Fentress County ED in the News
New Carpet, New Color
Orange-carpet tours and Rural Opportunity Initiative shine spotlight on
growth opportunities in rural Tennessee
March 13th, 2008
After four years of success attracting hundreds of new companies to Tennessee, the state’s economic developers face a challenge: how to expand that job creation success across a broader range of Tennessee communities, both urban and rural? The answer may lie in a series of new initiatives under way in Tennessee focusing on rural job growth. Patterned after a series of highly successful “red-carpet tours” for site selection consultants, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development is launching a series of companion “orange-carpet tours” for rural communities – the idea being once corporate site locators know what the state’s smaller cities and towns have to offer, they’ll more readily recommend them to their corporate clients.
“What we envision is that... Full story located here.
Clarkrange High School Receives Bronze Level
Award from US News and World Report
Monday, December 10, 2007 - Our congratulations to Clarkrange High School for being selected as one of only nine schools in Tennessee to be awarded a Bronze recognition as one of the nation's top schools by U.S. News & World Report.
The annual list ranks 18,790 public high schools in 40 states using data from the 2005-2006 school year. Ten states could not be included in the rankings because sufficient data was not available for comparison. Top schools were ranked by gold, silver and bronze.
The magazine, along with the K-12 education data research firm School Evaluation Services, used a three-step process to judge how each school's performance. The rankings were based on how students perform on state tests, how well each school's disadvantaged students did on tests, and how successful the school is in providing college-level course work.
Clarkrange Regional Business Park
Fentress County and the Industrial Development Board is pleased to announce that the construction on the Clarkrange Regional Business Park is now underway. The initial phase of the park will consist of 244 acres with an additional option on another 750 acres. The initial construction will consist of building a new entrance into the park, providing sewer, water, gas, and electric as well as the educaiton of Economic Development entities that assist with the relocation of industry to Fentress County.
"For a county of our size to have such an opportunity is unheard of." said Ruble Upchurch, Director of the Fentress County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Developer for the County. "Only through the generous donation of Allardt Land Company and the years of hard work and foresight put forth by Scott Sandman, the Industrial Development board, past and present employees of the Chamber of Commerce and those members of the Fentress County Government was this project able to take place."
Fentress County Receives Governors Presitgious 3-Star Award
Fentress County has been awarded the prestigious 3-Star award by Governor Bredesen. The 3-star award is designed as a road map to assist local communities in their effort to achieve excellence in community and economic development. Participating communities are guided through a comprehensive plan of essential criteria developed by local economic development professionals and a cooperative collaboration of various state agencies. These combined efforts have made the Three-Star Program an important component of our state’s economic strategy.
The program is designed to help communities take full advantage of economic development opportunities. The goals are to preserve existing employment, create new employment opportunities, increase Tennessee family income, improve quality of life and create a strong leadership base.
We appreciate everyone who has been a part of this process and look forward to future advances within the program.
Featured in the photo above, from left to right Comissioner of ECD for the State of Tennessee Mathew Kisber, Director of Fentress County Schools Lee Linder, State Representative John Mark Windle, 2nd District Comissioner Michael Cross, Executive Director of the Fentress Chamber Ruble Upchurch, ID Board Member Scott Sandman, 1st District Comissioner Frank Mullinix, Governor of the State of Tennessee Phil Bredesen, Solid Waste Director Faye Stephens, Jamestown City Recorder Sarah Threet, Mayor of Jamestown Gwennith Duncan, Fentress Historical Society Director Myra Smith, Veterans Service Officer Retired CSGM Bill Phipps, Register of Deeds Faye Stephens, County Executive Assistant Cherie Stephens, 3-Star Representative Karen Brown, and Chamber of Commerce office administrator Gale Reed.
Site Selection Magazine names Tennessee a "Top Five" Business Location
The editors of Site Selection magazine, one of the nation’s premier economic development publications have ranked Tennessee as the 5th best business location in the U.S. The closely watched annual rankings appear in the November issue and mark the second year in a row Tennessee has ranked among the top five states in the nation for its business climate. North Carolina topped the list, followed by Texas, Ohio and Georgia.
“This announcement reinforces my belief that we are on the right path in terms of job creation and capital investment,” said Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen. “We’re not resting on our laurels, however. We’ve outlined specific strategies aimed at ensuring all Tennesseans have the opportunity to find a higher skilled, better paying job.”
The Governor was referring to initiatives outlined in his “Next Steps” speech in Nashville last September. In it, he outlined a four-point plan aimed at developing a more skilled workforce, attracting jobs to rural communities through infrastructure investment, developing high quality research and development jobs through targeted assistance and hosting “orange carpet” tours to better market high unemployment regions of Tennessee.
In addition to the overall business climate rankings, Site Selection also conducted surveys among corporate site selectors and asked questions based on respondents’ experiences in managing property assets around the country. In the “executive survey” portion of the rankings, Tennessee ranked 6th. The magazine noted that both Memphis and Nashville ranked among Entrepreneur.com’s top ten cities for business and pointed out that Tennessee’s gross state product grew 35.3% faster than the national average from 2001-2005. In addition, Forbes magazine recently listed Nashville among the 25 most wired cities in America and California’s Milken Institute last year ranked Clarksville, Tenn., among the 20 best performing cities in the nation for economic growth.
“Governor Bredesen’s strategic vision for job creation has been to reduce red tape through the creation of the Jobs Cabinet and to build true partnerships between the state and local communities,” said Matthew Kisber, commissioner, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. “We’ve seen the results of that vision through the creation of more than 103,000 new jobs since 2003 and capital investment of more than $12 billion dollars.”
The November issue of Site Selection spotlights efforts made by states to enact legislation designed to enhance competitiveness. The editors specifically pointed to Tennessee’s continuing investment in Pre-K education, the expansion of lottery scholarships and the expansion in the number of businesses eligible for the state’s Jobs Tax Credit program. Site Selection Editor Mark Arend interviews Governor Bredesen for its monthly Spotlight section saying “his understanding of the business world and government's role therein is readily apparent.” To view the complete rankings, go to www.siteselection.com.
