The survey, which will help inform the Town’s efforts to create a long-range economic development plan, is being conducted by the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. (CERC), on behalf of the Fairfield Economic Development Commission. CERC was retained recently by the Fairfield Economic Development Commission to help with this important undertaking.
Based in Rocky Hill, CERC (www.cerc.com) is a non-profit corporation and public-private partnership that seeks to provide its clients with strategic business, real estate, research and marketing services with a focus on economic development and leveraging the State’s advantages as a premier business location.
The economic development plan will examine key challenges and opportunities facing Fairfield and seek to create a series of actionable goals and measures by which to evaluate progress. “Our focus remains on how we can best support new and existing Fairfield businesses, grow the commercial grand list and create employment opportunities for our residents, while being sensitive to our community character,” stated Mr. Barnhart.
In addition to the survey, CERC has also conducted targeted interviews with key decision-makers and will hold several facilitated workshops to build consensus around economic development priorities and goals. The planning effort is being partially underwritten by a grant from the United Illuminating Company and Southern Connecticut Gas, and is expected to be completed by this fall.
“This is a great opportunity for business owners to tell us what they think in terms of the challenges that they face in running their business and the types of services that would be most beneficial to them,” Mr. Barnhart concluded.
The photo shows Fairfield Community and Economic Development Director Mark Barnhart and First Selectman Mike Tetreau.