Written By: Andrew Stork
Choose Klamath, it's just better here – this is not just a slogan but a belief that fuels the Klamath County Economic Development Association (KCEDA) and their ongoing efforts to enhance the region's business climate. Today, the agency has expanded its scope and impact significantly, now providing businesses a full spectrum of services to help assist their development process from ideation to completion. The organization has gained strong recognition from developers throughout the nation, providing businesses support with site selection, incentive packaging, permitting assistance, workforce programming, market research, financing, infrastructure, legislative advocacy, and referrals. Working across business recruitment, expansion, and scalable entrepreneurship, the KCEDA agency has truly evolved into a ‘one-stop-shop’ for enterprises looking to locate or further grow operations in Klamath County.
The organization’s work has greatly contributed to the area economy in recent years, playing a key role in growing capital investment and new construction in the region like never before. Playing an integral part in facilitating important developments, KCEDA has helped make projects like the Swan Lake Energy Project, Wilsonart, the Fairfield by Marriott, Rjourney RV Resort, Craft3, Growler Guys, and more become a reality.
For many years following the Great Recession, new construction in Klamath County had been nearly absent. The financial crisis and its repercussions were particularly difficult on rural communities like Klamath, placing hardship on local businesses of all shapes and sizes. The grueling length of the region’s economic recovery undeniably became a major inspiration for the important efforts taken to reconfigure local leadership and key stakeholders around executing collaborative strategies that better position Klamath’s economy for success – it is this collaboration where KCEDA has become a force in stimulating regional growth, as the organization’s membership model has crafted a platform for highly active exchange between both private and public sector stakeholders. Working together to leverage the unique characteristics and unparalleled assets of the County, KCEDA and these community partners have spent endless hours driving initiatives to help shape Klamath County into a more industrially diverse marketplace that is capable of supporting consistent development from a wide range of enterprises (Clean Energy, Natural Resources, Tourism & Placemaking, High Tech, and Advanced Manufacturing).
Much of this development is made possible by area features which are leveraged by KCEDA, among many other community partners. Having over 300 days of sunshine, unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities, short commutes, a relaxed lifestyle, an abundance of industrial land, two higher education institutions, a military base, and a multimodal transportation hub, are all things which make Klamath a highly appealing location in the eyes of industry everywhere. To KCEDA, these features are genuinely what makes the county a unique Northwest economy and lifestyle experience, positioning the region for promising growth in the upcoming future. Exciting times lie ahead, and people are starting to realize that it really is just better in Klamath.
