Jonathan, I understand where you are coming from and I concur. Not every municipality "gets it." Derek was fortunate to get a nice grant from his municipality, but many cities and towns do not have a clue about the economic benefits of coworking, both from a direct and indirect (impact on commercial real estate) basis. I also agree that EDCs are used to seeing business plans and talking about business incubators, so when they are exposed to something they are not familiar with, you get resistance.
I would be interested in getting a copy of your presentation. We are opening a coworking facility in Prescott Arizona starting with a soft opening tour on March 24. I used to be the mayor here and at some point I intend to update the current city council on what we are doing. See our blog at http://launchpadprescott.wordpress.com/ for information on what we are up to. On Mar 3, 1:07 pm, Jonathan Yankovich <[email protected]> wrote: > We recently had an opportunity to present to the Wisconsin State > Economic Development and Housing Authority which is a pretty big group > of people focused on economic development across the state of > Wisconsin. One of the slides contained the following, reposted here > for the benefit of others: > > *Why invest in Coworking?* > > Coworking benefits its members... > > - Zero-risk space to work independently, start real businesses > - Instant collaboration between entrepreneurs, creative class, > academics > - Accelerated business and professional development > - Network (local linked in, supply chain, industry sector, bus. > Development) > > Coworking benefits Commercial Real Estate... > > - Professional membership increases nearby office & retail value > - Groups form increasing demand for dedicated office spaces (reduce > vacancy and incubate/generate future tenants) > - Low impact on parking, CAM, and low need for improvements > > Coworking benefits the Broader Economy... > > - Increases the creation of establishments via reduced risk & capitol > - Develops workforce via lower barrier to professional engagement > - Grassroots product development accelerates technology transfer > - Attracts and retains graduates & creative class professionals > - Connects Private Sector with Academia, ED Resources > > Link to > presentation:https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AQEwrcOYnrMAZGN4ajlmbXBfMTUw... > Anyone interested in using the material from this presentation is > welcome to. Attribution would be nice but isn't required - and I'd be > interested in hearing about your efforts. My email is > [email protected] .) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
