Client:
City of Bluefield West Virginia, and the Bluefield Economic Development Authority
Bluefield, West Virginia is a gutsy community with big dreams slowly but surely rebounding from long-standing declines in the coal, timber, and transportation industries.
Economic Strategy:
Economic Analysis, Downtown Plan, Organizational Development, and Opportunity Zone Prospectus
Lupke was engaged to work over multiple years to conduct economic analysis, build local capacity, develop plans, and gain the most impact from incoming investments.
Our Approach:
In March 2019, Intuit chose Bluefield as the site for its New Customer success location. Intuit/ Alorica hired 170 employees in the first year and projected 300 new jobs at capacity.
The approach focused on maximizing the business location and investment potential of Intuit/ Alorica, and secondly to use that investment to attract and support existing businesses and entrepreneurs to create related and complementary businesses.
Outcomes:
Lupke developed a series of trainings for the Board of Directors of BEDA and the community-at-large, and provided on-on-one technical support for BEDA staff.
Lupke supported the recently formed Bluefield Economic Development Authority (BEDA) to carry out the investment of Intuit/ Alorica and future projects.
-
Over multiple engagements, supported planning, strategy development, organizational capacity, and identification of immediate business opportunities.
-
Overall Economic Analysis
-
Organizational Board Traning
-
Blueprint Community Plan
-
(3) Start-Up Business Concepts
-
Opportunity Zone Prospectus
-
(5) New Businesses/ 300 New Jobs Created