How Economic Development Affects Your Daily Life

Job creation, better roads, excellent schools, a healthy local economy. The Junction City-Geary County Economic Development Commission was designed to support the vitality of the community. But did you ever wonder how we do it?

As we celebrate National Economic Development Week (May 11-17), we thought it’d be a great time to talk about what economic development is, what we do, and how it impacts your daily life in Junction City-Geary County.

Our Mission

So, what is economic development, exactly?

Economic development is an effort to improve the economic well-being and quality of life in a community.

As an economic development office, our mission is to promote the development of the community through the attraction and retention of industry and business by providing the necessary resources that will enable local growth in investments, jobs, infrastructure and education. 

How We Do It 

Having a skilled pool of workers is appealing to any business owner, but the vitality of our community is also dependent on the availability of quality jobs. That’s why Geary County has positioned itself as a leader in workforce development.

We were the fourth county in Kansas to initiate and then achieve certification as an ACT Work Ready Community which demonstrates our commitment to collaborating with local government, educational institutions and business to create a competitive workforce that will meet the needs of our local businesses and industry. This includes over 2,500 highly skilled workers who are annually transitioning out of military service at nearby Fort Riley into private sector employment.

Local employers and their employees also have access to an innovative and dynamic public school system which includes our new, state-of-the-art, $130 million Junction City High School building as well as higher education opportunities from Kansas State University, Manhattan Area Technical College, Cloud County Community College, and more.

All this translates into a higher quality of life for our residents, which becomes a huge incentive for them to stay here. 

Investing in the Future

You’re probably been to places where the roads are covered with potholes and poorly maintained with subpar access to major highways or interstates. Not only do those roads look bad, but they also present a safety hazard to residents, travelers and commuters as well as businesses who rely heavily on truck transportation for getting their products from here to there.

It’s why we’ve partnered with the county to implement a massive investment in our local infrastructure by quadrupling the amount of money put into the maintenance of our roads.

Plus, having interstate access, multiple interchanges, rail access, an abundance of land, and a second-to-none workforce has given our Heart of the Nation location an edge when it comes to attracting a wide spectrum of new businesses and industry to Geary County, including:

• Transportation/warehouse/distribution
• Robotics/automation/technology
• Ag and bio-based products
• Military/defense/unmanned aviation systems

Other upgrades to the area include improvements to our water and wastewater plants and the installation of fiber optic internet to meet the growing technological needs of our businesses and residents.

Supporting Local Business 

But while attracting new industry is one of our goals, we also want to support smaller, locally owned businesses.

This includes:

• Revolving loan funds 
• Property tax exemptions
• Training funds
• State and local tax incentives 
• Job creation tax credits
• The Veteran EPiC (Entrepreneur Pitch Challenge), which was specifically created for veterans and active-duty members of the military who are looking to launch their business venture.  
• Sales tax exemptions… and more!

From small business consulting to low-interest, community based financing options, we encourage all of our local business owners to check out our list of resources by clicking here.

Although National Economic Development Week is celebrated in May, making Junction-City Geary County a better place to live, work, and play is something the JC-GCEDC focuses on every day. Contact us to discover more about the services we offer and how we can help your business begin, grow and succeed!