Dr. Perry Wood, Executive Director of the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, joins us to talk about the Ignite Erie initiative, grant funding and its impact on the community, along with the initial creation of the Beehive Network.
Sponsored by: Erie Regional Chamber & Growth Partnership
Music: Kevin Macleod’s "pamgaea" available via Creative Commons Attribution-International 4.0. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, No changes were made.
Music by audionautix.com. Audionautix's "Roboskater" by Jason Shaw available via Creative Commons Attribution-International 4.0. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, No changes were made.
Transcript
PERRY WOOD: The idea of having an innovation space on every campus can be intimidating to some entrepreneurs. But the way you all have worked together and to institutionalize it, I think it makes it accessible in a way that it was never before in the past.
NARRATOR: That's Perry Wood, Executive Director of the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, better known as ECGRA. He's the latest guest on Buzz Generated, a show that introduces listeners to businesses and business leaders that collaborate with the Northwest Pennsylvania Innovation Beehive Network. Join Tony Peyronel, Executive Director of Edinboro University's Center for Branding and Strategic Communication, as he sits down with our guest for an illuminating conversation. And while the talk hits on several topics, the importance of ECGRA takes center stage, as Wood helps explain the role the organization took in the initial formation of the Beehive Network. By the end, we'll discover what the buzz is all about.
TONY PEYRONEL: We're joined on the podcast today by Perry Wood, Executive Director of the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority — better known by its five-letter acronym, ECGRA — invest in Erie County to empower non-profits and small businesses toward economic and community development. Perry, it's a pleasure to have you on the show and welcome.
PERRY WOOD: Tony, thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
TONY PEYRONEL: The idea of creating an organization that assesses and then funds community needs, I think, is an amazing concept. Can you begin by explaining exactly how ECGRA came about?
PERRY WOOD: Sure. So gaming, or gambling, legalized gambling, is not that old in the state of Pennsylvania. It was legalized by the state of Pennsylvania in late 2005. Erie County got Presque Isle Downs Casino in 2007.
Shortly afterwards, the concept of local share gaming revenue, which is an innovative piece of policy that the legislature put in place, basically says 1% of the revenues from the slots machines will come back to Erie County and will be used-- half will go to Erie County government. The other half will go to a group like ECGRA for economic and community development purposes. So, in essence, we're created because the legislature had that type of foresight in long-term thinking to say, let's make sure this money, while offsets things at the state level, also goes back to benefit the local level.
TONY PEYRONEL: That's an interesting story and a relatively short history, as you pointed out. I guess my obvious follow-up is to ask how then you personally became involved in the leadership of ECGRA.
PERRY WOOD: Sure. So ECGRA starts in 2008. It's kind of an interesting story, like you said, and there hadn't been other organizations like this formed before in the past. You can imagine throwing a pot of money into the room and seeing how folks react.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right.
PERRY WOOD: There were a lot of opinions. And there were a lot of conflicts early on. There were a lot of lawsuits about how this would function. Several directors later, 2011, I was hired, and that was my first role was to end the lawsuits and put together a framework that basically created a level of objectivity to the process.
So we went through a strategic plan with the Board. We referenced a lot of studies that had been done on where the funds ought to go. There were studies about regional asset district concepts. The county council had had a report.
Every organization in town had chimed in, and we tried to create a framework that provided comprehensive community support and grant programs. That was the next natural outgrowth. How do we create some grant programs so we can compare apples to apples?
TONY PEYRONEL: Now the Ignite Erie initiative is really central to what ECGRA is all about. And I'm wondering what motivated its formation and how did the Northwest PA Innovation Beehive Network spring from that.
PERRY WOOD: Sure. So Ignite Erie is a kind of multifaceted approach to supporting small business in the region. It really began with us putting money into small business revolving loan funds, and we branched out into helping technology companies start up and grow. One of the fascinating things that happened during this time was that the universities came together and said, you know, we should be playing a more coordinated role of serving the region's economic development needs.
You know, I've got to give the universities a lot of credit. For years, they have been working in economic development. Maybe they don't get the credit that they deserve. But it was in one-off projects. You know, they would get involved here and there.
The idea behind the Ignite Erie grant to the universities was, how do you create a sustainable long-term concept in which the universities collaborate, do what they do best, help small business, help entrepreneurs, help industry to grow. And we realized we couldn't be prescriptive. We needed to be supportive.
So the initial grant was to get the universities so they could come together and organize and try things, try out different concepts. And many concepts were tried. The Quickstarter concept was tried. The innovation teams, various internship concepts, but they were low leverage or low yield.
And at the end of the day, the one true innovative thing that came out of that process, which you're seeing flourish here today, is the Beehives. So I've got to give universities full credit for the Beehives. They came up with the concept.
They drove it. They tailored it to their specific strengths. Gentlemen like you here at Edinboro clearly saw that branding strategic communications was the edge that Edinboro had to help small business owners, and you ran with it. And the proposals that came in next were funded by the organization, which was a really exciting step for us.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right, right. I've heard the Beehive Network actually referred to as your baby. That might be a bit of an overstatement. But you without a doubt--
PERRY WOOD: Agreed, it's an overstatement.
TONY PEYRONEL: But without a doubt, you were considered one of the driving forces behind the concept. I guess that puts you in a unique perspective to assess its performance, and you've touched on that a little bit in your last answer. But are you happy with the way things have gone so far? And what, in your mind, have been some of the biggest accomplishments and/or challenges?
PERRY WOOD: You know, short answer, yes, we're happy. The role of ECGRA is to empower others. I mean, we have a big pot of money. But it's worthless unless we can actually do something with it as a community.
So we look for partners in the community that have vision, that have drive, and that can implement projects tactically to make a difference on any number of problem areas. The areas supporting entrepreneurs and industry in our region is clearly the niche that the Beehives have come up with. When you try to evaluate a project like this, it's really interesting.
We can collect a lot of data to summarize what's happened, and we have done that. There have been many entrepreneurs that have been helped, and there's a report forthcoming on that. But the more valuable thing we can do is, from a formative perspective, is to help you improve, to help you to build capacity, to be an outside observer that can come in as a third party and say, have you tried the following things to improve upon the system. And even more important-- and the term "ecosystem" gets thrown around a lot--
TONY PEYRONEL: Sure.
PERRY WOOD: Because there are a lot of people with strengths that can come to the table. So the more important thing is, how have you integrated with the rest of the ecosystem in making sure that you're a part of what I like to call Team Erie County.
TONY PEYRONEL: I'm wondering if you personally encourage business start-ups and nonprofits to tap into the network's resources.
PERRY WOOD: All the time. Folks will call us who are starting a business and say, hey, are there grants available to start a business. And the first thing to do is to enter the system somehow. And what I like about the Beehives is that there is no one entry system. I mean, you can get involved from any university. You can get involved from the Blasco Library. You can get involved from the SBDC.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right.
PERRY WOOD: You can get involved from Bridgeway Capital, any of the groups that are involved in supporting small business, because everyone's rowing in the same direction. They all want to help that entrepreneur. I've never seen a group of people that are less concerned about credit and more concerned about helping that entrepreneur succeed at the end of the day.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right. And that —
PERRY WOOD: So I encourage them all the time to get involved.
TONY PEYRONEL: And that can be somewhat rare. I mean, and I do agree, I think that collaboration, as you pointed out, between the universities, I think people see that as unique, even from ECGRA informal referrals from one site to the other. And it seems like there's-- you know, I think you would agree-- kind of a positive wave in the Erie region of some capable people working together to accomplish some good things.
PERRY WOOD: You know, I couldn't agree more. I mean, it's just an exciting time to be in Erie County because so many people want to make a difference and are getting involved. And what's really important from a-- we call it-- at ECGRA, we call it complex community coalitions. I mean, that's when people with--
TONY PEYRONEL: There's a term.
PERRY WOOD: Various interests have come together to do things that are not easy. And collaboration and trust are central to those issues. Oftentimes, they have competing business interests, whether they be from the private sector or from the civic sector or a university or a hospital. And what we've seen is when you put the right kind of landscape in play and encourage collaboration, people are really good at it. They rise to the occasion.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right, right.
NARRATOR: This episode of Buzz Generated is sponsored by the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, the voice of the business community in the Erie region. The chamber provides advocacy and access to people, education, and information so that businesses have the leadership, resources, and expertise needed for continued prosperity throughout the region. Schedule a time to meet with the business action team and learn more about how the chamber can help.
Or visit the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership online at www.eriepa.com. The growth of our vibrant community in Erie, PA, depends on a dynamic business environment. The Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership aims to provide just that.
TONY PEYRONEL: I'd like to swing back to the concept of pulling funding and then distributing it toward worthy initiatives, as well as your personal role in doing that. And in this case, I'm thinking back to the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnerships after-hours last December in Gannon Center for Business Ingenuity. I mean, what a setting. All those people were jammed in there.
The place is all decorated up for the holidays. It's visible through the large windows on State Street. You come in, and you announce a new round of Beehive funding. And I can remember personally, me comparing you analogous to Santa coming in with a big bag of gifts. But, seriously, I'm wondering if you do at times find it to be a challenge to know that sometimes people view you that way, both in terms of influence and responsibility.
PERRY WOOD: Well, that's a first. I've never been referred to as Santa Claus, maybe by my kids. That would be the one exception. Honestly, it's an honor, and it's a privilege to have the role that I have. And I remind myself of it every day and try to stay humble about it.
What I like to do, though, as an exercise with the Board, is remind everybody that we're here to empower others. And the way we do that is we start with what are the community's plans? The community has made so many plans over the years-- great plans. And the worst thing they can do is sit on the shelf because of the amount of time and the public input that goes into it. That is always our first step in deciding what direction to take.
The second step is to look at benchmarking. Other communities are doing great things, too. We have a lot to learn from them.
So there is a level to which we're studying ourselves. There's a level to which we're studying others. And then the unique role that ECGRA plays in the third step, where the Board really gets involved with the staff, is to design guidelines.
So we might decide, in the case of the Beehives, it was, look at innovation. Look at the public plans around supporting entrepreneurship, engaging the universities, having them be a part of some type of industrial and entrepreneurial process, looking at other communities. Have other communities done innovation space? Absolutely. Not as well as we have done it here, there's some great innovation.
And the third step is always, bring it to the Board. Put it in the form of paper guidelines. Debate the paper guidelines. Assign an amount of money that makes sense in order for them to effectively accomplish their goals.
And that is often where we fall short as a community. We underinvest in things. And I've got to give this Board full credit for saying, if this is an important concept, we're going to put — in this case, as you mentioned — in December, we put $1 million behind the concept.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right.
PERRY WOOD: It's a lot of money.
TONY PEYRONEL: Yeah. The $200,000 divided five ways, I mean, that's what I mean. You were-- the announcement you were making had significance attached to it, for sure.
PERRY WOOD: You know, a councilman just said to me the other day, he's, like, I really get what you're doing now. You're the driver of positivity. You're making people understand that things can get done, and there's a sense of hope. And then you're measuring it and making sure that there are actual results from it. I think that he summarized it perfectly.
TONY PEYRONEL: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Obviously, investing in Erie County is a big part of your job, as you've just explained. But at least indirectly, I think you're also a salesperson for Erie County. And I'm wondering what you think are the biggest selling points for the Erie region, being both a great place to live and a great place to work.
PERRY WOOD: That's a great question. I think about that all the time. You know, it's a small big community in many ways. It is a community that has an appreciation for what we have here, the resources that we have. I think it's a great place to raise a family.
I mean, Erie is one of those Rust Belt cities that are on the rise. You know, I used to not use that term. I used to be upset when folks would use that term. But the truth is I've embraced it.
I mean, it is part of our heritage. And in the grand scheme of things, it's a small bump in the road. I mean, the decline of the Rust Belt, you know, from a manufacturing standpoint also coincides with our reinvention as an advanced manufacturing economy, which I've written about through the Jefferson Educational Society essay process.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right.
PERRY WOOD: And that, in other words, is the idea that technology is going to be a big part of what reinvigorates us as an economy. And you look at what we're doing right here at Edinboro. I mean, the technology that's involved in the digital arts program and so on, these are strong factors in reinvigorating who we are.
And a lot of it's entrepreneurial, at the end of the day. It's not the old-fashioned kind of workforce. We're reinventing that.
TONY PEYRONEL: Right. It's interesting. When you mention the Rust Belt label, you think back sometime at some negative national media coverage that came, and the hand-wringing and the complaining and the anger that came out of that. But much more recently, I think as you touched on earlier in our conversation, now there's national media coverage looking at Erie as a city and Erie as a county and northwest Pennsylvania as a region, as a model for overcoming some of those challenges through creativity, through collaboration, through innovation.
PERRY WOOD: Absolutely, a model on many levels, too. I mean, David Ignatius talked about the Beehives in his column in the Washington Post. And that's no minor thing.
TONY PEYRONEL: No, not at all.
PERRY WOOD: Brookings have blogged about what we've done with STEM and other kind of knowledge worker investments, including the Ignite Erie stuff. The opportunity zones have been recognized. The EDDC has been recognized, downtown revitalization, real estate investment.
Just recently, I presented at a conference of business innovation associations. We were talking about how you really create a program that creates inclusivity. And I was talking specifically about the minority business revolving loan funds and the Accelerator programs that went along with that.
So we've absolutely embraced the Bruce "Katz-esque" approach that, look, the federal government's not coming to save us. State government is not that much better off. We really have to do it on our own. And I think that's what's great about ECGRA is it's this local pot of money. It's not a lot of money, but it's enough to get initiatives going and for us to get our arms around problems and do something about it.
TONY PEYRONEL: Is there anything else that you would like to share with our listeners?
PERRY WOOD: I think the universities deserve a lot of credit for what they're doing and what they're going to continue to do with these Beehives. The idea of having innovation space on every campus can be intimidating to some entrepreneurs. But the way you all have worked together to institutionalize it, I think it makes it accessible in a way that it was never before in the past.
And then getting students involved, that level of creativity, the students, the faculty, and the administration that have rallied around these entrepreneurs, it's really a cool concept to sit back and watch. I can't wait to see the results come forward. And we're going to be promoting them because that's a piece of the good news that we need to share with everyone.
NARRATOR: You've been listening to Buzz Generated. This podcast was released through Edinboro University's Center for Branding and Strategic Communication. It's produced by Keith Hepler, Britton Rozzelle, and Chris Lantinen.
Thank you to our guest for their insight and to you, our listeners, for taking the time to experience innovation alongside us. Consider subscribing if you like this episode to get more as soon as they drop. And if you really enjoyed it, jump over to Apple Podcasts for a five-star review. Thank you for listening.
