The 21st Century Partnership works to preserve “the military presence of Robins Air Force Base, while helping Middle Georgia communities prepare to avert potential efforts to marginalize the missions of the base^[1]” by following the B.A.S.E. approach:

• Bridge…the gap between Robins AFB and the community, while connecting people.
• Advance…creative solutions in innovation and technology. Building capability for the future.
• Support…schools in STEM, primarily Robotics, to build the workforce of the future for Robins AFB.
• Engage…with local, state, and federal legislators, officials, and Department of Defense.

The Sustainable Ozarks Partnership has the following strategic goals[2]

• Gain positive recognition for the region by achieving state and national recognition for the region as an excellent place for people to live, work, and play and for businesses to prosper.
• Strengthen the region by being a catalyst for positive change for citizens, businesses, and governments throughout the region to improve the quality of life, and grow a diverse, sustainable and resilient economy.
• Strengthen Fort Leonard Wood by ensuring that it continues to be an enduring installation, with opportunities to grow with expanding or new missions.
• Ensure the viability of the SOP by improving our efficiency and operational effectiveness so it can successfully support the region and Fort Leonard Wood

The Montgomery Chamber’s Military Affairs team focuses on the protection and growth of the Montgomery-River Region’s military installations and missions. The Chamber’s Military Affairs priorities include[3]:

• Infrastructure and capacity– advocates for legislative support and funding
• Military Spouse Employment/Workforce development– develop innovative opportunities for spousal employment, reciprocity of professional licenses between the states for military spouses, and to develop better connections to jobs for those who transition out of the military.
• Education– focuses on improving the quality of education available to all families.
• Affordable Housing/Quality of life– to identifying and promoting innovative solutions to provide these services and to make service members feel welcomed and valued.
• Entrepreneurship– to grow Montgomery’s innovation ecosystem through entrepreneurial education, business incubation and acceleration.

[1] 21^st Century Partnership (2024) Our Team https://www.21stcenturypartnership.com/pages/our-team

[2] Sustainable Ozarks Partnership (2019) About Us https://sustainableozarks.org/about-us/

[3] Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce (2024) Montgomery Chamber’s Military Affairs Priorities https://www.montgomerychamber.com/militaryaffairspriorties

Measuring the societal results of a team of teams’ effort can be challenging.  Causality, credit, and quantification all create challenges.  The old economic development adage of “shoot anything that flies; claim anything that falls[1]” is no longer acceptable.  On the one hand, stakeholders and investors in the DCO want to see a return on their investment.  This measurement of ROI is an area that all the DCOs interviewed would like to better understand.

As a default, the DCOs tended to measure outputs rather than outcomes. They tended to measure work projects completed, activities, and satisfaction surveys.  They used implementation matrixes.  The focus is on what they can control.

• Outputs: These are the activities that the DCO directly controls such as programs, events, and meetings.
• Outcomes: Are the societal impact or result of what the DCO does such as millions of dollars spent in the community, improved public schools, new missions.

Be a Storyteller

All the best practice DCOs spread the word on collective accomplishments. New missions, economic impacts, and success stories help strengthen the base community internally and externally.  DCOs need to continually market the community and the base to the network.

Keys to Success:

• Establish goals and conduct planning to set direction and build engagement.
• Establish performance metrics and evaluations to the extent that stakeholders positively view their ROI.
• Realize that measuring ROI is challenging and that learning from other DCOs how they measure results can help.

[1] Rubin, H. J. (1988). Shoot anything that flies; claim anything that falls: Conversations with economic development practitioners. Economic Development Quarterly, 2(3), 236-251.