Leader Publications

CASSOPOLIS – The International Economic Development Council has honored the Edward Lowe Foundation for YourEconomy.org (www.youreconomy.org, its online research tool that tracks business activity in local communities and across the country.

A panel of economic-development experts from both the public and private sectors selected YourEconomy.org as a winner of IEDC’s 2009 Excellence in Economic Development Awards, competing in the Special Purpose Web site category.

Gregg Cole, the foundation’s manager of information technology, accepted the award at a ceremony on Oct. 6 during IEDC’s annual conference in Reno, Nevada, which attracted more than 1,000 attendees.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., IEDC’s mission is to provide leadership and excellence in economic development for communities, members and partners.

“Furthering economic development is rarely a simple task in the best of times, and advancing the cause in the midst of a global financial crisis is nothing less than arduous,” said Ian Bromley, IEDC chair.

“As the consequences of the widespread economic turmoil have taken hold, we have seen our members become even more ardent proponents of economic development, flying in the face of one of the most challenging economic environments we have experienced in our careers. We proudly present this award to the Edward Lowe Foundation for its superior work during these difficult times.”

Developed to provide timely, accessible data, YourEconomy.org enables visitors to take a closer look at the performance of business establishments and their impact on job creation at the national, state, MSA and county levels.

“Besides receiving the award, it was great to meet economic developers from communities around the country who are using YourEconomy.org,” Cole said. “Getting their feedback is important as we continue to add new features to the Web site.”

YourEconomy.org currently features four key sections:

• Composition, which shows what types of employers exist in a region and their share of establishments and jobs.

• Growth, which follows opening, expanding and relocating companies, and shows how this activity affects the number of establishments and jobs.

• Industry, which shows how data in the composition and growth sections break down according to 20 different NAICS codes.

• Rankings, where visitors can see how business activity in their state or MSA compares to other regions.

“Today more regions are turning to entrepreneurship to stimulate their economies, but knowing where to focus programs is challenging because timely, in-depth information about business communities is hard to find,” said Mark Lange, the foundation’s executive director.

“YourEconomy.org enables economic developers to access critical data without sifting through complicated studies, making it easy to get a fast, localized view of their economies – and see how they compare to other regions.”

Established in 1985, the Edward Lowe Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports entrepreneurship through research, recognition and educational programs, which are delivered through entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs). The foundation focuses on second-stage companies – those that have moved beyond the startup phase and seek significant, steady growth.