ECD Launches Site Certification Program
Select Tennessee Markets Tennessee Sites Ready for Development
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced today that it is launching a new, statewide site certification program. The Select Tennessee Certified Sites Program helps Tennessee communities prepare available sites for investment and expansion. The program sets a consistent and rigorous standard upon which companies can rely in making critical location decisions.
“In our day-to-day work with site selection consultants and corporate officials, we hear over and over again the importance of demonstrating our readiness for new business investment and expansion,” ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty said. “The Select Tennessee Certified Sites Program provides a roadmap to ready sites for potential investment. This program is an innovative new way to take Tennessee to the apex of site locations and show the world that Tennessee is ready for business.”
The program acknowledges that companies looking to expand or relocate their operations often eliminate less prepared sites and addresses this issue by ensuring sites meet a specific standard. A hallmark of the program is ensuring that Tennessee sites are ready for development, whether through marketing those ready for a prospect or providing guidance for uncertified cites to achieve a higher level of preparedness.
ECD has partnered with Austin Consulting and The Foote Consulting Group to develop and administer the program.
“We’ve consulted a number of professionals and end users in the development of this program,” Kingsley Brock, ECD assistant commissioner of business development, said. “Utilizing site selection consultant firms provides communities invaluable insight as they prepare to compete with sites in other states for business. The response from Tennessee’s communities has been positive and a number of communities have expressed interest in applying for certification.”
ECD has launched a new website for the program, www.SelectTennessee.com. The website’s purpose is two-fold: to provide a roadmap for communities to certify existing sites and to later market certified sites to companies and site selection consultants. As the program kicks off, the website primarily offers information on applying to become a certified site, answering frequently asked questions and contact information. In the coming months, additional information for site selectors and companies looking to do business in Tennessee will be added.
Austin Consulting will host a webinar to kick off the program on Thursday, June 21. For information on how to participate in the webinar, visit www.SelectTennessee.com or email Select.Tennessee@tn.gov.
About the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s mission is to develop strategies which help make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs. The department seeks to attract new corporate investment in Tennessee and works with Tennessee companies to facilitate expansion and economic growth. To find out more, go to www.tn.gov/ecd. Follow us on Twitter: @tnecd. Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/tnecd.
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Media Contact: Valerie Somerville, ECD
Office: (615) 532-1925
Email: Valerie.somerville@tn.gov