We’re lucky here in the Greater Lansing area—we have a tremendous number of local organizations that are working to develop many aspects of our region’s economy.

Like many regions, we have chambers of commerce  working to connect local business leaders and promote conditions favorable to business development. We have companies working to grow their businesses locally, and we have planning commissions working to ensure that any such growth is smart and well supported. We have downtown development authorities working to create thriving city centers. We have convention and visitors bureaus working to market our region as a desirable destination.

But if many other regions throughout the country enjoy similar resources, what differentiates us from them? It’s this: Far fewer of them are working toward common goals the way we are here. Far fewer are working together.

“I had my doubts about sticking around the Greater Lansing region after graduation, but I’m more impressed each day with the people and organizations really working to make a difference around here,” said East Lansing entrepreneur Sam Hogg. Hogg founded GiftZip.com, a website that allows users to buy e-gift cards from 120 retailers. The site has had more than 20,000 visitors since its launch in November 2008.

Here in the Greater Lansing area, the leaders of businesses, municipalities, educational institutions, entertainment venues and charitable organizations are all working in concert to align local resources, to make the Greater Lansing area a better place to live and work. In the past two years, we’ve worked together to:

•    Launch a Greater Lansing brand to get people inside and outside of the region talking positively about it.

•    Start the Leap BusinessFirst program to give existing companies the tools they need to survive and thrive in our rapidly changing economy. Members of our BusinessFirst business retention team visit companies here to help them evaluate how they’re doing—and to make sure they have the tools they need to succeed in today’s global economy. We help companies assess the health of their businesses and identify any obstacles to their success, and then we direct them to the resources they need to make their companies more competitive.

The BusinessFirst team also works together on business expansion and attraction projects. This team, which includes members from many local municipalities, Capital Area Michigan Works!, the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, helped to convince IBM to open its first U.S.-based application development center here in June—a move that’s expected to bring up to 1,500 jobs over the next five years.

•    Develop and launch the Leap TalentLink program to connect students at Lansing Community College, Michigan State University and Thomas M. Cooley Law School with area employers who can provide them with real-world experience through internships.  This gives the students a firsthand look at the realities of the workplace and the great opportunities that are available in our region, and it gives the employers a chance to develop employees with the skills and experience that meet their needs.

•    Launch the Leap Community Ambassador program to make it easier for companies to choose the Greater Lansing area. By giving   companies a single point of entry to our region, we make it easier for them to get information about available sites, incentives and assistance; and we work with them to ensure they get what they need.

•    Start the Leap SpringBoard business acceleration program to help early-stage companies more easily access the resources they need to succeed here.  

•    Convince the U.S. Department of Energy to award the $550 million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams to Michigan State University in December—an award that will create as many as 400 new jobs and preserve a number of others at MSU’s National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab while achieving an ultimate economic impact in the region of $1 billion.

Is all of this togetherness working? You tell me.

Even as the U.S. auto industry—traditionally among the Greater Lansing area’s largest employers—struggles, our region has stayed strong, with one of Michigan’s lowest unemployment rates. Local manufacturers are diversifying. Our robust insurance and financial services sector is the envy of regions nationwide. Our IT sector is growing.

In fact, many companies here are growing in spite of the down economy. They include Capitol Bancorp, Emergent BioSolutions, Jackson National Life, LiquidWeb, and Peckham—all of which have announced plans to add employees in 2009.

That’s success by any measure and it’s just a start.

Because if we keep working together, there’ll be no stopping us.

		Denyse Ferguson is the president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (Leap, Inc.), the region’s leading economic development organization.