Growing businesses in a Colorado garden

Information Outlook, April, 2007 by Forrest Glenn Spencer

Twelve-miles south of downtown Denver is the incorporated municipality of Littleton. This is a rich land for those who have resided there. It has been the home for Native Americans, Spaniards, and French. Its economy has been based upon farming, water, gold, and hunting.

It wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that the Americans began their permanent settlement of the region. And it was an engineer from New Hampshire named Richard Little who constructed an irrigation system, which led to the growth of farms and ranches and, eventually, to the birth of Littleton was born, incorporated in 1890 with a population of 245. Littleton was a farming community until World War II, when it transformed into a small manufacturing-base and a suburb of Denver.

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Like any other town, Littleton has experienced economic cycles from prosperity to hardship and then back toward prosperity. SLA member Christine Hamilton-Pennell works to maintain a prosperous business environment in Littleton, but the task is not traditional regional development. In 1987, Littleton's Business/Industry Affairs Department pioneered an entrepreneurial alternative to the traditional economic development practice of recruiting industries to the town. Developed in conjunction with the Center for the New West, the program, which remains in practice today, is called "economic gardening."

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"Economic gardening focuses on creating a nurturing environment for local entrepreneurs rather than trying to recruit or 'hunt' businesses from outside," said Economic Intelligence Specialist Hamilton-Pennell. "The majority of jobs are created by existing businesses, and the majority of them are small. I help small and growing businesses become more competitive by providing them with timely, reliable, and actionable information."

Most the businesses Hamilton-Pennell interacts with are small, usually with fewer than 10 employees. The most pressing need for them is marketing, so Hamilton-Pennell's duties include conducting research to identify industry and market trends, profiling competitors, identifying customer demographics, and creating marketing or prospect lists. "I also research individual companies," Hamilton-Pennell added, "identify potential local-to-international markets, search for trade names and trademarks, identify financing sources, and introduce business owners to each other so they can pursue possible partnerships or cross-marketing opportunities."

The program was pioneered by her director, Chris Gibbons. Since 1990, the community has added more than 20,000 new jobs and tripled sales tax revenues without giving any incentives or tax breaks to businesses. Hamilton-Pennell's position has been around for 20 years, as long as the program. Everyone who has held the position has been a librarian. "My supervisor stole the first EIS from the city's public library when he saw her using a Dialog database and realized that it was an incredibly powerful tool for businesses that wanted to grow and become more competitive," Hamilton-Pennell said.

Small Businesses

The population of Littleton is approximately 41,000, with 1,800 businesses and non-profit organizations. Only about 50 have 50 employees or more. A quarter of the businesses are home-based. Most of the firms Hamilton-Pennell and her department work with are small with ten employees or less. The job rate has been steadily growing: in 1990, there were over 14,000 jobs; and today, there are over 35,000. That's a 37 percent, outpacing the population growth of 23 percent.

In addition to her research responsibilities, Hamilton-Pennell speaks about economic gardening throughout the country to groups of economic and community developers. She said that her greatest privilege was being the keynote speaker at the Louisiana conference of the American Planning Association, a month after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, on using economic gardening to rebuild communities. Locally, Hamilton-Pennell gives presentations to business groups on working smarter and competing with big-box retailers. "I came to the economic development world late in my career, but I have found my passion," Hamilton-Pennell said. "I love working with entrepreneurs because they're the ones who make things happen. My definition of an entrepreneur is 'someone who perceives an opportunity and creates and grows an organization to pursue it.' This includes social entrepreneurs. Most entrepreneurs have informational needs but don't have the time or expertise to satisfy them. That's where I come in." This spring she'll travel to Michigan, Minneapolis, Vancouver, and Montana, and speak to groups about Littleton's program. The groups she usually addresses range from city councils and mayors to any group of economic and community professionals, nationally and internationally.

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Before joining the City of Littleton, Hamilton-Pennell operated an information consulting business, Mosaic Knowledge Works, for almost five years. She still runs it in her spare time. "In that business I have mostly focused on developing online content--courses, tutorials, research guides, and topical guides to Web sites," Hamilton-Pennell said. "Colleague Robin Neidorf and I recently completed an online tutorial on scholarly publishing for the libraries of the University of Colorado, Publish, Not Perish, that is accessible at www.publishnotperish.org. I also prepared the literature reviews for seven statewide studies on the impact of school library media centers on student achievement with colleagues Keith Lance and Marcia Rodney."