A Ray of Hope - Plug West Virginia's Economic Leaks and Support Local Small-Scale Enterprise
Date Published: September 2003
Author: Pam Curry, Executive Director - Center for Economic Options
The people in our state have a long history of overcoming obstacles and succeeding against all the odds.The situation we are facing today - with its myriad of economic challenges unique to our history, economic situation, place, and mountain culture - offers the opportunity to change the way we approach economic development.
There are many of us who have committed our careers to exploring innovative, place-based economic development alternatives in West Virginia. We know there is hope.The state's economic history of extraction of natural resources and outside ownership and control by absentee owners is well-documented. This history includes the extraction of financial resources - "economic leaks" - through lucrative commerce mechanisms. Examples of such commerce drains are the large chain "box" stores found mostly in shopping malls. When we shop at these externally-owned chain stores, most of our purchase money is drained to those stores' corporate headquarters in other states. Our money then helps stimulate the economies of those states. Once this economic resource leaks from West Virginia, it is not likely to be returned or invested here.
West Virginia has the opportunity to plug economic leaks and demonstrate a new way of investing in economic development. Instead of relying on efforts to recruit out-of-state companies into the state, we can shift our formal and informal efforts toward encouraging and supporting homegrown entrepreneurship. We can invest money and resources in locally-based, people-focused economic development.
A good example of such economic development that helps plug economic leaks is offered by the Center for Economic Options (CEO), a private non profit organization that covers the entire state. CEO operates several social purpose enterprises - one of which is the Showcase West Virginia store located in the Charleston Town Center which is the state's largest indoor mall. CEO created Showcase West Virginia to serve as a marketplace for the product lines of over 200 small-scale manufacturers and artisans from across the state. The Charleston Town Center - managed by Forest City Enterprises, a corporation based in Cleveland, Ohio - caters to out-of-state chain stores. CEO created and established the Showcase West Virginia store in order to access this lucrative commerce market for West Virginia businesses. When you purchase at the Showcase West Virginia store, you invest in West Virginia. Your (investment) dollars go directly to the business owners who make the fine products. Your purchase dollars also help support the West Virginia-based non profit "social entrepreneur" (CEO) that is committed to helping small-scale manufacturers and artisans participate in the economy. This model definitely plugs the economic leaks and the money stays here. You might say that Showcase West Virginia actually serves as a "leak reversal" strategy - leaking the money from the externally controlled commerce area to the state's small-scale business owners and the communities in which they operate.
West Virginia can build on this model and many others that are successfully creating new economic development opportunities. The state can set up incentives and support systems that will help people create jobs for themselves and others through local business ownership. The state can also provide financial support for non profit "social entrepreneurs" that are creating sustainable and innovative enterprise models (such as Showcase West Virginia) that help plug economic leaks and directly contribute to our local economy. We can purchase products made by West Virginia businesses, use West Virginia-based services, and curtail our state's economic development policy of offering lucrative incentives and special deals to lure, and attempt to retain, companies based outside of the state. We can create new opportunities for potential business owners, open doors for business ownership careers for our youth, and create economic options that can enable our friends and families who have left the state to return.
There is a ray of hope for economic rejuvenation in West Virginia. Along with this ray of hope is the need for action. Plugging our state's economic leaks and supporting local small scale enterprise will help us take control of our economic destiny. Let's do it.
