CEDS - PART V: BENCHMARKING AND EVALUATION

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03e8dfc3.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Board of Directors"><B>Board of Directors</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meetings"><B>Meetings</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id122.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="CEDS"><B>CEDS</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Scenario Planning"><B>Scenario Planning </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Task Team"><B>Task Team</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Regional Plans"><B>Regional Plans </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><B>Links</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ByLaws"><B>By-Laws</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact"><B>Contact</B></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>CEDS Sponsors:</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Board of Directors"><I><U>Platinum Sponsor</U></I></A></div> <div> <B>Borghesi Building & Engineering</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><U>Silver Sponsors</U></I></div> <div> <B>Bicron Electronics</B></div> <div> <B>CEDAS</B></div> <div> <I>(CT Econ. Dev. Assoc.)</I></div> <bR> <div> <I><U>Bronze Sponsors</U></I></div> <div> <B>Parker Productions</B></div> <div> <B>Winvian</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 style=" border-bottom: 1px solid #999980;" BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03f8dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#006600" FACE="Bangle" ><B>Northwest Connecticut Economic Development Corporation</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bangle" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    </B><B>|</B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bangle" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#006600" FACE="Bangle" ><B> </B><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Northwest Connecticut Economic Developme"><B>home</B></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="CEDS May 2004">CEDS - May 2004</A>   |   <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="CEDS INTRODUCTION">CEDS - INTRODUCTION</A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="CEDS PART I: COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND">CEDS - PART I: COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT</A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="CEDS PART II: ANALYSIS">CEDS - PART II: ANALYSIS</A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="CEDS PART III: VISION">CEDS - PART III: VISION</A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="CEDS PART IV: THE ACTION PLAN ">CEDS - PART IV: THE ACTION PLAN </A>   |   <B>CEDS - PART V: BENCHMARKING AND EVALUATION</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=398 width="100%" colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03f8dfc3.jpg"> <div> <I>CEDS - PART V: BENCHMARKING AND EVALUATION</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><U> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="786" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 310 WIDTH="778"><div> <B><U>PART V: BENCHMARKING AND EVALUATION - “How Are We Doing?”</U></B></div> <bR> <div> There is no established process within the Litchfield Hills Region to assess the condition of the Region's economy on an ongoing basis or to assess the effectiveness of economic development initiatives once implemented.</div> <bR> <div> As a result of the CEDS preparation process, it has been decided to create this monitoring and evaluation process within the context of the Regional CEDS Committee. The Committee will establish a CEDS Evaluation Sub-Committee comprised of 5 members. It will be the Evaluation Sub-Committee's responsibility to monitor progress on achieving goals and activities towards meeting such goals. The Sub-Committee will develop a questionnaire for use in the monitoring process. A draft of this questionnaire based on the Priority Goals contained in the CEDS is included on the following page. An annual report will be prepared for review and approval by the CEDS Committee. The evaluation will be used to modify activities or initiate new activities to meet the goals.</div> <bR> <div> To maximize the use of the scarce resources available to stimulate and manage desired economic growth within the Region, it is recommended that the Region institutionalize the <U>State of the Region </U>report, prepared annually by the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce for use in its evaluation process. The information contained in this report will be used in conjunction with the CEDS Evaluation Questionnaire. The economic indices in Appendix D have been created to facilitate the collection of information that will be utilized to supplement the contents of the <U>State of the Region </U>report. The historical information contained in these evaluation resources can be used as benchmarks, against which data collected in the future can be compared, in order to assess the successes of regional initiatives on a broader basis than solely the CEDS objectives.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>