SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO-AM) Successful communities are those who are able to maintain fiscal strength and a high quality of life throughout the ups and downs of the national economy or natural disasters. Those cities are able to reset themselves after calamities like the recent Great Recession or the landfall of a hurricane. New Orleans, ten years after Hurricane Katrina, is in the news this year for its comeback from devastation, praised for its resilience. Another city identified as one of the most resilient communities in America is Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Fortunately, we have not proven our resilience by bouncing back from the effects of a Category 5 hurricane, but through our consistent ability to weather economic storms without losing our forward momentum. In fact, Sioux Falls has shown resilience in the face of economic fluctuations for the past three decades. I believe that resilience can be attributed to three elements that are the keys to our success. Partnership is the strongest component of our economic strength. We work together to meet challenges. It is no coincidence that Forward Sioux Falls was created 30 years ago to establish a bright future for our area; to ensure that the Sioux Falls economy would be flexible and resilient. Diversity has also made our economy stable and secure in the face of national economic downturns. One of the original goals of the first Forward Sioux Falls program was to develop and expand our economic base beyond the agricultural sector; to encourage the growth and attraction of innovative and new companies in Sioux Falls. While the agricultural industry and its sectors are still strong and vital partners in our success, we have grown financial services, medical research and cutting edge technology into essential parts of our regional economy. Just as portfolio diversity allows an investor to weather the rollercoaster of economic changes, corporate diversity provides the same resilience to a community. Strategic planning is the other dynamic element in the Sioux Falls success story. We are always looking ahead, doing the research, examining the metrics and looking for ways to improve, expand and enhance our economic resilience. We are doing that right now, studying our workforce challenges and making new plans to take our success to the next level. Sioux Falls is indeed a resilient community, because we work together to achieve our goals. We have successfully weathered a variety of storms—and keep on growing.
By Slater Barr, President, Sioux Falls Development Foundation
SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO-AM) Successful communities are those who are able to maintain fiscal strength and a high quality of life throughout the ups and downs of the national economy or natural disasters. Those cities are able to reset themselves after calamities like the recent Great Recession or the landfall of a hurricane. New Orleans, ten years after Hurricane Katrina, is in the news this year for its comeback from devastation, praised for its resilience. Another city identified as one of the most resilient communities in America is Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Fortunately, we have not proven our resilience by bouncing back from the effects of a Category 5 hurricane, but through our consistent ability to weather economic storms without losing our forward momentum. In fact, Sioux Falls has shown resilience in the face of economic fluctuations for the past three decades. I believe that resilience can be attributed to three elements that are the keys to our success. Partnership is the strongest component of our economic strength. We work together to meet challenges. It is no coincidence that Forward Sioux Falls was created 30 years ago to establish a bright future for our area; to ensure that the Sioux Falls economy would be flexible and resilient. Diversity has also made our economy stable and secure in the face of national economic downturns. One of the original goals of the first Forward Sioux Falls program was to develop and expand our economic base beyond the agricultural sector; to encourage the growth and attraction of innovative and new companies in Sioux Falls. While the agricultural industry and its sectors are still strong and vital partners in our success, we have grown financial services, medical research and cutting edge technology into essential parts of our regional economy. Just as portfolio diversity allows an investor to weather the rollercoaster of economic changes, corporate diversity provides the same resilience to a community. Strategic planning is the other dynamic element in the Sioux Falls success story. We are always looking ahead, doing the research, examining the metrics and looking for ways to improve, expand and enhance our economic resilience. We are doing that right now, studying our workforce challenges and making new plans to take our success to the next level. Sioux Falls is indeed a resilient community, because we work together to achieve our goals. We have successfully weathered a variety of storms—and keep on growing.
By Slater Barr, President, Sioux Falls Development Foundation