Assessment of local economic development programs within your community–Honolulu.

Week 4 Assignment

Community Assessment Paper

Prepare an assessment of local economic development programs within your community–Honolulu. To address the key issues related to economic planning, you will need to

  • Describe the types of economic development programs that are being conducted in your community—see Source Material below.
  • Analyze the actors involved in the economic development programs.
  • Explain the short-term and long-term goals of the economic development programs.
  • Assess the types of issues (i.e., political, economic) faced by the economic development programs.

Levy, J. M. (2013). Contemporary urban planning (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall.

Source Material:

http://www.honolulu.gov/ecodev.html

http://dbedt.hawaii.gov/ – See links in Programs panel

Sample paper

Economic Development Programs

The most successful people or business organization in the world must have a detailed plan on what need to be done, who will do it and when it will be done and how it will be done. Having a clear plan of events and resources that need to be exploited means that community, a business organization or an individual has a sense of direction of his action. Moreover, planning ensures an individual is committed to his course of action to achieve already set goals and objectives. On the same note, individuals and organizations need to have an economic plan on how to spend their scarce economic resources to achieve greater satisfaction. Economic planning comprises of allocating resources that vary contrasted with the indirect allocation mechanism of the market. All economic plans are aimed at making a country’s economy or the economic background of the involved community improve in a significant way (Boserup, 2007). An economic planner will always find the best way of using the available cash, labor and other resources in order to deliver desirable results. Economic development programs show the efforts by an economic planner or a leader that attempt to improve and boost the economic well-being of his community. This paper examines examples of economic activities in a community, particularly in Honolulu.

Question 1

Describe the types of economic development programs that are being conducted in your community

The office of the mayor of Honolulu has a department or a docket that mainly focuses on the economic development of the surrounding community. This mayor’s office of economic development has the duties and responsibilities for improving tourism and hospitality in the region, boosting the agricultural activities, advancements in the film industry and the general development and advancement of the economic status of all other industries in the region. The mission of the office is to work with all willing stakeholders to improve the quality of life of the people of Honolulu (M., 2013). Below are some of the economic development programs initiated by the mayor’s office of development.

  1. Small business development and community revitalization – the mayor’s office of economic development are significantly supporting the growth and development of business organizations in the entire area of Oahu both existing and emerging industries. By supporting both the existing and emerging industry, the office of the mayor is giving fair and square opportunities to all players in the market to compete for the available market which in turn positively contributes to the economic development of the area. Moreover, the office is actively involved in the efforts to revitalize Chinatown per the City’s transit-Oriented Development Chinatown Action Plan.
  2. Agricultural programs – the mayor’s office of economic development enables the entire city to take advantage of the agricultural funding in the form of grants and loans from both the federal and state agencies as well as the governments. Moreover, the office is able to collaborate with the state on issues of mutual concern that will help improve the economic status of the people in Oahu and the whole country in general. In addition, the office works with other city departments on agricultural changes that will help improve the agricultural status of the city as well as focus on a reasoned approach to preservation and use of agricultural spaces and terrain.
  3. International relations and sister city program – considering that Honolulu uniquely rich culturally, socially and economically due to its diversity, international relations plays a paramount role in enhancing its economic status. The office of the mayor on economic development plays a vital role in enhancing international relations by responding to more than 50 international communications and coordinating seven international courtesy call on average every month(Carr, 2008). This attracts more and more foreign personalities who bring with them new ideas and economic developers. On the same note, Honolulu’s sister city program has worked effectively by establishing more than 32 sister city programs. These programs help in the renewal of business contract and attracting international students.
  4. Hawaii Tourism Authority’s County Product Enrichment Program – the mayor’s office of economic development programs is the sole administrator of the Hawaii tourism authority county product enrichment program that provides grants to different Oahu organizations on an annual basis. Through this program and grants, a community-based organization can improve their existing community-based tourism events while at the same time bringing new ideas and events in their programs. In addition, this program helps to improve experiences, attractions and agricultural programs, cultural and education programs as well as health wellness and nature of technology.

Question 2

Analyze the actors involved in the economic development programs.

No one single program that can be successfully implemented and exploited without the help of various players in the market. These actors in various development programs are widely referred to as stakeholders.  All stakeholders have an interest concerning various programs in various industries. Stakeholders can either positively or negatively affect or can be affected by the course of action to achieve various economic objectives or the results of an economic development project and program (Carr, 2008). Some of the actors in the above mentioned economic programs include:

  1. The mayor office – as we have seen in the various economic programs adopted by the city of Oahu, the office of the mayor has the duty to administer and oversight over all the activities and a course of action undertaken to ensure the programs achieve their intended objectives and goals.
  2. The state government and agencies – in most instances, the state government is known to formulate and implement regulatory laws that attempt to keep in check actions and activities of various programs. Moreover, the state government and agencies offer grants and loans to various agencies to fulfill their economic objectives.
  3. International bodies and governments – since the city of Oahu has International relations and sister city program, it will regularly interact with the international community who are part and parcel of the individuals and organizations who contribute to the success of these economic development programs(M., 2013).
  4. Federal government and agencies – just like the state government, the federal governments to some extent make and forms regulatory laws that are meant to keep in check all the activities and actions of the leaders of these programs. Moreover, these governments actively contribute to these programs through the provision of loans and grants.
  5. The common citizen – the common citizen of Hawaii and Oahu cities, are the most important actors of these economic programs considering that they are the beneficiaries of the programs. Moreover, they actively contribute to the success of these programs by providing both skilled and unskilled labor that is widely needed for the successful completion of any products. On the same note, they are the one to determine the success or the failure of an economic program since they have to experience the change in their economic status.

Question 3

Explain the short-term and long-term goals of the economic development programs.

Any program without predetermined goals and objectives is a lost course and may not be successful achieved due to inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in the operations (M., 2013). Below are some of the long term and short term objectives of economic development programs

  1. Employment and earning goal – most of the economic development programs are initiated to increase the employment rate of a city while at the same time boosting the earnings of the already existing businesses.
  2. The retention and expansion of existing businesses – economic programs are meant to further to increase the opportunities for the existing business programs by increasing the market in which they operate. All economic development programs are not meant to sabotage existing businesses(Carr, 2008).
  3. A diverse and sustainable economy – this is the long term objective of every economic development program of each country. Creating a diverse and sustainable economy ensures that the economy cannot be affected by the slow growth of any single sector in the host country.

Question 4

Assess the types of issues (i.e., political, economic) faced by the economic development programs.

It is the dream of any country to achieve diverse and sustainable economy, but this does not come easily. A country may face many challenges and issues to execute economic programs successfully (Boserup, 2007). Some of the challenges faced by countries, cities, and organizations on their road to success include:

  1. Lack of enough finances – lack of enough funds is the most common challenge to many economic programs. Most of the developing states have no enough to fund their programs, and they widely depend on loans and grants from lending bodies and international community.
  2. Lack of skilled labor – most of the economic programs adopted by most of the organization and countries requires skilled labor and special skills that might be hard to come by in the host country. As a result, they are forced to import skilled labor which is usually expensive thus hindering the proper execution of the program.
  3. Unfriendly political environment – some of the countries adopting and implementing economic development plans have a hostile political environment that is not conducive for economic growth(M., 2013).

In conclusion, we can say that proper execution and execution of appropriate economic development programs will lead to improvement of economic status. The authorities of each region should be on the first line to boost economic programs like in the case of Honolulu.

References

Boserup, E. &. (2007). Woman’s role in economic development. . Earthscan.

Carr, J. H. (2008). Vernacular culture and urban economic development: Thinking outside the (big) box. Journal of the American Planning Association, 75(1), , 28-40.

M., L. J. (2013). Contemporary urban planning (10th ed.). . Upper Saddle river NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall.