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In Touch with Tennessee
In Touch with Tennessee
Unlocking Opportunities in Tennessee's Economic Landscape
Unlock the secrets of effective economic development with insights from Tennessee's experts! Join us on "In Touch with Tennessee" as we sit down with Tintin Czach from the Center for Industrial Services to explore the fascinating journey of the Tennessee Certified Economic Developer (TSEB) Program. From its humble beginnings with the Tennessee Basic Economic Development course in 2006 to its significant evolution in 2014, discover how this program has equipped leaders with the skills needed to drive economic growth.
The Tennessee Certified Economic Developer Program, administered by our Center for Industrial Services, provides high-quality training, continuing education and professional development opportunities to Tennessee's economic and community development practitioners, community leaders and elected officials. The TSEB program gives participants a broad-based knowledge of economic opportunities and trends, core components and tools required to compete in today's global economy, focusing on economic development in Tennessee. Upon completion of the program and certificate requirements, participants are awarded the Tennessee Certified Economic Developer designation, indicating they have achieved core competency in the principles and practices of economic development in Tennessee. Hi and welcome to In Touch with Tennessee, a podcast of the UT Institute for Public Service. Joining us today to talk about the program are TSTED Program Director Tintin Zak, with the Center for Industrial Services, the City of Brownsville, mayor Bill Rawls Jr and Director of Lending and Economic Development of the Upper Cumberland Development District, megan Schoed, who are all graduates of the program. So welcome to you all. Thanks for joining us, thank you for having us, Susan.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:So, tintin, can you give us some background on the TSEB program? When did the program start, etc.
Speaker 2:Yes, the program started actually with a Tennessee Basic Economic Development course, or TBEDC, which was established in 2006 to help build capacity for participants to conduct economic and community development programs at local, state and regional levels. The UT Institute for Public Service has worked in close partnership with TBEDC's original sponsor, the Tennessee Economic and Community Development, along with other economic development organizations, to develop and deliver this annual course. In 2009, ips assumed the role of course sponsor at ECD's request. Last May, utcis delivered the 18th annual TBEDC course in Nashville. Tbedc is an International Economic Development Council or IDDC certified 24-hour course and serves as the anchor course for the certification program. Over the years, the curriculum evolved into what is now called the Tennessee Certified Economic Developer, or TSEC program. In fall of 2014, we held our inaugural graduating class, where participants completed the requirements to earn their Tennessee Certified Economic Developer or TSEC-D designation.
Speaker 1:Great. What are some of the classes in the program Great?
Speaker 2:What are some of the classes in the program? No-transcript eight hours of elective courses, which include options like economic resiliency. We recently offered AI and cybersecurity and facilitation training. These courses are designed to equip participants with the knowledge and tools needed for them to do their job and to thrive in the global economy, with a focus on economic development in Tennessee.
Speaker 1:And besides attending classes, what are the other program requirements?
Speaker 2:Along with completing the required courses, participants will also need to complete a capstone project including a written and oral presentation which applies knowledge gained in the program. Course offerings are structured, such as the TESAD candidate can complete certification requirements within a two-year period. They also, if they want to maintain their certification, they must complete a minimum of 48 hours of training over the three-year period.
Speaker 1:And how many people have attained the certification.
Speaker 2:So we are proud to say that we have reached 118 graduates of the T-CED program at the time of this podcast. We continue to grow and for our fall graduation scheduled next week, we will add 11 more T-CED graduates.
Speaker 1:Great great and Mayor Rawls, I understand you received your certification in the spring as an elected official rather than an economic developer. What motivated you to pursue the certification?
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you for that question, susan. Well, when you talk about economic development, it is virtually community development. You can't develop your community without having an economic piece to do it. I will consider myself being the mayor and the leader of a small rural community that needs population growth, that needs sustainable revenue tax based, not a tax increase tax rate that we have. Economic development. One interacts directly with the other. So I would say, as a mayor of a small town, as an elected official, that you all and we all should have a piece of economic development in our toolbox. So as we look at developing our community, of course economic development one-on-one is first you get the jobs, then you get the rooftops and then you get the retail. So, following that formulary, it's just been it was imperative that I did I found myself right in the middle of economic development every day, recruiting the industry, recruiting retail and trying to develop our community to the best ability for a better quality of life for everybody.
Speaker 1:Right, and what was the focus of your capstone project?
Speaker 3:The focus of my capstone was the reduction of recidivism through workforce development, as we duly try to build a workforce pipeline, because you literally have to build a workforce pipeline when you start talking about economic development and workforce development.
Speaker 3:So, the reduction of recidivism, it is morally the right thing to do If we continue to build more capital in our communities, that we have a transition program, a reentry program, and it's economically sound. It's morally the right thing to do. It gives people an opportunity to come back into society as justice-involved individuals, to have an opportunity to have a better quality of life for their families, for themselves, and not to have to go back into the system as a justice-involved individual. And we see the recidivism rate is 50 percent and higher just about in every community, not just in the southwest Tennessee but throughout the United States. This is an issue that causes a burden to the taxpayers and this is an issue that it causes a burden to the taxpayers. It causes a moralistic burden to the communities and families that are impacted by justice, of all individuals, and they have to have an opportunity to come back in society through the reentry program and contribute to their families, their communities and to the workforce development.
Speaker 1:Great, ok, and as someone from a rural region, how would you describe economic development in the communities you serve?
Speaker 3:It's just imperative. As I alluded to before, it's about creating the jobs, having attainable wages you might want to say livable wages, however you want to title the wages but that must be sustainable so people can provide for their families and for generations to come. So in rural communities we are agriculture-based, but that shows a good, strong work ethic, good family connections and community involvement. So as the jobs and opportunities left our rural communities, so did the people, our best talents that we have as young people left. So in a rural community it's important that we reshore, re-bring those jobs back to our communities so that people can stay.
Speaker 3:Once you graduate from high school, you don't have to leave for a job opportunity, so you don't have to. Grandparents don't have to go visit their grandchildren in another state, in another community. We want the opportunity to be here, right here in our rural communities, so we can build it in a way that's sustainable, in a way that's attainable, in a way that takes care of the local people that have been here for generations, that keeps these families together in a productive environment. So in rural communities it's a little different. It's a little more challenging because of infrastructure, because of workforce development, things of that nature, but we can fix it and this program has been an instrumental and a tool in my toolbox and on that journey in trying to build our community.
Speaker 1:And Megan going to you now. How did the program help you in addressing real-world challenges in economic and community development within your community?
Speaker 4:real-world challenges in economic and community development within your community?
Speaker 4:Yeah, thank you, susan.
Speaker 4:So I work for a regional agency that serves 14 rural communities, and some of those communities are large enough to have their own economic development staff.
Speaker 4:However, the majority of them are relying on their elected officials, as Mayor Rawls stated, or boards that are comprised of volunteers and volunteers, and they don't have the staffing capacity to do economic development to its fullest, and so that's why our agency and other development districts and other regional partners are a lifeline to a lot of the communities in our rural area who have the desire, they have the potential to create jobs and do great things in economic development, but they need boots on the ground, which we can provide, and so all of the core classes that are required for certification, those are areas that I encounter in my daily job while serving the region.
Speaker 4:I am supporting my communities with business retention, marketing and attraction and broad level understanding of the economic development finance tools, and so our agency at its core, we're a planning agency, and the managing economic development course had a really strong focus on strategic planning, and that is one that still really heavily impacts me and the work that I do. Even this week, specifically, I've been finalizing our regional comprehensive economic development strategy and we still use concepts that we learned from Dr Dave over 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, mayor Rawls, back to you. With the arrival of Blue Oval significantly impacting the city of Brownsville, can you share how you've applied insights from the TSEB program to navigate this opportunity?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. The impact of Blue Oval City in our community is transformational. We've never seen anything of this magnitude. I don't think a community of 10,000 people in a distressed county has seen the type of billion, multi-billion dollar investment that we're going to see with Blue Over City and the ancillaries. So once you start talking about the tier one, tier two, manufacturers and suppliers, the multiplier facts, we're looking at about 25,000 to 35,000 jobs throughout the region. So when you start talking about the impact of that magnitude, you need every tool you can in your toolbox, in particular the financing course.
Speaker 3:My degree, my undergrad degree, was in finance. So we start talking about finance. And how do you create a capital stack that can finance these future projects and plans without having the revenue available to you now? So when we started talking about TIF districts, tax, incremental financing it was very interesting to me and very useful to me, and we're already looking at creating a TIF district and I see it in several other communities like Fayette County and Tipton County as well, which are our neighbors, and inside that blue oval circle there was so many business retention.
Speaker 3:Every course was engaging Every tool that I can put in my toolbox. You hear me say my sister always jokes me about my toolbox. It's getting pretty full, but it's important. I mean having the certification and putting it in play and encouraging others to go into the program. It was just amazing. I'm a walking, talking testimony about how we can fast track these tools, these courses. The instructors, the speakers, everybody came in and had boots on the ground. These were realistic, not just theory but practical application to things you'll need when you get back home and as we go forward. Susan, I think that this is one of the best programs I've had an opportunity to engage. I'm so happy I had an opportunity to do it, but I've definitely down through the courses of business recruitment and retention and the people we talked about with Disney. It's just across the gamut. It was one of the best experiences and learning curves in my life.
Speaker 1:OK, great. Well, this question is for you and for Megan as well. What would you say to someone who is considering enrolling in the program?
Speaker 3:Well, since I'm talking, I'll go ahead. I will tell them that this is worth the time. See, when you get into small communities or you get into economic and community development or any type of public service, your time. Time is the most valuable asset we all have and it only moves in one direction. This is time well spent and sometimes, when I find myself trying to be in one place or two places, sometimes three at the same time, I never regretted sitting in one of these courses. I never regretted spending my time over a period of time we've been doing through COVID to make sure that we got this.
Speaker 3:I got the certification that I wanted to continue to want to learn and continue to want to apply this. This is something that everyone should consider. Thank you to 1010 and the entire staff for our enthusiasm about the program and what can be done and the successes and accomplishments of the program. I would vastly encourage anybody to take the time to take this course Because as we grow throughout to the state of great state of Tennessee, with economic development and recruitment, as we grow and grow and grow and grow, You're going to be, you're going to need every tool you have in your toolbox to be successful.
Speaker 4:OK, and I would have to agree. I would encourage anyone that's considering the program to go ahead and begin the process. I mean it's never too late or it's never too early to utilize this great resource. I was actually able to complete the certification within my first two years in economic development and that was extremely valuable for me because it really laid the foundation of an industry that I was new to, and so I've been able to build upon that throughout my career. And I also recommend to anyone that's not in a position to complete the full certification or just trying to determine what it's about, to sign up for the individual classes. They are really relevant to different areas of individuals' work and whatever you are working on or whatever subject you need the most training in start with that course and kind of test it out, because the courses are really really well done, they're very valuable to people in a wide variety of positions and circumstances, and it is. It is a great program and it's very worth investing your time and going through it.
Speaker 2:Okay, and Susan I would like to also mention Megan kind of led to it that sometimes there are communities or leaders in our communities that are not able to afford or they believe that they cannot go through the whole program. I'd like to specifically mention that we offer scholarships to those who are interested, who are from Tennessee that may need some assistance. We have established the Philiptronic Memorial Scholarship for Rural Leaders in memory of Philiptronic. He's a native Tennessean who's dedicated three decades to economic and community development across the state. He was a big proponent of education, providing tools and resources for rural leaders, particularly leaders from rural and distressed areas. So I would like to make note of that that if anybody who is interested to go through the program, the scholarship is available and that scholarship provides full tuition to attend the TBDC course and also cover up to the four nights of lodging throughout the course. Also, we offer general scholarships. That covers tuition fee for the TBDC and the six core courses.
Speaker 2:We made this possible with the support and love of our graduates, the supporters of the program, like Megan and Mayor Rawls, and with that, other than the education that you get and the tools, you also build a network of individuals or economic developers that are just there to help you, like Mayor Rawls, like Megan.
Speaker 2:They are there to share their experience, to share what they've learned and what they have done in their communities. So that alone is a very valuable tool to have, not just having the certification or going to the program, but the network of individuals that just are passionate and love what they do and they're willing to share that information to everybody that goes through the program. And they're willing to share that information to everybody that goes through the program. So I just want to make sure that I want to say that so that not everybody feels like, oh, it's a long program. Like Megan said, and I've said earlier, it's about two to three years program. I don't want people to shy away from going through the program because of cost, because there is help there that we could definitely provide for those that really need it the most.
Speaker 1:That's great. So in closing, Tintin, how can our listeners learn more about the T-SED program?
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, Susan. Again, our website, the cistennesseeedu, have all the information about all the services that we provide at UTCIS and also I highly recommend that they subscribe to our UTCIS newsletter so that they could get updates on course schedules, how the program works, information about who we are and what we do, and they could always also email me at any time. My information is on the website. I will be glad to answer any questions anybody may have about the program.
Speaker 1:Okay, thank you. Thank you all for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us. I appreciate the time.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you and thank you listeners. Be sure to subscribe to In Touch with Tennessee, where you find your favorite podcasts.
