New Economic Action Plan, website revealed at second Economic Action Workshop

CLERMONT — Over 70 local business leaders and members of the community were in attendance at the second Economic Action Workshop held Friday, March 11 at Lake-Sumter Community College’s South Lake Campus in Clermont.

At the workshop, Commissioner Leslie Campione presented an Economic Action Plan, which includes a vision, mission and nine goals for promoting economic growth in the community. The input received at the first workshop, along with ideas received through the Business Growth Suggestion forms submitted to the County, were used in development of the plan.

“By soliciting suggestions from the community, several themes emerged which we included in the initial plan, and we have already begun the implementation of several of the ideas raised at our initial workshop,” said Commissioner Campione. “The plan is a work in process though, which means we have to be flexible and responsive.”

Also presented at the workshop was the launch of a new website, www.HowWeHelpBusiness.com. The goal of the website is the act as a clearing house for news and information as it pertains to business help in Lake County.

“We wanted to create awareness of what is being done to help the business community, not just by the County, but also the School Board, regional partners, cities…everyone,” said Cary Pierce, Business Development Coordinator with the Office of Economic Development and Tourism. “We needed one central location to have the conversation and to report back results.  HowWeHelpBusiness.com does just that.”

The County is still in the process of actively seeking suggestions from the community for ways to grow business in Lake County. For details on how to submit suggestions, log on to the Lake County website at www.lakecountyfl.gov/businessideas. To view the entire Economic Action Plan, log on to the www.lakecountyfl.gov keyword search “action”.