In this episode of the Econ Dev Show Dane Carlson talks with Lori Henderson, executive director of the Ponca City Development Authority, about what economic development looks like in a rural manufacturing community where workforce, housing, childcare, and quality of life are all connected.
Lori explains how Ponca City expanded beyond traditional business retention and expansion to tackle housing and retail, including an incentive program that helped move the community from just a handful of new homes each year to 59 incentivized housing units in two years.
She also shares how the development authority helped revive a closed movie theater, supports entrepreneurs through flexible workspace and small-business services, and builds a long-term workforce pipeline through a high-school internship program involving roughly 100 local companies and 180 students.
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10 Actionable Takeaways for Economic Developers
1. Treat housing as economic development infrastructure.
If employers are expanding but workers cannot find places to live, job growth eventually runs into a housing ceiling. Ponca City added housing to the development authority's responsibilities and began actively working with developers to increase supply.
2. Identify the financial gap keeping developers away.
Ponca City's challenge was straightforward: builders could construct a house in Ponca City for roughly the same cost as in a larger nearby market but sell it for less. Their incentive program helps close that profitability gap and makes rural projects more competitive.
3. Build incentives around the developer's actual risk.
Rather than assuming developers simply need to be recruited harder, determine what financial obstacle is preventing the project from working. Ponca City's experience suggests that when builders know a predictable amount of assistance is available, projects that previously did not pencil can become viable.