Economic Development Organizations

Each regional organization in the North Country has its own history, with some

organizations being more established than others. Similar to the Cornell Cooperative Extension system in New York State, Industrial Development Agencies exist in all seven counties of the North Country (though not all could be interviewed for this study). IDAs are public benefit corporations under New York General Municipal Law and were “created to actively promote, attract, encourage, develop and maintain economically sound commerce and industry for the purpose of expanding employment opportunities, preventing economic deterioration and increasing…general prosperity” (Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency 2014). The IDA system was implemented in the 1970s due to the decline of manufacturing in the region (NC4), and therefore represents one of the earlier efforts in the North Country to facilitate economic development. With the exception of the very recent NCREDC, all of the regional economic development organizations were established 25 years ago or more. This suggests that the North Country has a history of treating economic development as a regional issue. This history may be a key factor influencing why the North Country has had success in collaborating within the new REDC structure. The impact of path dependence on collaboration is discussed below. This trend has intensified with the introduction of the NCREDC in 2011. A by-product of the NCREDC has been inter-organizational collaboration, as the NCREDC can be thought of as an umbrella over the other regional organizations in the North Country through which the other

organizations now interact. Similarly, the REDC process has facilitated inter-regional

collaboration (i.e. The North Country region working with the Finger Lakes region), though it was beyond the scope of this research to determine the degree to which inter-regional

collaboration is occurring in New York State. Examples of current collaborations will be provided for the regional organizations in the North Country, though it is important to keep in mind that these regional organizations are in fact collaborations in and of themselves. That is, the regional organizations interviewed for this study are the result of collaboration. The positive outcomes from these and other North Country collaborations are presented at the end of the chapter.

The North Country Chamber of Commerce has been forming partnerships with other Chambers of Commerce for the last ten years (NC14). In exchange for helping smaller Chambers organize their health insurance programs, the NCCC gains their members (but the original

Chamber retains the membership dues). Over the ten years the NCCC has been forming these partnerships, they have gained 2500 members. Their motivation for doing this is related to credibility, “we wanted to be able to say here you are Albany, and here you are Washington, and we represent 4200 businesses in Upstate New York, and you need to listen to us” (NC14).

Therefore, engaging other Chambers of Commerce has helped the NCCC achieve a critical mass that warrants attention from powerful state and national actors. These partnerships also give local Chambers of Commerce access to the NCCC’s services, membership discounts, and events.

The Development Authority of the North Country, being a three county regional

organization, actively collaborates with those three counties (Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence) and the city of Watertown on solid waste, water and sewer issues. As the DANC is largely

infrastructure oriented, their role in economic development is unique relative to the other

organizations interviewed for this study: “we run a regional landfill, we run water and sewer systems, those are basic infrastructure systems, a lot of people don’t even think about them everyday…We’re doing our part to provide basic infrastructure that is critical to quality of life”

(NC13). The Adirondack North Country Association suggested that they work with the DANC to implement infrastructure projects in the Adirondacks (NC10). ANCA also recently collaborated with the Olympic Regional Development Authority, the University of Albany, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Wild Center to create a natural history interpretation exhibit on Whiteface Mountain. A representative for ANCA remarked that this collaboration was especially gratifying as it resulted in a tangible outcome.

To coordinate and organize the NCREDC and its 20 plus volunteer driven subcommittees the NCREDC has been collaborating with the above regional organizations, as well as county level and municipal level governments and organizations since the implementation of the regional council process. As the NCREDC is not a stand-alone organization, it is not possible to identify examples of collaboration for the NCREDC, as the creation of the NCREDC itself is arguably the most important instance of collaboration for economic development in the North Country, as it remains the structure that facilitates collaboration between organizations and businesses across the region. Despite the regional council structure being a state-level initiative, it is still of crucial importance to the North Country region, as the NCREDC subcommittees are made up of local and regional stakeholders. Further, the NCREDC retains significant decision-making power for how they implement their vision for the North Country region. As an example, the individual regions in New York State identify what the priorities are for a region, and then select projects for award nomination based on alignment with those priorities. The NCREDC is a

prime example of neo-endogenous development, as regional stakeholders have autonomy to make decisions, while still utilizing key resources available from the state.

A visual representation of the extent of collaboration between regional organizations in the North Country, as elicited from interview data, is demonstrated in Figure 11.

  Figure 11: Regional integration of collaborations in the North Country

Based on these examples of current collaborations occurring at a regional level in the North Country, collaborations have tended to focus more on project collaboration, leading to tangible outcomes such as those described above. More examples of tangible outcomes of collaboration are provided later in this chapter. This is not to suggest that information sharing collaboration is

NCREDC

not occurring, rather that, the interviewees tended to provide examples of collaboration that were more tangible in nature.  

5.2 Current Context of Collaboration in Four Counties