The City of Beaverton, in partnership with the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce, is now offering a new service to help local businesses grow by giving them access to high-quality market research and demographic data bases at no charge.
High quality information, combined with the development of supportive staff services, and the creation of connections to universities, trade associations, and other public/private resources, will provide an environment that fosters growth in Beaverton based companies. GIS, data base research, and other sophisticated information tools that are normally available only to large corporations, are available to local, growing businesses to improve decision making.
Initial program services include:
The benefits to a local company are enormous. Beaverton businesses would be able to target customers and get their message directly to people known to have an interest in the company's product (from consumer expenditure data) and who have the money to buy it (from demographic data) and the motivation to buy it (from lifestyle data). This kind of information will make Beaverton businesses more competitive by helping them work smarter.
Economic Gardening is a strategy that enables a local government to support its business community, support the creation new employment opportunities for its citizens and help facilitate the creation of new wealth within the community. The program will be constantly monitored and evaluated to ensure client needs and community expectations are being met.
The Economic Gardening program is focused at Beaverton based businesses that have been in operation for a period of time, are at a break-even or profitable point, and are planning to expand. This initial target will be eligible for strategic information research services, technical assistance referrals, assistance with financing, and business expansion counseling. These services would, for the most part, be provided to Beaverton businesses at no cost.
The "Economic Gardening" concept originated in Littleton, Colorado in the late 1980's. The Economic Gardening model keys in on the accepted wisdom that 80+% of the new jobs created come from existing, local companies. Rather than expend resources on trying to recruit new business to the community, "Economic Gardening" focuses on helping the community's existing businesses to expand and grow.
The City's Economic Gardening services will be available to any business within the Beaverton city limits, or any business considering locating within the city limits, regardless of size.
For more information, contact the Business Resource Team at (503) 526-2512 or (503) 526-2456
