News Story Published On 2/24/2006 in Idaho Statesman. The vibrant energy for action we have found among Idaho business and political leaders who are driving the Valley Initiative for Prosperity — the ViP — is sure to spur significant economic development and job creation for the Treasure Valley. The Boise Valley Economic Partnership is a fusion of the strengths of chambers of commerce, local governments, and energized Idaho companies that have formed the initiative. Leaders from throughout the region are assembling a $5 million fund to market the Treasure Valley as the best place in the country to grow an organization. The campaign's objective is to attract 25 new companies and grow others to create 5,000 targeted, primary jobs that pay 30 percent above the Idaho average. We will generate 6,000 secondary jobs as a result of the primary jobs created. We will also identify and assist 200 existing Treasure Valley companies that are poised for breakout growth. The result of the growth of this magnitude will result in more than $650 million in new capital investment. With the powerful commitment of leaders stepping forward to fund the effort to market the Valley as a headquarters or operational hub, this signature campaign will not be denied. Companies like mine, Washington Group International, are already out selling Idaho's capabilities to the uninitiated. But our sales teams are not enough. In recent years, Treasure Valley leaders have realized that other markets have been outperforming us. These competitor markets are capitalizing stronger marketing and recruitment efforts. We are being outworked, out-promoted, and out-funded by our competition. The Treasure Valley is being outspent on economic development by more than 300 percent by peer and competing communities such as Salt Lake City, El Paso, Reno-Sparks, and Colorado Springs. Per-capita personal income in the Treasure Valley trails the United States by 15 percent (2003). We need to work proactively now to ensure the kind of prosperity we want over the next 20 to 25 years. The resources we generate through the Valley Initiative for Prosperity will be the lifeblood of our campaign to turn the tables and outwork our competition. The Valley Initiative for Prosperity will succeed. ViP is a terrific opportunity for area business leaders to make an investment in the Treasure Valley that is going to bring returns in additional business, talent and entrepreneurial energy. Let's seize this opportunity by making an emphatic statement that we want the Treasure Valley to be the destination for new business and the expansion hub for existing business. We need to demonstrate to a mostly unaware world the fantastic quality of life, incredible energy and smart work force that distinguish Idaho. These are assets so valuable they almost cannot be measured. But without a strategic and focused regional approach to marketing the Valley, the rest of the world will remain unaware of our assets. ViP has great expectations. In board rooms, in executive suites and in networking meetings, entrepreneurs and executives are stepping up to say "yes" to ViP and yes to a future of prosperity. If you would like to help fuel the Idaho success story of the future, please contact my ViP colleague Morgan O'Brien at 472-5217 and let us show you how your organization can become a valuable partner in the work of creating a next level of performance for the one-of-a-kind place that is the Treasure Valley of Idaho. Steve Johnson is senior executive vice president of Washington Group International. Johnson just completed participating in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. | 
