Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach is offering training courses on “Financing Economic Development and Deal Structuring.” Intended for Georgia economic development professionals, the one-day courses will be offered Dec. 5 at the UGA Hotel and Conference Center from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and in Tifton on Feb. 5 at the UGA-Tifton Conference Center.
The training course is designed to show economic development professionals how financial packages are structured and the importance of public financing options and incentives in attracting and retaining companies. The topic was developed in response to a survey of economic development professionals’ needs.
“By securing funding and incentives from a variety of local and state sources and federal programs, economic development professionals can help their community bridge the gap between a company’s private sources of funding and the project’s overall financial requirements,” said Rob Gordon, course coordinator.
Gordon, who coordinates economic development and fiscal analysis services with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, a UGA public service and outreach unit, said the course would cover several major topics designed to help enhance the effectiveness of economic development professionals’ work. The course will illustrate various financing and incentive programs available, how to access them and how to pull multiple programs together in order to close the deal.
Specific course topics include local financing options, state financing programs, valuing the financing package and incentives, other financing sources and incentives and a final case study project.
Registration for the course is $250. A welcome reception will be held in Athens on Dec. 4 and in Tifton on Feb. 4. For more information or to register, see http://outreach.uga.edu/edpt.