The York Economic Development Authority voted 5-1 at its Tuesday meeting to fund economic gardening grants of $4,500 each for two York County companies.
The companies have not yet been selected. Economic gardening is a process to help growth-oriented businesses with annual revenue between $1 million and $50 million to explore markets outside of their home area. This is accomplished by connecting the companies with specialized research teams that identify specific actions the companies can take to make the next step, said Bob Lindberg, a representative of the Hampton Roads Partnership who addressed the York EDA at Tuesday’s meeting. The research teams operate out of state and communicate with the selected companies through electronic channels.
The businesses that fall within the revenue range for economic gardening are known as second-stage companies. In order to qualify, they must go through an application process where they demonstrate that they have experienced growth in revenue and/or employees in the past five years and that they want to explore markets outside of the region. Once selected, they receive 35 hours of one-on-one time with their research team, Lindberg said.
Lindberg said economic gardening focuses on two areas where companies can improve—how to create more jobs and how to increase revenue. By focusing on companies that are trying to explore markets outside of Hampton Roads, Lindberg said help from economic gardening has the greatest chance of creating jobs and increasing the tax base.
The Hampton Roads Partnership works with the Edward Lowe Foundation to provide economic gardening services by managing the research teams, Lindberg said. It was founded in 1985 by Ed and Darlene Lowe to help second-stage companies grow, according to the foundation’s website.
At Tuesday’s meeting, York County Economic Development Director Jim Noel said his office wanted to host a breakfast for companies that appear to meet the selection criteria. Lindberg said companies that focus on selling to the federal government are not eligible for the program, though companies that meet that description that are looking to expand into private markets are good candidates.
Economic gardening began in Hampton Roads in the last year, Lindberg said. Five companies have completed the program, five are currently enrolled and at least seven others have been accepted for future enrollment. The fee for these companies to take part in the program is typically paid by various economic development offices and bodies throughout Hampton Roads, though the program has received grants from past participants who experienced success following their participation in the program, Lindberg said.
In addition to the $9,000 the EDA will furnish for the two grants, they decided to pay a $5,500 fee to the Hampton Roads Partnership to regain admission to the group after the York County Board of Supervisors voted last year to not fund York’s admittance, Noel said. In order to receive economic gardening services through the Hampton Roads Partnership, the locality in which the company operates must be a member of the partnership.
Small businesses can find help with one of the incubators in the area and larger businesses find help from a variety of sources, but businesses in the middle that would be eligible for economic gardening grants don’t have as many avenues they can pursue for the sort of specialized help they need, Lindberg said.
According to an information sheet on economic gardening that Lindberg provided to the York EDA, second-stage companies created more than 36 percent of jobs in the United States between 1995 and 2009.
