Awards
2015: Lewisburg Gets the Gold
Improves TVA Sustainable Community Status from Silver to Gold
The city of Lewisburg, Tenn., has been named a Valley Sustainable Gold Community by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – up from Silver Level status earned in 2013.
The Valley Sustainable Communities Program initiated by TVA Economic Development helps communities document and improve existing sustainability programs to increase their competitiveness when companies are considering investing in new or expanded locations.
Lewisburg completed the program sponsored by TVA, which was developed and administered by consultant Boyette Strategic Advisors (BSA), in 2013. At that time, the community achieved a Silver Level Valley Sustainable Community status.
This year, TVA and BSA opened the program again for new communities and for those seeking to upgrade their current status. Lewisburg recognized that the community leadership had implemented several new sustainability programs with even more being planned. With this information, the Sustainable Community Committee re-applied and was pleased to discover that Lewisburg moved up to Gold Level status.
“We are proud that Lewisburg has completed the Valley Sustainable Communities Program,” said Del Boyette, president and CEO of Boyette Strategic Advisors. “The Gold level designation recognizes that Lewisburg has community-wide sustainability in place, with some programs available to support the business community and take advantage of economic development opportunities.”
Sustainability has become a key issue for economic development organizations and communities as more corporations have demonstrated an increasing commitment to sustainability. More than 90 percent of corporate real estate executives who responded to a CoreNet Global survey on sustainability said that it is a consideration in their company location decisions. The typical reasons for this corporate commitment are reduced operating costs for increased profitability and greater employee satisfaction.
“TVA Economic Development’s mission includes working with Valley communities to help prepare them to be ready for economic growth opportunities,” said John Bradley, TVA SVP of Economic Development. “We are seeing that more and more companies have an increasing business emphasis on sustainable operations, and are adding this component to their RFIs as they search for a community where they can locate, grow, and enhance their company’s sustainability commitments.”
By the end of 2015, 28 communities in the TVA Region have achieved either Silver, Gold or Platinum level Valley Sustainable Community status through the program. Lewisburg will now become one of 14 communities to obtain Gold Level status, including nearby communities such as Franklin and Murfreesboro and larger communities such as Memphis, TN and Huntsville, AL.
Lewisburg Sustainable Community Team members include, Mayor Jim Bingham, Barbara Woods, Lisa Jackson, JECB Director Mike Wiles and Lewisburg ED Director Greg Lowe. The team will receive the TVA Sustainable Community Gold Level Award at a luncheon on December 1 in Nashville.
“This kind of recognition validates our efforts to become a progressive, business-friendly and environmentally sound community,” said Lewisburg Mayor Jim Bingham. “We are going to continue efforts such as this as we move forward with more plans and projects to make Lewisburg the best city to live, work and do business.”
2014: City of Lewisburg Wins National High Performance Economic Development Award for Most Jobs Announced in 2013/2014
Organization Wins Award Ahead of 200+ Economic Development Organizations Surveyed
City of Lewisburg is proud to announce that in a survey of over 200 economic development organizations from around the country, they reported the most jobs than any other organization in 2014 for a population less than 25,000. Compared to similar sized organizations, City of Lewisburg announced 852 jobs.
Denver, Colorado-based Atlas Advertising collected data from more than 200 economic development organizations in 40+ states and eight countries in their 2013/2014 benchmarking survey, which included organization-specific information such as: location, population, annual budget, number of full time staff, jobs announced in the past 12 months, website visits over the past 12 months, number of organizations serviced, and capital invested in a particular community. The results were compiled and presented in Atlas’ 2014 white paper, “Putting High Performance Economic Development into Practice: A Guide for Economic Development Leaders and Their Boards.” The award is detailed at http://www.atlas-advertising.com.
“City of Lewisburg, with their superior performance in the economic development industry, has shown itself to be one of the highest performers in the nation,” said Ben Wright, CEO of Atlas. “Their leadership and staff have truly made a difference in the city of Lewisburg.”
About City of Lewisburg
Lewisburg is a beautiful small town nestled in the hills of Southern Middle Tennessee. It’s a place of backyards and front porches where industry meets the farmland, community and culture are neighbors, and tradition and progress are friends. Located less than an hour’s drive from Nashville and an hour’s drive from Huntsville, Alabama, Lewisburg is located right in the heart of Southern Middle Tennessee.
About Atlas Advertisting
Atlas Advertising is a niche economic development marketing, strategy, and creative firm whose goal is to connect people to places and ideas to action. They help communities (cities, states, regions, countries) grow their economies, attract talent, and compete for jobs through technology and strategy.
2014: Lewisburg and CKNA Featured in Trade & Industry Magazine
The CKNA Expansion Project in Lewisburg, Shelbyville and Smyrna earned the company a CiCi Award for Community Impact, according the March/April issue of Trade & Industry Magazine. You can view the digital edition of the magazine by clicking this link – CiCi Award for CKNA. The section of the magazine featuring CKNA and Lewisburg begins on page 66 and you can find an advertisement for Lewisburg on page 92.
2009: Lewisburg Selected As One of Top Micropolitan Areas of 2008
Lewisburg was recently announced as tied for 65th of the Top Micropolitan Areas, according to the Conway Data New Plant Database, the official corporate facility tracking service of Site Selection magazine.
The ranking puts Lewisburg in the Top 100 out of nearly 700 micropolitan areas designated by the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the Bureau, a micro area is a largely rural economy that includes a city of at least 10,000 people but less than 50,000 and covers at least one county. Of the 3,141 counties in the U.S., 694 are classified as micro areas and account for about 10 percent of America’s population.
Statesville-Mooresville, about a 40-minute drive north of Charlotte, North Carolina, has been ranked first or second by Site Selection every year but one since 1999 –an indication of the area’s long-term economic strength. Tupelo, Miss., tied for second with Daphne-Fairhope, Ala., which each recorded 12 projects in 2008. Ottawa-Streator, Ill., and Batavia, N.Y., tied for fourth with 11 each, while Wooster, Ohio, finished sixth with 10.
Rounding out the top 10 micropolitans were last year’s winner, Lexington-Thomasville, N.C., and Ashtabula, Ohio, which each tallied nine deals, followed by Wapakoneta, Ohio, with eight, and Adrian, Mich., and Lincolnton, N.C., with seven each. Lewisburg’s projects with U.S. Tank and Cryogenics and Autom Church Supply tied it for 65th in the rankings along with Brownsville, TN. Columbia and Tullahoma tied for 41st each with 3 projects as Lawrenceburg and Dyersburg each tied for 26th with 4 projects.
Site Selection Online – The magazine of Corporate Real Estate Strategy and Area Economic Development.
Grants
2015: Haslam Announces Transportation Grant for City of Lewisburg
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer announced today the award of a $701,138 transportation
alternative grant to provide a pedestrian and bicycle facility connecting Lewisburg Square with Rock Creek Park.
The Downtown Connector Project, which will be constructed in four phases, includes parking, sidewalks, and a multiuse path, eventually connecting to the existing Rock Creek Park Greenway path. The grant funds Phase I of the project.
“This project will improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as provide residents and visitors with critical connections to different areas of the city,” Haslam said. “Tennessee’s downtowns are the heart of our communities, and projects like this enhance the lives of Tennesseans and make our communities more livable.”
The transportation alternative grant is made possible through a federally funded program formerly known as transportation enhancement, and is administered by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT).
“Through these grants, TDOT has funded more than $318 million in non-traditional transportation projects,” Schroer said. “This program has assisted communities all over the state in their efforts to revitalize downtowns, highlight historic areas, provide alternative means of transportation, and increase opportunities for economic development.”
A variety of activities, such as the restoration of historic facilities, bike and pedestrian trails, landscaping and other non-traditional transportation projects, are eligible for grant funds under the federal program.
The City was also awarded a TDOT Multimodal Grant to create a connector to the Greenway at the East Commerce Bridge. The connector will allow pedestrians on the Greenway to access East Commerce and the Lewisburg Square. Along with the connector, the East Commerce bridge itself will receive a facelift.
The third grant is a TDOT Transportation Planning Grant that will reprogram and synchronize all the traffic lights in the City of Lewisburg. Lewisburg Public Works recently completed a study of all traffic lights in the City and the grant will use that study to better program and synchronize all traffic lights in the City.
State Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) and state Rep. Billy Spivey (R-Lewisburg) represent Marshall County in the Tennessee General Assembly.
2015: CKNA Celebrates LEAP Grant for Four Counties
Training the future workforce is the goal of industry and the communities in which they reside. Thanks to an initiative by Gov. Bill Haslam, a partnership between local industries, the Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Shelbyville, the South Central Development District and four counties – Bedford, Franklin, Lincoln and Marshall – is expanding workforce training facilities and programs in the region.
Gov. Bill Haslam introduced the Labor Education Alignment Program (LEAP) grant earlier this year and regions across the state competed for up to $1M in funding to develop and implement workforce development training. The South Central Development District brought together the TCAT-Shelbyville leadership and local leaders from the four counties in the region to create TCAT facilities in each county that would provide Industrial Maintenance Technology training through TCAT-Shelbyville.
Calsonic Kansei North America stepped up to be the top contributor to this project with a donation of $50,000 to help develop the training facilities in each of the four counties.
In a ceremony on Monday, May 18 at their headquarters in Shelbyville, CKNA officially made their financial donation to the project in front of the CKNA leadership and local officials from each of the four counties.
For Marshall County, this will mean that a TCAT-Shelbyville facility will be created in the city-owned building at 218 West Commerce, just off the Lewisburg Square. Starting in September, students will be given the opportunity to take 24-month training at the Lewisburg facility to become certified in Industrial Maintenance – a much-needed skill for several of the local industries in Marshall and surrounding counties.
“There is no greater industrial partner to this community than CKNA,” said Lewisburg Mayor Jim Bingham. “Time and again, CKNA has demonstrated its commitment to Lewisburg and Marshall County by investing in community and workforce development projects that will to not only ensure their continued success, but will also insure the continued growth and prosperity of Lewisburg and Marshall County.”
CKNA CEO Shingo Yamamoto, Sr. VP Mike Layne and COO Eric Huch welcomed several special guests to the ceremony Monday morning including Sen. Jim Tracy and Rep. Pat Marsh, all mayors from each county and representatives of the education and training community in the region.
