Economic Development 101

SKAGIT

Economic Development 101

What is economic development? We at EDASC are asked that question frequently.

In short, it is the intentional practice of improving a community’s economic wellbeing and quality of life. A lot goes into economic development, much of it behind the scenes as we work confidentially with local, domestic, and overseas businesses.

EDASC breaks down its work into three pillars. These are business attraction, business retention and expansion, and capacity building. The processes by which we tackle these initiatives are numerous and complex.

Though the pandemic altered the way we’ve worked the past two years, it also reinforced what we already know about economic development.

That is, the bulk of economic development consists of cultivating and caring for existing businesses and growing grassroots businesses. While business attraction might be what most people think of (and hear about) when it comes to economic development, expansion of existing businesses counts on average for over 90% of job growth nationwide. That being said, business attraction also brings vital new opportunities into the economy for contracts, jobs, and spending.

Read the next three Economic Development 101 articles to learn about how EDASC executes economic development in Skagit County.