EDA Meeting Date: November 24, 2025
To: Members of the Economic Development Authority
From: Emery John, Program Associate
Title
Connecting Business and Community Presentation and Discussion.
Body
Action Requested:
N/A
Summary Report:
City staff and volunteers from the Chamber of Commerce, Friends of Downtown Northfield, and elected officials completed Step 1 of the Connecting Business and Community (CBC) Program, consisting of designing a Northfield specific interview guide, organizing volunteers, and conducting business interviews. The CBC program is a program put on by the University of MN Extension, which helps communities understand and respond to local business needs.
We interviewed 53 different Northfield organizations, including four of the five largest employers in the city, and submitted all interviews to Extension. The University of MN Extension noted we are the first city in five years to complete more than 25 interviews and are one of the highest performing in terms of interview completion in the past decade, and we met our goal of completing between 50 and 60 interviews.
Extension noted that Northfield’s data set can be described as a convenience sample, meaning while it is not scientifically representative of Northfield’s businesses, it is representative of respondents to the survey. They also noted that many CBC communities use a convenience sample, and that it does not diminish the importance of the data collected.
Extension staff then worked to tabulate the data. They hosted city staff representatives at their St. Paul campus for a Research Review meeting, where we discussed the data, analysis, and potential strategies. We then hosted a retreat for the EDA, members of the Friends of Downtown Northfield and the Chamber of Commerce, and other public officials, over the summer. That retreat identified priorities based on the completed analysis and reports.
The participants at the summer retreat prioritized five areas of interest:
- Industrial Park development
- Strategically considering Northfield transportation
- “All of the above” housing strategy
- Downtown public restrooms
- Understanding City finances
The strategies are being explored for implementation with high priority for industrial development in partnership with the EDA and housing with the HRA. The transportation advisory committee is working on those issues. Financial information will be coordinated through the City Administrator and Finance Director areas and the bathrooms are a staff driven intra-department collaborative. There will not be any formal “task forces” continuing to work on any specificially.
The City of Northfield CBC Program had seven initial objectives:
1. Demonstrate support for local businesses.
2. To identify growth opportunities for existing businesses.
3. To help solve immediate business concerns.
4. To understand concerns related to parking availability.
5. To increase local businesses’ ability to compete in the global economy.
6. To implement a strategic plan for economic development.
7. To build community capacity to sustain growth and development.
This presentation focuses on the last two, as the data and analysis provided by the University is too robust to completely digest in one meeting. As this EDA has planned on a strategic retreat in the coming months, it seems appropriate to focus in on building capacity with the group, and informing that priority setting.
Extension provided two main deliverables as a result of this partnership - the Research Report (the binder) and the Summary Report (the 10 page pdf.) I would highly recommend reading the summary report, if not the entire Research Report, for a holistic understanding of the process, priorities, and data, as it summarizes a substantial amount very succinctly. As a result, I am not going to delve into the data here - that is what Extension has done for us! That said, the below is a very impressive response to Northfield as a place to do business and to live - it highlights the overwhelming positive feelings our respondents have towards this city.
“Overall, participants in the Northfield CBC have a positive view of their community as a place to live and a place to do business, as shown in Figure 2. As a place to live, nearly 90% of respondents say Northfield is either excellent or above average. As a place to do business, nearly 85% of respondents say that Northfield is above average or excellent. The mean rating for Northfield is 4.26 out of 5.0 as a place to live and 4.16 as a place to do business. These values compare favorably to the average mean ratings for previous CBC communities of 4.1 and 3.8 respectively.” (Summary Report 7)
Alternative Options:
N/A
Financial Impacts:
N/A
Tentative Timelines:
EDA Retreat - TBD