As many of you may know, we are in the midst of a transition.  As such, we’ve formed a volunteer lead “transition team” to help us evaluate, determine and cooperatively establish TCCa’s future in this community.

The team is also dedicated to discovering the best growth strategies for Savannah and the surrounding business community, and input from that community is critical. 

To help us collect your input, we’ve assembled a short, 3 minute anonymous survey:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/transitionteam

Please take a few moments to give us your thoughts. It will be vital information in helping us determine the best path moving forward.

Thank you in advance for your time and efforts!

After our initial blog post calling for 140 character pitches as to why YOU should win two $800 tickets to IxDA, we were swamped with dozens of entries and we’ve finally narrowed down the crop to the winners (as we see it.)  There were many great submissions, but ultimately had to make a choice and we tried to reward those who flexed their right brain muscles.

First of all, we were THRILLED with all the enthusiasm. Thank you, thank you to everyone who participated. You guys rock and we’re psyched we got to interact a little with you! After all, isn’t that the point?

Second of all, drumroll, please…!!!

Winners (Full pass to entire conference, ~ $800 value)

Winner #1: Ben Sykes

Winner #2: Eric Berkman

“Dear
Johnny, How ‘bout this?

‘Moon River, wider than a mile,
I’ll cross you some day. To attend the Interaction 10 conference held by
IxDA.’”

Honorable Mentions (ticket to opening reception)

aya: There was an old lady IA / Who’s neither not Working nor Paid / SAVANNAH she yelped/But needed help / Then a Twit,a limerick-Hurray!

First, a little history

Thirteen years ago, the networking and advocacy organization called the Coastal Business, Education and Technology Alliance (CBETA) was founded. Six years ago, the effort to brand this region as the “Creative Coast” began as The Creative Coast Initiative (TCCi) and two years ago the two were merged to form The Creative Coast Alliance (TCCa).

For the past 18 months, the organization’s mission has been to help create, grow and attract higher wage jobs and knowledge-based businesses, further developing a creative and innovation-driven economy in and around Savannah/Chatham County. With ongoing support by the City of Savannah, Chatham County and the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA), TCCa has brought together the purposes, processes, programs and people of the two previous organizations and made some meaningful progress in the achievement of our mission at the same time.

We developed and implemented strategies for attraction focused on digital media and design that have generated dozens of leads and at least 20 qualified business relocation or expansion projects. We have participated in the announcements of seven new businesses and helped more than 200 local businesses and entrepreneurs get started, stay afloat or grow, along with a host of other things like the Innovation Awards that support the development of an environment that encourages and expands these results. (See our July 08- July 09 12-Month Report for more information.)

Several times throughout the the year, TCCa produces a report for its partners at the City of Savannah and Chatham County based on metrics we collectively establish.

This time, we’ve decided to share it with you, the people who help make it all happen.  (The report does not include the past four months, though a lot of good things have happened.)

Please take a few moments to read the linked pdf below.  You might learn something you didn’t know. We hope so.