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FAIRMONT - In a collaborative effort between the Region Nine Development Commission and the Fairmont Economic Development Authority, two separate discussion events will be held on Fairmont's economic future on Nov. 5 at The Hive.
The events are a part of a year-long effort to collect feedback and information across Martin County. Region Nine Development Commission Economic Recovery Planner Alejandra Bejarano said they are engaging with different cities and counties throughout the region.
"Over the past year, I’ve been attending different fairs and pop-up events that we’ve been participating in," she said. "We’ve hosted surveys. We also have a steering committee that has participation from county commissioners all across the Region Nine area, business owners, education partners and we’ve been hosting these focus groups and events throughout the region."
Even so, Fairmont EDA Executive Director Ned Koppen said this is the first time since he has been with the city that they have held this specific type of meeting.
"We always try and be open-minded about partnerships like this," he said. "From my point of view, especially when it relates to our community and our business community, this is a great chance for us to let our feelings be known about where we think we want Fairmont and Martin County to go."
From what Bejarano has heard in the past year, she said housing and childcare have been key priorities for residents.
"It’s interesting because a lot of our work in economic development focuses on supporting businesses, attracting new companies, job growth," she said. "In the past few years, as housing affordability and availability have become a pain point for a lot of communities, it seems to be at the forefront in a lot of these conversations, as well as childcare and cost of living."
By hosting two separate meetings on the same day, Koppen said they wanted to make this as accessible as possible for the community and make sure they get a good amount of representation.
"The noon meeting may be a little more focused towards our business leaders and business community with a little more structured lunch and question and answer session," he said. "Then the 5 p.m. meeting may be geared a little more as an open forum meeting, people coming and going, geared a little more towards the rest of the community maybe, and looking for input across the board that way."
Bejarano said they also understand not everyone is able to take time off between noon and 2 p.m. to attend an event, so the evening event was added for that reason as well.
The non to 2 p.m. meeting, which is asking for registration, will have University of Minnesota Extension representatives lead a facilitated discussion.
"They have a lot of expertise working with communities across Minnesota and the experience guiding these conversations and helping communities identify what some key priorities are," Bejarano said. "The goal is that over lunch, people will discuss some of those priorities, some of the key challenges that they’re seeing on the ground for Fairmont, and how the community and the region at large work together to address some of those."
With the earlier meeting geared more toward business and economic development types, Bejarano said they want to hear from everyone and their lived experiences at the 5 p.m. event, which does not require registration.
"Hear some of the daily challenges that folks are seeing, or opportunities," she said. "We want everyone to participate. They don’t need to have a polished idea. They don’t have to bring in specific experience. We really just want to hear what they love about Fairmont, why they choose to be in the community, and what matters to them."
This is one of the last public appearances Region Nine will be at, and their conclusion will mark the beginning of constructing a plan for the future of the Fairmont area.
"We’re going to look at the feedback we got from both events alongside data that we’ve been pulling for workforce, employment, industry and housing. Then we will use all of that data to summarize it, and then create goals and strategies for the region. Because we want to create an action plan that shows how is the region changing, how is the region progressing, and what are those strategies that it should be working towards in the next five years, so the feedback we get will help us identify those priorities regionally and locally, and opportunities to grow."
To register for the non to 2 p.m. event, visit https://tinyurl.com/FEDAEvent. For more information, visit https://www.rndc.org/what-we-do/economic-development/ceds/.