PART I: COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT Background The Litchfield Hills Council of Elected Officials (LHCEO) is responsible for developing and maintaining the Regional Growth Policy Map for the Litchfield Hills Region. This Map Plan is used to guide the Region's long-term physical, economic, and social changes. In 2003 the LHCEO identified the need for a more proactive role in planning for improvements to the economy of the Litchfield Hills Region and initiated the effort to pursue the development of a Regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). Litchfield Hills Economic Development Partnership (LHEDP) The formulation of a CEDS begins with policy direction from a CEDS Committee that should include strong input from leaders of both the public and private sectors. Following the decision to create a CEDS, the LHCEO created the Litchfield Hills Economic Development Partnership with a diverse membership comprised of chief elected officials, representatives from area businesses, the heads of the Region's two institutions of higher education, representatives of financial institutions, representatives from municipal planning and economic development departments and commissions, coordinators for downtown development organizations and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. The diversity of membership in the Region's 2003 CEDS Committee is documented in Table 1.

Following initial organizational meetings, the LHEDP committed to the preparation of a Regional CEDS plan, obtained needed financial support and focused its efforts on the preparation of this document. The LHEDP, incorporated input from local government, the private sector and community organizations, framed the specific objectives of the plan, and closely following the Guidelines for the preparation of a CEDS plan published by Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The LHEDP was organized to reflect a balance between community and economic development interests in the establishment of goals, objectives and implementation recommendations to improve the area's economy. Included in this effort is the preparation of economic development strategies that are integral components of the plan. This process reflects the current institutional capacity of the Region to mount a coordinated effort to improve economic conditions for residents and businesses within the Litchfield Hills area. An Economic Development Resource Survey was administered to evaluate the organizational resources available to support economic development initiatives within the Litchfield Hills Region. While the survey confirmed significant support for the preparation of the CEDS, this analysis established the scarcity of both organizational and staffing resources available to support economic development activities at both the regional and municipal levels. The Region has no public governmental organization devoted solely to regional economic development. The Region has a fledgling regional economic development corporation that was created during the preparation of the CEDS, with the support of the members of the LHEDP. This corporation is looking to the CEDS for guidance in terms of projects to support, however this corporation has no staff resources. Only one of the ten municipalities participating in the CEDS has a staff person devoted solely to planning and facilitating economic development. In addition to the Economic Development Resource Survey, the LHEDP met regularly to gain input from its members. The LHEDP members served the role of liaison with their communities and constituent organizations. Copies of the Draft CEDS were made available including a specific distribution to each chief elected official in the region as well as to the newly formed Northwestern Connecticut Economic Development Corporation.