Strategic Plan - 2025 and Beyond
HREDC Board of Directors and staff engaged in a collaborative strategic planning process in 2024 to collaborative strategic planning process in 2024 to create a roadmap for our long-term priorities and 2025 goals. We are sharing the results with out stakeholders, inviting their feedback and support as we move forward together.
VISION
Position Hannibal Regional Economic Development Council as the premier choice for economic development in the Midwest
MISSION
To provide assistance to new and existing businesses in the Hannibal region that will help them sustain, grow, and excel.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
- Staff expertise
- Steady membership
- Business relationships & retention
- Active and supportive board members
Weaknesses
- Dilution of mission and vision
- Planned staff changes in 2025
- Lack of infrastructure at industrial sites
- Tenure of staff
Opportunities
- Transportation - including multi-modal
- Low cost of living with high quality of life
- Start-ups & entrepreneurship
- Strategic Location
- Tourism
Threats
- Housing
- Wages
- Workforce & population dynamics
- Visibility compared to larger markets
- Childcare
STRATEGIC FOCUSES
Amplifying the opportunities and benefits of the Hannibal region across multiple platforms
- In person - business visits, trade missions and shows
- Email - internal to the region & external to decision makers
- Social media - Facebook and LinkedIn viewership and followers
- Website - views and interactions
Increasing economic activity in Marion and Ralls through a combination of business expansion, recruitment, and entrepreneurship
- Develop further infrastructure for existing industrial sites toward shovel readiness
- Facilitate access to a large network of resources for expansion by working with community and state partners
- Support the Missouri SBDC at HREDC to grow client visits translating to business starts and small business funding
Supporting the acute need for a ready workforce
- Working strategically with partners to support key workforce development programs like the Hannibal Innovation Campus, Missouri One Start, Hannibal Area CEO, etc.
- Increasing access to quality housing
- Amplifying the need for childcare and supporting initiatives that grow childcare seats
Promoting and enhancing transportation opportunities in Marion & Ralls Counties
- Advocate for continual improvement of our high traffic corridors – Highway 36/I-72 and Highway 61
- Develop multi-modal transportation opportunities through port development and industrial site development with rail access
- Support state and federal initiatives to provide a commuter rail option in the region
2025 Goals
Marketing & Stakeholder Engagement
- Attend seven trade missions and events laid out in the 2025 HREDC/MRRPA Travel & Conference Plan
- Develop site selector email list and send email quarterly with opportunities in the Hannibal region
- Grow HREDC’s LinkedIn followers to over 700 followers
- Meet with each of HREDC’s 20 Board Members
- Visit the Hannibal region’s top 10 largest employers
Entrepreneurship
- Continue to increase the client load for the Missouri SBDC at HREDC, in turn increasing counseling hours and business impact
- 400 hours consulting with clients
- 175 clients served
- 17 new businesses started
- 20 instances of funding secured by clients
- Amplify the SBDC story by sharing client testimonials and success stories quarterly
Workforce
- Work with partners to develop an assessment of the current housing needs for Marion and Ralls
- Increase awareness of the need for childcare by working with the United Way and Douglass Community Services to plan childcare showcases for regional leadership
Transportation
- Continue to utilize federal and state funding for port infrastructure development to advance toward shovel-readiness at the Port site (Certified Site status)
- Advocate to legislators, local elected officials, and state departments about the importance of transportation planning in Marion and Ralls Counties
