Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE)

About the Program

Category: Community and Economic Development (Best in Category)

Year: 2013

When Mayor Mark Luttrell, Jr. of Shelby County and Mayor A C Wharton, Jr. of the City of Memphis in Tennessee first came into their respective offices, one of the very first objectives was to create a new and improved approach to economic development and a single vision for shaping our region’s economic destiny. They envisioned a new public-sector economic development organization that would combine the roles and responsibilities of the many different organizations that were currently being utilized all into one single entity called Economic Development Growth Engine or EDGE. It was designed to create a unified structure for public or “quasi-public” organizations and programs engaged in industrial and commercial growth. EDGE allows small and minority owned businesses a central focal point to access needed resources for establishing, expanding, and retaining business here in Shelby County. EDGE affords larger corporations and more streamlined processes for relocating to Shelby County, which will in turn offer citizens additional employment opportunities. Because EDGE combines disparate, disconnected economic development organizations and programs under a single, new authority, it removes processes from government’s burdensome bureaucracy, allowing EDGE to adapt best practices from both the public and private sector while saving on government expenses.