BOONE, Iowa—The City of Boone has been honored with a BEST of Iowa Excellence Award for its efforts gathering information and data about current business trends in Iowa.
Business Expansion and Strategic Trends (BEST) of Iowa is a unique collaboration of local economic development groups working with Iowa’s utilities and the Iowa Economic Development Authority. The group’s mission is to meet with Iowa companies to identify local economic trends, business needs and opportunities.
2021 BEST of Iowa identified trends that include workforce challenges and supply issues from interviews with more than 1,065 companies in 66 counties.
“Getting firsthand feedback from businesses across our state is critical to making sure we’re setting the stage for economic success,” said Drew Conrad, director of the Institute for Decision Making at University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls. “We hope that this information will help leaders pinpoint how to best support the hardworking people of Iowa.”
“The City of Boone is honored to receive this award, along with the other Communities,” says William Skare, Administrator for the City of Boone. “Mayor Slight and the City Council understand how important our current businesses are to the economic vitality of our city. They deeply appreciate their commitment to our community and work hard to support them. Our relationship with Ames Economic Development Commission has proven to be effective in continuing our economic development progress.”
The BEST of Iowa Award honors communities that went above and beyond throughout the data gathering process. In addition to Boone Economic Development, three other communities were honored with the award — Iowa City Area Development, Mahaska Chamber and Economic Development and Urbandale Economic Development.
(contributed article, Ames Chamber, Ames Economic Development)
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