Program Details
The National Center for Economic Gardening provides both a certification for Program Administrators, as well as a national team to run a 5-company pilot.
Putting an Economic Gardening program into place is easy. It begins with a pilot project to evaluate the program as to whether it makes sense for a long term commitment to an entrepreneurial approach to economic development. The National Center for Economic Gardening provides both certification for Program Administrators, as well as a national team to run a 5-company pilot.
The national team consists of a team leader, specialists in the areas of database research, geographical information systems and digital marketing, plus a quality control person and an administrative support person. The team is ready to go as soon as engagement dates can be set.
Program administrator responsibilities include getting oriented to our software, arranging for one-hour training for front line staff people, and then finding/marketing/vetting/enrolling growth companies in the program. The program administrator re-engages with the companies on the back end to help them with implementation. Program administrators commit to collecting job, income and investment data at the end of the year.
At the end of the pilot program, the program administrator sits down with the NCEG to evaluate the experience. Did the PA understand the process and the deliverables? Did they talk to the CEO for their evaluation? Did the engagement produce jobs and is the program an appropriate vehicle to meet the economic development’s entrepreneurial element of their portfolio? Does the economic development agency wish to pursue a full time program?
In short, the entire process is designed to be simple, easy to try, and a good way to evaluate the nation’s premier entrepreneurial program without major investment or risk. A detailed process sheet is available from:
info@economicgardening.org
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