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John Stigmon with the Economic Collaborative of Northern Arizona gave a brief overview of the results from the I-40 Corridor Study and Winslow Work Plan at the Navajo County Community College District Governing Board meeting on June 18 at Northland Pioneer College (NPC).
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The Economic Collaborative works closely with Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), which gave the Economic Collaborative a grant to study the I-40 Corridor as well as create the Winslow Work Plan.
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The purpose of the study was to understand the connection and increase of economic development between Winslow, Flagstaff and Williams. The study included infrastructure, workforce demographics, retail analysis, transportation and logistics as well as development opportunities.
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“The leaders of Winslow contacted us and said we see an affinity to Flagstaff, which led us to the study,” said Stigmon.
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The result of the study found that Winslow’s strengths were the Grand Canyon and tourism, quality of life, and water and land for development. While weaknesses included limited workforce and perceived remoteness.
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Opportunities for Winslow include health care improvements with medical facility expansions, increased workforce mobility with a new transit system and industrial land adjacent to the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe rails.
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The biggest threat facing Winslow is a lack of diverse industries like advanced manufacturing.
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Stigmon shared, “As an example Williams is limited in water, and Flagstaff is limited in industrial land, but the City of Winslow has 1,000 acres of industrial land.
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“We have been working for the past year and a half to have an OSB (oriented strand board) plant in Winslow,” continued Stigmon. The base plant is 200 acres and would use forest products through the 4FRI Initiative, but until an entity actually gets the contract, nothing will happen.
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Another aspect Stigmon shared was that a lot of people are moving to remote areas and bringing their income with them through jobs based on internet connections. “Because of connectivity, there are new opportunities for workers to choose where they live.
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“If you have the connectivity, people will move into it,” said Stigmon. “I know Winslow has a connectivity and that the ACA is getting very aggressive with broadband for rural areas. Consumer electronics show there are a lot of start-up businesses that want to be in remote areas. Even Europeans want smaller, rural communities.”
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The Winslow Work Plan included business attraction, branding and marketing, trade shows, business attraction partnerships followed by business startup, incubation and acceleration.
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Board Member Elias Jouen asked what type of business would be likely to grow or come to the Winslow area. Stigmon responded, “Logistics are very attractive across the I-40 corridor. Heavier industry would do well here. A number of years ago, we landed Schuff Steel in Bellemont because we were able to demonstrate a strong welding work force.”
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Northland Pioneer College President Mark Vest commented, “This is exactly why we need to stay in contact with the chambers and city councils to help produce students to help these businesses.”
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Board Member James Matteson said, “NPC has a robust IT program. Nobody talks about it, so we are not getting the sign up. The wonderful urban character of Navajo County tends to cause the industrial people to think the only thing we can do is to provide opportunities to dig holes in the ground for potash, helium or water that no one wants to give away.”
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Stigmon challenged the board saying, “I think you have a broader opportunity than that. You have natural resources, strong logistics and the ability to have industry. You no longer have to get a degree to get digital work.”
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“I don’t think kids in high school know what jobs are available in their community,” continued Stigmon. “They can get an IT degree that is working for a warehouse or doing digital marketing that can be worked remotely. For a long time, we said degree, degree, degree, as opposed to education.”
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Stigmon concluded, “It is possible to live in Holbrook and work for Google or Facebook and make $100,000 a year as a coder. As education moves forward, the connectivity is worldwide.”
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