Local Community Resources

Recruiting business and industry is an art and a science. It takes hard work, but pays enormous dividends. Sadly, many communities leave new jobs, and the prosperity they bring, on the table by not maximizing their potential.

Attracting new jobs takes broad, cohesive leadership; a plan; community and infrastructure services; and selling yourself.

Alabama Power is poised to use our 95 years of economic development experience to help you attain success. But it takes commitment and patience. It also takes the realization that 75 percent of all new jobs come from the expansion of existing businesses and industries. While landing a new company makes the headlines and the 6 o'clock news, the bread and butter of new job growth is in your own backyard.

Let’s take a quick look at the 4 elements

  • Strong leadership from a broad cross-section is essential to pulling the community together and providing motivation and encouragement through the ups and downs of the process. Leaders will be called on to push forward and rally the troops through challenges and set backs. Leaders must also use various ways to keep the public informed.
  • An honest evaluation must be made of community strengths and weaknesses. But it also requires thinking through what types of business and industry you want to attract or expand, and those the community would be willing to invest time and money in pursuing. You must be honest with yourself about what business and industry you want to live with day in and day out.
  • A well-defined action plan, or strategy, is essential to know what you want for your community. First and foremost, this involves creating a vision to decide where the community wants to be five, 10 or 30 years from now.
  • Services include infrastructure such as industrial parks, sewer and roads. But it also includes civic services such as schools, hospitals, shopping centers and recreational and cultural facilities. Communities at this point must consider investing or seeking financial resources to make necessary services a reality.
  • Marketing involves selling your community to site selection personnel and other professionals whose job it is to find the best place for their factory, business or expansion. This is done through a coordinated, on going effort bolstered by professional advice, which Alabama Power is glad to provide. Internally, marketing also involves continuously selling the effort to citizens in the community, through civic club speeches, newspaper articles and other avenues.

Alabama Power stands ready to assist in this very worthwhile effort.

Call us at 1-800-718-2726 or send us an e-mail today to start learn more about amazing Alabama.