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Economic Yearbook 2008
NORTHWEST: Refocusing
"Sometimes it takes a crisis to get people’s attention," says Al Wenstrand, president of Florida’s Great Northwest, a 16-county economic development organization. The combination of falling real estate sales, lower housing prices, job losses and a government budget crunch reinforces the importance of having a regional economy based on more than tourism, real estate, construction and retail sales, Wenstrand says. "The problem is those industries trend upward together, and they trend downward together." The region’s No. 1 need? A trained, skilled workforce in information technology and engineering to support aerospace, health services, renewable energies, logistics, transportation and international trade.
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Other Northwest leaders are recognizing the changing industrial climate.
» Richard Williams is executive director of the Chipola Workforce Board, which serves five rural, inland counties that lack the advantages of a coastline and a tourism draw. "We’re still making the shift from agriculture to something else; we just don’t know what that something else will be yet." Lately, unemployed workers are asking for agency training in completely new skills to help them find jobs, a costlier proposition than simply updating the skills they use at the present jobs. A major handicap: The agency’s federally funded budget has undergone six years of cuts.
» The University of West Florida at Pensacola is breaking ground this spring on a $32-million School of Science and Engineering, complementing a community effort to expand its high-tech base. Included: Incubator space for entrepreneurs and accelerator assistance for innovators, says School of Science and Engineering director and project shepherd Leonard ter Haar. "It’s one of the ways we can help get Pensacola going."
POPULATION TREND
Walton County, a coastal second-home favorite, is the only Northwest Florida county that grew at a faster pace last year (3.4%) than the state as a whole. Only Washington County had a faster growth rate (1.4%) last year than its previous five-year average (1.12%).
The two largest counties, Escambia and Okaloosa, lost population; Escambia’s dropped by 0.39%, from 307,401 to 306,204, Okaloosa’s by 0.9%, from 192,079 to 190,342. University of West Florida economist Rick Harper blames decreases partly on suburbanization, as residents moved to neighboring Santa Rosa and Walton counties.
Falling population growth contributes to lower housing demand and declining home values, says Harper. The upside: Falling home prices can make homeownership more affordable.
 Maritime Support (Gulf Breeze) Quint and Rishy Studer » Quint and Rishy Studer’s multiple philanthropic gifts are benefiting community development, health and education needs. Among recent donations: $2.25 million to the University of West Florida toward development of a Florida Maritime Museum and Research Center, part of Pensacola’s planned Community Maritime Park waterfront development. Quint Studer’s company, the Studer Group, provides its leadership coaching program free to the Escambia County School System, county government and United Way. [Photo: Jeffrey Camp] |
