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:
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