com to provide even more information about North County and the benefits of living and working here.

These are a few of the ways NCI worked to increase the quality of life in North County this past year. For a complete list of their 2008 Accomplishments,go to our website

NCI’s goals for 2009 are just as ambitious, but important to the sustainability and progress of our community and businesses. If you would like information on North County Inc., call (314) 895-6241.

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