EDA Newsletter May 2009

Volume 2; Issue 5 

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In this Issue:

● A River Runs Through It: Economic Development through Heritage Tourism

● Tourism and Career Ladders (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

● Regional Flavors: A New Approach to Rural Tourism Development

A River Runs Through It: 

Economic Development through Heritage Tourism 

Community leaders across the United States are embracing their past in order to stimulate their 

future. Heritage tourism creates this economic development opportunity while allowing both 

residents and visitors to enjoy the very essence of a community and its culture. Heritage 

tourism initiatives can enhance the quality of life, build community pride and protect cultural, 

historic and natural resources. Such programs aim to strengthen local and regional economies 

through commercial revitalization, business development and job creation.

Louisiana's Natchitoches-Cane River Region Heritage Tourism program exemplifies how heritage 

preservation promotes tourism while creating economic opportunities for local businesses and 

the region's workforce.

Natchitoches, a 40,000-person city in northwestern Louisiana, was established in 1714, 

incorporated in 1819 and is the oldest permanent settlement from the Louisiana Purchase 

territory. Also in the region is the Cane River, a 35-mile water body situated to the south of 

Natchitoches, which was formed from the main channel of the Red River and serves as a 

recreational area. Preserving the heritage of this region and strengthening the local and 

regional economies were the driving forces for creating the Natchitoches-Cane River Region 

Heritage Tourism program, consisting of the Natchitoches Main Street program and the Cane 

River National Heritage Area.

In the late seventies, then Mayor Robert DiBlieux (1976-1980) recognized that declining 

neighborhoods promise few opportunities for economic growth. This led to establishing the 

Natchitoches National Historic Landmark District, a 33-block historic site within the Cane River 

National Heritage Area that hosts many historic homes and buildings, churches and commercial 

structures.

In the early 1990s, the Natchitoches Main Street program was created on the recommendation 

of the Louisiana Historic District Development Commission. Among others, its purpose was to 

foster greater collaboration and strong partnerships with city officials, economic development 

practitioners and tourism organizations. As a result of the program, nearly 80 new businesses 

moved to the commercial district, creating 210 new jobs. The commercial district revitalization 

efforts since 1993 have proven successful, with $15 million in public support and $48 million in 

private investments.

Today, the Natchitoches Main Street program is even more impressive. In the past three years, 

over 150 new businesses have located in the commercial district offering a variety of services, 

including five shopping centers. The city's Economic Development Commission focuses on 

developing, retaining, and attracting high-quality industry and enhancing tourism development. 

With over one million visitors annually, increasing retail sales and a low vacancy rate, the 

Landmark District and Main Street programs promote a vibrant and stable economy for the 

region. Likewise, the Cane River National Heritage Area, a largely rural part of northwestern 

Louisiana, provides a unique experience and encourages tourism through its cultural heritage 

programs.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Do you have a story idea, case study or 

topic that you would like to see covered 

in this newsletter? Do you want to 

comment on something you read here? 

Email us and your comment or idea could 

be featured in the next EDA Update!

APA's Tools-of-the-Trade Part 

Four: Strategy three — Business 

Attraction and Retention

Many state departments of community 

development, tourism bureaus and 

regional chambers of commerce employ a 

variety of business attraction and 

retention techniques as a matter of 

course. APA's Tools-of-the-Trade 

(Website) features how local and regional 

governments may undertake them, 

highlighting direct marketing techniques 

and business operation tax incentives.

Federal Funding Opportunity 

Notice Available for EDA's 

American Recovery Program

EDA is soliciting applications under its 

$150 million American Recovery Act 

Program, to create jobs and boost 

development in parts of the country hit 

hard by the recession. The deadline for 

receipt of applications under the Recovery 

Act Program is June 30, 2010. All other 

information and requirements for the EDA 

American Recovery Act Program may be 

found in the March 10, 2009, Federal 

Register notice (74 FR 10232) and the 

companion federal funding opportunity 

announcement on EDA's Website.

COMING SOON!

May 21, 2009

APA's Centennial Symposium; 

Washington, DC 

[Website]

June 1-4, 2009

IEDC 2009 Technology-Led Economic 

Development Conference and IASP World 

Conference on Science and Technology 

Parks; The Research Triangle Park, NC 

[Website]

June 1-3, 2009

NARC 43nd Annual Conference and 

Exhibition, Denver, CO [Website]

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EDA Newsletter May 2009

Louisiana's only national heritage area, the Cane River National Heritage Area gives the visitor a 

detailed look at the history of French, Spanish, African-American, American Indian and Creole 

ancestries. Save America's Treasures, one of many ongoing projects, was established in 1998 

and fosters pride in American heritage through educational programs and preservation. 

Additionally, the Texas Pacific Depot is a rehabilitation project of the historic two-story rail 

depot, which will convert the space into a heritage center for exhibits and displays 

commemorating the region's African-American culture.

The story of the Natchitoches-Cane River Region Heritage Tourism uniquely expresses how the 

region thrives from its cultural preservation initiatives. Recognizing the links between heritage 

tourism and economic development is important for economic development practitioners, some 

unique lessons learned include:

● promoting a region's local heritage creates a unique, authentic tourism experience 

that can be an economic engine and drive further economic development;

● heritage tourism integrates economic development principles into the social and 

cultural fabric of community life; 

● collaborative and diverse partnerships are essential to heritage tourism and 

economic development efforts;

● reinvesting in a downtown commercial district spurs new business development 

and job creation; and

● heritage tourism and economic development preserve the sense of place and 

quality of life within a region or community.

Tourism and Career Ladders (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

In Brooklyn, N.Y., an interesting experiment in tourism promotion and career development has 

been underway for several years. When thinking of tourism in New York City, most observers 

think of traditional Manhattan-based attractions such as the Empire State Building or Times 

Square. But, Brooklyn, N.Y., is also developing a strong tourism and hospitality cluster. Recent 

research from the Initiative for a Competitive Brooklyn found that the local tourism and 

hospitality cluster employed more than 20,000 people. This analysis also found that Brooklyn's 

tourism and hospitality sector was poorly served by local support institutions and that the 

"quality" of the Brooklyn experience could be upgraded.

Project Welcome, an effort developed at Brooklyn's Kingsborough Community College, seeks to 

link local residents to these emerging career opportunities. With support from DOL and New 

York City's Department of Small Business Services, Project Welcome trains local residents for 

careers in the fields of tourism and hospitality. The program is free of charge and is available to 

the unemployed, career changers or local residents with interest in the field.

Project Welcome presently trains students in three disciplines: food service, hospitality 

management and event planning/management. This training is tied to a career pathway model 

developed in cooperation with Workforce Strategy Center, a New York-based think tank. The 

pathway model identifies core skills needed to advance in the industry, and then links these 

career advancement paths to areas of greatest need and employer demand. By using this 

approach, Project Welcome prepares its students for careers, not just jobs.

This effort has also spun off several interesting pilot efforts. Project Welcome's basic curricula 

are now supplemented by a Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality certification designed 

for those supporting travelers with special needs. In an effort to help stimulate 

entrepreneurship in this sector, Kingsborough also operates and supports several local kitchen 

incubators. The culinary version of the traditional business incubator, kitchen incubators offer 

shared workspace, equipment and services for those interested in culinary careers. Mi Kitchen 

Es Su Kitchen, a company specializing in kitchen incubator projects, provides general incubator 

support, while a new effort targets Brooklyn's growing kosher food industry. The school also 

now operates the only professional kosher cooking school in the U.S.

To learn more about Project Welcome, visit http://cewd.net/pages/initiatives/projectwelcome

Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen: http://www.mikitchenessukitchen.com/incubator.htm

Regional Flavors: 

A New Approach to Rural Tourism Development 

June 2-5, 2009

Council for Community and Economic 

Research (C2ER) 49th Annual 

Conference, Kansas City, MO [Website]

August 29-September 01, 2009

NADO's 2009 Annual Training Conference, 

Chicago, IL [Website]

October 4-7, 2009

IEDC 2009 Annual Conference, 

Renewable Communities, Reno, NV 

[Website]

October 11-13, 2009

University Economic Development 

Association Annual Summit, San Antonio, 

TX [Website]

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EDA Newsletter May 2009

In today's busy and harried world, many people are searching for experiences that are 

authentic, unique and "real." This search for authenticity is also affecting preferences for 

vacations and tourism. While it's nice to visit Las Vegas or take a cruise, many travelers are 

looking for a vacation experience with unique heritage, foods and activities.

Many rural regions across the U.S. are capitalizing on these changing attitudes toward tourism 

by emphasizing their heritage or cultural assets. For example, southwest Virginia's "The 

Crooked Road Heritage Music Trail" (www.thecrookedroad.org) is built upon the region's history 

as the birthplace of country music. In New Mexico, a state-sponsored Fiber Arts Trail (www.

nmfiberarts.org) introduces visitors to artisans and craftspeople across the state. 

A new approach — called Regional Flavor Strategies (RFS) — has been developed to begin to 

assist communities in identifying and building on these assets. Growing out of the pioneering 

work of June Holley, former Director of the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks 

(ACEnet), the RFS concept embraces the notion that rural communities can identify a brand or 

flavor for their region around which businesses and economies can flourish and competition can 

thrive. The Association for Enterprise Opportunity, with support from the Kellogg Foundation 

sponsored a pilot project working with six learning clusters targeted toward microenterprise 

development. Currently, the Rural Policy Research Institute Center for Rural Entrepreneurship is 

continuing the development of RFS by building an infrastructure for framing, testing and 

measuring RFS as a rural economic development strategy that can be replicated across rural 

America.

The regional flavor effort is a true "home-grown" economic development strategy. It 

encourages small towns to build upon unique local heritage, foods, arts and crafts and cultures. 

It works with local residents to capitalize on new opportunities to start and grow businesses in 

these key sectors. Many of these new businesses, such as restaurants and bed and breakfasts, 

target visitors. But, these new businesses also help support local residents.

According to Holley, "When local assets are combined — like vegetables in a soup — into unique 

sets of experiences, activities and stories, the region becomes very appealing: residents 

become more strongly committed to the region, others are drawn to move to the area and 

visitors develop long term emotional bonds with the region. This process increases economic 

activity, as locals purchase more regionally made products and services, new arrivals bring 

much needed skills and resources, and visitors return again and again, spending dollars with 

each visit."

Tourism promotion is a critical component because small towns, and their entrepreneurs, must 

identify tools for attracting new resources and new customers to the community. The 

experience in Athens County, Ohio, portrays some of the economic development potential for 

this model. In that community, ACEnet developed a strong local brand around the concept of 

the "Art of Ohio," which includes a Web site and an online marketplace where local crafts people 

can sell their wares. Today, more than 200 local artisans and food producers participate in the 

broader local network. More than 100 producers have utilized the online marketplace, 

generating significant increases in sales. Moreover, the project has generated more than 50 

media stories on the Art of Ohio, producing great brand recognition for the region.

Athens has also been aggressive in its support and promotion of local fairs and festivals as 

another means to promote tourism and generate business opportunities for local entrepreneurs. 

Recent local events include the Ohio Brew Week, which showcases the region's micro-breweries, 

the Ohio Chili Pepper Festival and the annual Paw Paw Festival that celebrates all things related 

to the paw paw, an indigenous fruit.

To learn more about the Regional Flavor Learning Cluster, visit http://www.

microenterpriseworks.org/index.asp?bid=2191

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