Economic Development Checklist

The Collins administration developed this list of action items to set Erie County on the Road to a Bright Future.

Click an Item to View our Checklist and Track our Progress:

Make Our Community a Global Gateway

Focus on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Small Business

Take Advantage of Our Waterfront and Greenway

Promote Our Community's Arts, Culture and Heritage

Make Our Community a Tourist Destination

Promote Our Region's Agriculture Industry

Use our Higher Education Institutions as a Gateway

Become the Back Office Capital of America

Advance High and Low Tech Manufacturing

Position Our Area as a Medical Powerhouse

Make Our Community a Global Gateway

• • Brand and market Erie County as an international gateway

• • Develop a regional inventory and market strategies for shovel-ready sites

• • Plan intermodal and logistics facilities

• • Install multi-lingual signage at points-of-entry to Western New York

• • Promote direct foreign investment in Western New York

Focus on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Small Business

• • Advocate for retention and streamlining of economic development programs

• • Develop the export potential of small business

• • Advance opportunities for minority and women-owned business

• • Position ECIDA as first call for businesses seeking assistance

• • Create an integrated workforce development path

• • Establish a best in small business recognition program

• • Expand the small business pollution prevention program

Take Advantage of our Waterfront and Greenway

• • Complete the Town of Evans and Town of Brant sections of the Lakeshore Trail

• • Complete the Union Ship Canal Public Open Space Project within the City of Buffalo

• • Complete Phase 2 Improvements to Times Beach Nature Preserve along the City of Buffalo's Outer Harbor

• • Complete Phase 2 Improvements to Erie County's Tow Path Park in the City of Buffalo

• • Complete a feasibility study for Erie County's Ontario Street Boat Launch/Black Rock Canal Park

• • Complete the Niagara River Greenway signage system

• • Complete improvements to Erie County's Bennett Beach and Wendt Beach Parks in the Town of Evans

Promote Our Community's Arts, Culture, and Heritage

• • Develop a new sector-wide long-term investment vision

• • Overhaul Erie County's cultural funding process

• • Facilitate the completion of the Roycroft Campus Master Plan

• • Showcase regional rare books collections

Make Our Community a Tourist Destination

• • Implement marketing strategies that promote arts, culture and history to external customers

• • Implement marketing strategies that attract more conventions, amateur sports and leisure travel

• • Aggressively seek to book groups from all marketing sectors at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center

• • Determine the most effective sites in the region for visitor center operations

Promote our Region's Agriculture Industry

• • Complete a "Farmland Preservation and Economic Development Strategy"

• • Advance financial incentive programs for the agriculture industry

• • Implement an agribusiness program that focuses on farm-based tourism

Use our Higher Education Institutions as a Gateway

• • Enhance Erie County Community College and the Workforce Investment Board as training resources

• • Support economic development initiatives of regional institutions

Become the Back Office Capital of America

• • Promote ECIDA's adaptive re-use policy

• • Market regional attributes for locating back office support centers, such as an educated workforce and   low building costs

Advance High and Low Tech Manufacturing

• • Facilitate the development of the Proposed Clarence Industrial Park

• • Facilitate the development of the North Youngmann Commerce Center

• • Work with partners to develop a shovel-ready photovoltaic manufacturing site

• • Prepare shovel-ready sites of firms needing new locations for expanding operations

• • Provide financial incentives through ECIDA programs of available New York State programs

• • Work with rail and intermodal operators to ensure that transportation availability and costs are   competitive

• • Assist in training programs to maintain a stat-of-the-art workforce

Position our Area as a Medical Powerhouse

• • Provide ECIDA assistance for back office, technology transfer, and innovation projects

• • Support smart collaboration of regional medical facilities