Along with its coastal beauty, historic landmarks and decadent mansions, the Newport and Bristol counties have much to offer.
The sailing capital of the U.S. boasts strong educational institutions and medical service providers, and is a leader in the military and defense industries being home to powerhouse contractors Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.
But when it comes to the local economy, a feasibility study conducted by Austin, Texas-based TIP Strategies back in 2015 concluded the region falls far short of its potential. Part of this is because most of the communities that make up the Newport and Bristol Counties do not have full-time staff dedicated to economic development.
“How do we work with tourism industry to bring in audiences from all over country and globe?”
Now, a public-private partnership between the nine municipalities that encompass the region and the Newport County Chamber of Commerce is underway to make the region a national tourist destination that is more business-friendly.
Connect Greater Newport, which will function as a division of the chamber, will strategically market the area to new businesses, new investments and work with existing companies to facilitate expansion. The organizations will ultimately develop a five-year strategic plan to drive economic growth in the area.
It will also promote open real estate, resources and advertise the different communities in the region, among other efforts.
“The different municipalities that make up the area have fairly small municipal governments,” Erin Donovan-Boyle, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, told Rhode Island Inno. “Studies show that we have a lot of attributes to offer in the Newport County as a region more so than as [individual] municipalities.”
Connect Greater Newport has hired the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based consulting firm Fourth Economy to provide support to their ongoing efforts and for development of the five-year plan.
“How do we provide the bandwidth and capacity to make things easier to accomplish such as talent recruitment of new populations and people?” said Rich Overmoyer, president and CEO of Fourth Economy. “How do we work with tourism industry to bring in audiences from all over country and globe?”
Connect Greater Newport is currently surveying local business owners to get feedback and advice about what they want to see in the area and the five-year plan. It is also looking to hire a specialist that will focus on business retention, expansion and attraction.
Donovan-Boyle said this person will be the point of contact for new businesses interested in the area. Instead of going to an individual municipality, a new business would contact the specialist, who would connect them to the right people.
The organization is also developing other business development programs and wants to be a key resource in redevelopment efforts that will spur economic growth.
One of these the chamber participated in is a $7.1 million public-private venture that will transform the old, city-owned Sheffield school into a bustling technology hub called Innovate Newport.
The 34,000-square-foot incubator and accelerator space will be for startups and small businesses focused in the underwater technology, marine science, cybersecurity and environmental resiliency sectors.
Overmoyer said Connect Greater Newport also wants to use the new tech hub to attract more talent to the area, and promote any opportunities to redevelop old naval properties.
“This kind of role in the community hasn’t existed,” he said. “Newport is a calling card for the region. We are trying to play it as a global brand; once people get there, we are going to be agnostic.”
