“Give us money to work together as a region. But let us decide whom we’ll partner with.”

In response to that message from local economic development groups, the Iowa Department of Economic Development has begun committing funds to groups of Iowa counties that are pledging to work cooperatively. The overall goal: increase local resources for improving regional marketing efforts, so that companies will decide to expand or make new investments in these regions.

Last week, IDED Director Michael Blouin was on the road from one end of the state to the other as he announced three-year commitments of $175,000 each to seven regional groups. The clusters of counties plan to use the money in a variety of ways, such as direct marketing efforts, Web site development and the creation of a value-added agricultural association to find additional markets for ethanol.

The criteria for the grants were developed in December by the Professional Developers of Iowa, a statwide association of local economic development groups. The funding is coming from a combination of Grow Iowa Value Fund money from the original program approved in 2003, as well as $200,000 in federal funding.

“What’s unique is that they’re all deciding how best those priorities should be set, and we’ll work with them however those priorities are set,” Blouin told the Business Record. “We believe that we have enough money to get nine of these regions funded.” As of press time, the IDED had announced seven partnerships, which received a total commitment of $1.225 million.

There have been regional economic development efforts in the past, “but those efforts had more of a top-down approach,” said Jim Gossett, executive director of the Carroll Area Development Corp., and past president of the PDI. “This was our input to the department, that strong collaborative efforts require strong trust and understanding of your partners,” he said. “Our view is we need to be able to partner with who we need and want to for economic development.”

Carroll is among seven Western Iowa counties that formed Western Iowa Advantage, which is matching the state funding it will receive with a five-year commitment of $578,000 in local money, primarily to boost its direct-marketing efforts to businesses and for Web site development. Carroll has worked with some of these counties for the past 10 years in a revolving fund that has made $3 million available in low-interest loans, creating an estimated 500 new jobs in the region.

“This marketing fund is primarily for business attraction, but it is broad enough to encompass quality-of-life amenities, which are critical, as well as (marketing) business attraction advantages,” Gossett said.

Blouin said he anticipates that more than 70 of the state’s 99 counties will become involved in regional marketing efforts through this initiative, and that more counties will likely join in over time.

“I don’t think we want as a state to do these subsidies on a permanent basis, but I don’t know if three years is enough,” he said. “If the dollars are there, we’ll try to make it work at that stage. The thinking is that these communities should become strong enough to do their own thing, and have their own dollars.”