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Research
Feasibility
and Pre-feasibility Studies
Northern
Community
Investment
Corporation
Call
Center.
January
- May 1998. YWA worked with the Northern Community
Investment Corporation and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund to identify
opportunities for establishing a telecommunications call center employing
welfare-to-work individuals in Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.
YWA assessed the market demand for call center services, sampling a
core group of Vermont-based direct market firms, chambers of commerce,
colleges, banks, cable television firms, real estate firms, financial
service providers and insurance firms.
The project resulted in preliminary estimates of the capital
investment needed for start-up, and operating costs for the call center.
Contact Paul
Denton,
Northern
Community
Investment
Corporation,
347 Portland
Street, PO Box
904, St.
Johnsbury, VT
05819, (802)
748-5101.
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As
you know we wanted to pick up on your work to do the business plan
ourselves because of limited budget. We
were able to do this without much back-and-forth between us because of the
clarity and sharp focus of your study.
It was a pleasure working with you. -Paul
Denton, Northern Community Investment Corporation |
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Strategic
Planning
Wood Products Development Strategy for
Northern
New York.
June
1990 - April
1991.
On behalf of the Adirondack North Country
Association, YWA prepared a detailed primary and secondary wood product
development strategy for six counties in northern
New York. Work
included extensive field and phone interviews with wood products
manufacturers within and outside the region, focused literature review,
industry analysis and bench marking to uncover the key characteristics of
successful wood products firms in specific markets. Contact
Terry Martino,
Adirondack
North Country
Association,
28 St. Bernard
Street,
Saranac Lake,
NY 12983,
(518)
891-6200.
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This
is the best strategy of its kind I have seen. -
Dennis Allee, Senior Deputy Commissioner, New York State Department of Economic
Development
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Evaluation
Integrated
Service Delivery for Secondary Wood Processors.
July
1995 - May 1996. YWA worked with
the Maine State Rural Development Council to evaluate a program providing
integrated service to secondary wood processors in five areas of the
state. The work involved
literature review, on-site interviews, focus groups, analysis, and
recommendations for improvement.
Contact Bob Ho,
Maine Rural
Development
Council, 104 Libby
Hall, Orono, ME
04669, (207)
581-3192.
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I’m
very pleased with the quality, and detail in this report.
It should get wide distribution, and a permanent place in the literature.
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Jim Connors,
Maine
State Planning Office
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Best
Practice Case Studies
Moriah
Neighborhood Based Alliance
and Economic Development Zone. May - July 1995. YWA worked with the Neighborhood Based
Alliance and the Economic Development Zone in
Moriah, New York
to provide assistance in community
economic development. Tasks
included a survey of retail spending by high school and resident
consumers, and business practices of local businesses. The study included
analysis of best practices in elementary education for healthy life
styles, use of public access television to improve dissemination of
information in the community, and waterfront revitalization for industrial
waterfronts.
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Your
understanding of the hurdles to be jumped, enthusiasm for determining the
best solutions, and ability to define workable strategies were enormously
helpful to us. Survey results
are well-thumbed and talked about; are and will be very useful to the
business community.
-
Marcy
Neville, Coordinator, Moriah Economic Development Zone
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Market
Studies
Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of
Commerce.
September
1995 - November
2003. YWA worked with the
Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce to identify seven key
sectors – Industry, Tourism, Real Estate, Cultural Affairs, Retail,
Financial and Professional Services, and International Border Businesses
– of Clinton County which are impacted economically by its proximity to,
and relationships with, Canada. YWA developed methods for primary data
collection to measure impacts in each sector and has conducted this study
every two years since 1994. The 2000 study saw the addition of the Health
Care Sector.
Contact Garry
Douglas, Executive
Director,
Plattsburgh and
North Country
Chamber of Commerce,
PO Box 310,
Plattsburgh, NY
12901, (518)
563-1000.
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The
[original] report has been nothing less than a clarion call to all public
and private decision makers ...and is sure to impact many future decisions
and policies. The [original]
report is already proving to be an effective marketing tool to Canadian
companies and investors. Thank you again for your diligent, considered,
informed and professional role in making this study such a quality,
credible product.
-Garry
Douglas, Executive Director, Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce
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Economic
and Fiscal Impact Analysis
Milton,
Vermont
Sewer Expansion. June
- August 1999. April – May
2000. Worked with
the Conservation Law
Foundation to help explain the
importance of
economic and fiscal
impact assessment in
relation to a
proposed sewer
expansion. Work included
substantial
attention to the
importance of
developing standards
of public service
for local
communities in areas
such as emergency
services,
recreation, police
protection, and
libraries as a
prerequisite for
meaningful fiscal
impact analysis. Existing
standards were
identified, where
they existed, and
opportunities for
developing relevant
standards
identified. Contact
Mark Sinclair or
Sandra Levine,
Conservation Law
Foundation, 15 East
State Street,
Montpelier, VT
05602-3010, (802)
223-5992.
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Yellow
Wood Associates provided excellent economic analysis and testimony that
was instrumental in winning Act 250 cases.
Their work is insightful, thorough and on-target.
They have an excellent understanding of economic and planning
issues and are prepared with the data to support their findings.
In the town of Milton
Act
250
proceeding, regarding a proposed sewer expansion, Ms. Ratner provided
testimony that convincingly critiqued the lack of any real analysis of
economic impacts provided by the Applicant.
The testimony was
clear and presented some very complicated
economic materials in a very understandable fashion.
-Sandy
Levine, Conservation Law
Foundation
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Survey
Design and Implementation
University
of
Minnesota
Extension Service.
February
2003 - February
2004. The Leadership and Civic
Engagement
Program of the University
of
Minnesota Extension Service
selected Yellow Wood Associates to work
with a team of extension professionals to create an interactive tool to
measure social capital in
Minnesota
communities. Social capital refers to
social networks and norms of reciprocity and trust that facilitate
cooperation for mutual benefit. Extension professionals hope to use the
tool to help community groups examine the links between social capital,
civic engagement, and vital communities, as well as to assess the
effectiveness of Extension’s work in building social capital. Contact
Donna Rae Scheffert,
State Program Leader
for Leadership and
Civic Engagement,
249 Classroom Office
Building, 1994
Buford Avenue, St.
Paul, MN 55108-6040,
(612) 625-3334.
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Spatial
Analysis/GIS
Vermont
Department of
Housing and
Community
Affairs.
September –
December,
2003.
Collected and
geo-referenced
data on the
socio-economic
characteristics
of the Towns
of Hartford, Norwich, and
Hartland,
Vermont
in relation to
three regional
planning
commission
districts to
assist the
Vermont Agency
of Commerce
and Community
Development in
determining
whether Hartford’s request
to change
districts
would result
in a
“logical
geographic and
coherent
socio-economic
planning
area.”
Product
included GIS
maps of
economic,
social and
geographic
data as well
as a detailed
written
report.
Contact: Peg
Elmer,
Planning
Director,
Vermont
Department of
Housing and
Community
Affairs,
National
Life
Building, Drawer 20,
Montpelier,
VT
05620-0501,
802-828-5220, peg.elmer@state.vt.us.
see
also
Lake Champlain Byways
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Policy
Analysis
Institutional
Arrangements Study. January
- November 1994. YWA provided
project management and conducted research on behalf of the Lake Champlain
Management Conference to recommend possible alternatives,
modifications
and/or enhancements to existing institutional and funding arrangements
that would enhance
the potential for long term
basin-wide management of Lake
Champlain.
Project participants included
Cornell
University
and The Conservation Law Foundation.
Contact Lee
Steppacher, Water
Management Division,
US Environmental
Protection Agency,
New England Region,
JFK Federal
Building, Boston, MA
02203, (617)
565-4874.
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The
extensive and detailed work that you have completed on
Institutional Arrangements for the Lake Champlain Basin has
provided the Lake Champlain Basin Program with a highly
professional product and detailed information for use in the
planning effort for Lake Champlain. Your
attention to detail, commitment to formulating workable
solutions to complex institutional issues and ability to
communicate your ideas in a concise format are greatly
appreciated.
-James E. Connolly, New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation |
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see
also Water Resources and the Town of Champlain
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Participatory
Research
Richford Wood
Initiative. 2001-2002.
With the help of
Yellow Wood
Associates, in the
guise of the
National Community
Forestry Center,
Northern Forest
Region, the town of
Richford, Vermont
embarked on a
participatory
research process to determine
a way to use the
wood products
industry as a
mechanism for
economic development
in the future to
provide local
jobs. By
the end of 2002, the
group decided to
focus its efforts on
creating a combined
heat and power (CHP)
plant for Richford.
see
also National Community Forestry Center, Northern Forest Region
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