Oklahoma Professional Economic Development Council honors five

October 28, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Professional Economic Development Council (OEDC) today announced the winners of its 2008 Economic and Workforce Development best practices at a special luncheon as part of this year’s Economic & Workforce Development Summit. Those recognized were Ponca City Development Authority, Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce, Texoma (Texas/Oklahoma) Regional Consortium, Ardmore Development Authority and Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

OEDC recognizes the importance of workforce development, attraction and retention and has initiated this program to recognize exceptional contributions by communities and regions that have implemented successful workforce initiatives. The project’s purpose is to identify and share best practices in developing a workforce to meet current and future employer needs.

Honorees were judged on four criteria: innovativeness in identifying and solving workforce development issues; transferability of the program to other development organizations for similar opportunities or solutions; community commitment and partnership involvement to leverage resources; and measured objectives and impact that are sustainable.

"Our first-year honorees have set the standard for the results Oklahoma communities can achieve when they work together and pool their resources to establish a stronger and sustained workforce," said Janet Smith, Chair of the Recognition Program. "We could not have selected a better inaugural group and are proud of the contributions these organizations have made to their communities and to the state."

OEDC prides itself on being "The Economic Development Resource for Oklahoma" and was formed to provide technical expertise to governmental and private groups in order to achieve goals that support economic growth and development in Oklahoma. OEDC provides a growing spectrum of support services in Oklahoma to industry leaders, professional economic developers and local governments who need a resource for managing their own local economic initiatives.