Waukesha Co. Economic Development Corp.: Private-public sustainability initiative launches in Waukesha County

Contact:
Bill Mitchell
262.695.7901
bmitchell@wctc.edu

’Partnerships for Sustainability’ to provide practical tools for business growth

PEWAUKEE–July 6, 2009–The Waukesha County Economic Development Corporation (WCEDC) today launched Partnerships for Sustainability (PFS). PFS is a private-public initiative designed to provide practical steps that improve top-line revenue streams and bottom-line efficiencies through sustainable business practices for small- and medium-sized companies.

“Our core focus rests solely on the fact that businesses can only be sustainable, if profitable,” says Bill Mitchell, WCEDC executive director. “We see this as an initiative through which businesses across Southeast Wisconsin can benefit.”

Businesses from Waukesha and Milwaukee Counties comprise the PFS Sustainability Advisory Team, which has worked for nearly a year designing this innovative business development strategy. Companies represented include Quad/Graphics, Kohl’s, American Transmission Company, Johnson Controls, RA Smith National, Engberg Anderson, MSI General, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, and Karl James & Company Public Relations.

“Government regulations are coming that will change how businesses operate,” says Joe Muehlbach, PFS Sustainability Advisory Team member and Quad/Graphics’ director of environmental policy. “Partnerships for Sustainability is a great resource to help prevent your business from becoming a casualty of regulation. Those businesses unprepared to respond by operating in a more efficient and environmentally sensitive manner will struggle to exist going forward.”

Driven by achieving growth and efficiency, PFS creates a mentoring environment where businesses learn, share and profit from one another. Companies with demonstrated success in sustainable business practices have agreed to serve as mentors to companies with fewer than 250 employees, which comprise 90 percent of businesses in the M7 region.

“Quad/Graphics, Johnson Controls, Kohl’s and others will serve as inaugural sustainability mentors,” says American Transmission Company’s Franc Fennessy, who also serves on the PFS advisory team. “Mentored companies will in turn serve as mentors to others based on what they learn. Pay-it-forward sustainability, if you will.”

PFS’ innovative approach to sustainability as an economic driver for the region’s businesses received public support in the form of a $90,000 grant awarded by the Waukesha Community Block Grant Board in April. Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas views sustainability as a crucial component to achieving business efficiency and economic development.

“The momentum behind sustainability from the federal level to the local level is creating a real need for businesses to become more efficient in their daily operations,” Vrakas says. “But it also is creating the opportunity for innovation, which historically has led us to real economic growth.”

PFS is using the grant to research, test and pilot practical tools to help companies improve top-line revenue streams and bottom-line efficiencies through sustainable business practices. In addition to the corporate mentorship program, PFS is developing a survey/assessment tool to identify savings in energy efficiency, water utilization and waste stream management, as well as communications tools including a best practices website, e-newsletter and workshops.

“For leaders of small- to medium-sized businesses that want to move beyond the theory of sustainability,” Mitchell says, “Partnerships for Sustainability is the one and only organization focused on providing actionable, practical sustainability tools through business-to-business mentoring.”

Business owners seeking more information on Partnerships for Sustainability can contact Bill Mitchell at bmitchell@wctc.edu or 262.695.7901.

Partnerships for Sustainability is an initiative designed to provide practical steps that improve top-line revenue streams and bottom-line efficiencies through sustainable business practices designed for small- and medium-sized companies in Southeast Wisconsin. WCEDC focuses on two business development initiatives: Accelerating Innovation and Advancing Sustainability. These efforts are made possible through major underwriting from Quad/Graphics, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Aurora Health Care and Pabst Farms Development. WCEDC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, whose mission is to prepare Waukesha County businesses to compete in a global and innovation economy.