CENTRAL OREGON RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 

Typically economic development models in rural communities do not address the passions and desires of individuals who want to start a business. They concentrate instead on luring companies away from other locales, generally to achieve lower overall operation costs, or they try to help existing companies perform better. Their mission does not include the passionate entrepreneur who may (or may not) be the sole employee.

Non-profits like Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) based in Bend have had successes attracting new businesses to the region. The recent acquisition of the Facebook data center to Prineville is a prime example. Up to 35 new jobs will be created as a result of EDCO‟s hard work. Unfortunately for Prineville the net loss of jobs is much higher due to Les Schwab’s; a tire distributor with stores in western states, corporate headquarters move to Bend.

And let’s not forget Google’s data center in The Dalles. As widely reported, many cities campaign for and would love to have a Google facility (with upwards of 200 jobs) in their community. “The typical economic development model says we should attract businesses that already exist in other areas. Some refer to this a “buffalo hunting or smoke stack chasing.” But that’s a zero-sum game. One community loses and another one wins. Are we going to play the, let’s screw our neighbor “game?”

To some extent you have to keep your eye on those, redistribution “opportunities like Facebook‟s data center in Prineville. Maupin‟s trying to keep industrial land available so that we can do both – attract new businesses while developing new ones through enterprise facilitation,” stated Rob Miles, Imperial River Company owner. Typically referred to as “chasing smokestacks,” Maupin has done its share of trying to attract businesses offering living/family wage jobs but, to date has not been successful with it.