Most days is fairly easy for me to be an optimist. In the business of economic development, we are fortunate to see what is before us more often than those things that impede us.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a big monkey wrench into all of our plans, we WILL overcome this and come roaring back stronger than ever before. While none of you need a pep talk or any cheerleading, we thought it might be beneficial for you to know about some of the things we are seeing.
We are fortunate to live in a digital age where we can almost instantly share the latest news and information on items that can help you in your daily lives. It makes old guys like me pause and wonder how we ever survived a crisis in the past.
Please don’t say we used fax machines and bag phones…
The pertinent information that we are seeing about the resources available to businesses, individuals, non-profits and so many other areas, keep flooding our email inboxes from a wide variety of sources. Often times we receive notification of something, only to receive an updated report within a few minutes or hours.
I’m tired of hearing the words fluid, but that is the reality of what we are dealing with. Part of our role during all of this is to act as a resource center of information for those who need it.
While we aren’t the only source of information, we do have a strong database of contacts, that include local, regional, state and federal contacts, with more being added every day. It is our desire to provide relevant, accurate and useful information to whomever needs it, as fast as we can.
Couple with all of this is our staff’s expertise in the use of social media and the crisis we are now facing is something we are perfectly aligned to respond to when it comes to sharing information and available resources.
Our hope is to only share information that will ease the challenges we all face during and after this crisis, and we want to do that as efficiently and effectively as possible. We know we can’t be the center of everything to everyone, but if we aren’t giving you what you need, then let us know and we will try to find you the answers.
Above all else, our number one goal is to remain calm and communicate, till the threats have passed.
On that note, to all within reach of this communication, be safe and be well…