House commerce committee chair: Economic development must be locally driven

“With unemployment at an all-time high, we cannot continue to sit back and watch as fewer and fewer jobs become available,” Daley said. “We must be proactive in the search to explore how we can create and retain jobs at state and local levels.”

Ed Huttenhower, director of the St. Francis University Small Business Development Center (SBDC), offered testimony on how his center is working in communities alongside regional partners to facilitate entrepreneurship and small business growth -— proven many times over to drive job creation. For instance, Medical Transport Services, an emergency service provider in Tyrone, that started in November with the SBDC’s help, already has three full-time employees and retains another 25 temporary staff through a local agency.

The SBDC, one of 18 across Pennsylvania, provides consulting services to small businesses in Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset counties. The center has assisted thousands of businesses since 1979.

“There is nothing more satisfying than seeing businesses that started with SBDC assistance many years ago thriving today,” Huttenhower said. “Over the past 10 years, the Saint Francis SBDC has worked with 3,044 clients who have reported starting 261 businesses and creating or saving 3,689 jobs. These numbers are indicative of what occurs on a daily basis at all of the state’s SBDCs.”

Huttenhower reported that deep roots in the community enable the center’s success, naming regional and local economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, financial institutions and government agencies as key partners. Retracted state funding in recent years has considerably strained resources, resulting in diminished services. The statewide network sustained a 41 percent cut in state funding last year.

“The SBDC has demonstrated repeatedly that it is a valuable tool and partner in facilitating job creation and economic development,” Huttenhower said. “We’re invested in the communities we serve, but at a time when it is critical for businesses to be provided with the tools needed in challenging times, we are less able to act.”

Daley said he hopes that the hearings will lead to comprehensive strategies to address the state’s economic development and job creation problems. The second hearing in the series will be in held in Scranton in February. For more information, visit www.pahouse.com/daley.