Pasco EDC Wraps Up Year with Nine Award Wins

October 9, 2023

Pasco EDC team members attend IEDC Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas to receive awards in September 2023.

Pasco Economic Development Council honored with award recognition on multiple marketing initiatives and strategic partnerships.

PASCO COUNTY, FLORIDA (October 9, 2023): The Pasco Economic Development Council (Pasco EDC) is honored to announce it has closed the fiscal year with nine award recognitions from five economic development organizations. The awards recognize multiple marketing initiatives and strategic partnerships including a social media campaign which reached over 100,000 people and showed a 300 percent engagement increase in its first year. Thousands of entries from around the state, nation, and world are judged by industry professionals.

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) honored Pasco EDC with four awards in category population over 500,000 at its annual conference in Dallas, Texas, on September 19, 2023.

1. A gold rank, the highest honor, was awarded in the Innovation in Economic Development Week category for the Economic Development Week Social Media Campaign. Pasco EDC created a robust campaign sharing its mission and day-to-day activities during IEDC’s Economic Development Week from May 8-12, 2023. In a five-day period, the campaign generated over 1,600 engagements across Pasco EDC’s social media channels and reached over 15,000 people.
2. A silver rank was awarded in the Digital Media category for the Workforce Wednesday social media campaign, a social media campaign created to promote the workforceCONNECT program and post every Wednesday on social media platforms. From when the campaign began in November 2021 until November 2022, engagements increased by 334 percent.
3. A silver rank was awarded in the Multimedia/Video Promotion category for the “10 Years of SMARTstart” campaign which promoted the SMARTstart program’s 10-year anniversary supporting local entrepreneurs. Some of the statistics shared and celebrated during this time included over 500 jobs created, over $2 million distributed microloans, and over 550 program participants since the program’s inception in 2012.
4. A bronze rank was awarded in the Magazine & Newsletter category for Pasco EDC’s Program Newsletters, a yearlong email marketing campaign specific to each program with different audiences. The newsletters have a different design and content based on the program needs and have out-performed industry standards.

The Florida Economic Development Council (FEDC) honored Pasco EDC with two awards at its annual conference in Orlando, Florida, on May 9, 2023.

1. The 2023 Toni Jennings Workforce Development Professional Award was presented to Turner Arbour, Senior Economic Development Manager, Pasco EDC. The award has recognized 16 people since 2007 and Arbour is the youngest professional to receive this high honor.
2. The Innovative Partnership Award recognized the partnership between SMARTstart and the Santander Consumer USA Foundation (Santander). Utilizing a grant, SMARTstart created a video testimonial campaign featuring SMARTstart participants who received a scholarship from Santander to help them gain access to tools and resources to grow their business. The videos had over 164,100 impressions across all social media channels and since the video testimonial campaign was created in 2021, incubator membership has almost doubled from 23 to 41.

Pasco EDC received two partnership awards for the East Pasco Incubator Kitchen (EPIK) in collaboration with the Pasco County UF/IFAS Extension and the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners. These awards were presented by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and the National Association of Counties. The East Pasco Entrepreneur Center and EPIK provide entrepreneurs who are launching food businesses with a workspace to have the ability to make food products to sell and cater events. Since the partnership began, 45 food-related businesses have been launched.

In 2022, Pasco EDC launched a campaign called “CONNECT with Your Future” through its workforceCONNECT program. The campaign featured testimonial videos of employees who work at local Pasco County companies. This campaign was recognized by The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) in the “Promoting Diversity in the Workplace” category. The videos reached over 100,000 people and 18 percent of viewers landed on the Career Pathways landing page associated with the campaign.

“It is humbling to see our work honored by so many of our industry peers in economic development organizations, from state level to international,” stated Bill Cronin, Pasco EDC President/CEO. “I am so proud of our team and their hard work on the projects that have been recognized, #PascoProud.”

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About Pasco Economic Development Council
The Pasco Economic Development Council is committed to developing Florida's most competitive climate for business growth by providing businesses that seek to start, move, or grow in the North Tampa Bay area, a comprehensive suite of programs that can help them to reach their full economic potential.  Since 1987, Pasco EDC has fostered a strong partnership funded by corporate and public investors focused on the economic vitality of Pasco County.  Discover more at www.pascoedc.com.