Femi Oyeniran
For decades, Central Kentucky’s leaders have recognized that individual municipalities can’t fully represent a region’s multifaceted appeal, its diverse workforce, or its economic potential. That thinking “started with Toyota landing in Georgetown [in 1985]. They were the impetus to say, ‘Listen, as a large employer, we don’t see county lines, and we’re going to need to pull workforce from a larger region than just Scott County,’” said Andi Johnson, chief policy officer at Commerce Lexington. Likewise, “if a company comes to Fayette County, the entire region benefits. So, in order to compete with those much larger million-person metros, we need to market ourselves as a region.”
Local economic development professionals and business leaders have long collaborated informally to attract companies to Central Kentucky. But in the past five years, the effort has become more intentional and strategic. In that time, public- and private-sector leaders from across the nine-county Greater Lexington Region — Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jessamine, Madison, Montgomery, Scott, and Woodford counties — have worked together on a Regional Competitiveness Strategy, pooling resources to strengthen workforce and economic development, as well as policy alignment.
Beginning in 2021 and over the course of a year, a roughly 45-member committee of business, government, education, and community leaders studied the current economic landscape compared to competitor cities and the national average, reviewed the region’s strengths and challenges, and crafted a strategy to elevate economic development.
The group recognized several clear regional advantages, including access to healthcare, a central and accessible location, relative public safety, the quality of schools and higher education institutions, a comparatively low cost of living, and an overall high quality of life. They also identified pressing challenges, including a shortage of shovel-ready land for business development, a lack of affordable housing, insufficient skilled labor, high construction and development costs, and the reality that the region remains less well known to outside audiences.
“We did a lot of data crunching, looked at how we compared to other metros, and what we found is that on a quality-of-place standpoint, we were right behind Nashville,” Johnson said. “But when it came to some of the economic indexes, like job growth, GDP, workforce attraction — particularly with young professionals — we were below the national average.”
A Secretariat mural in downtown Paris highlights Bourbon County’s unique heritage.
The group also studied peer regions such as Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, North Carolina, where business and community leaders were focused on regional efforts to support economic development and talent attraction and where Commerce Lexington has coordinated benchmarking visits. The group also looked at comparable cities often considered by site-selection consultants and skilled workers looking to relocate, including Indianapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Knoxville, as well as competitor regions within Kentucky, particularly Louisville and Northern Kentucky.
“A common theme we noticed in communities having momentum for job or talent attraction was an intentional strategy around regionalism,” Johnson said. “Their success came from intentional collaboration between business and government leaders on infrastructure, transportation, workforce, and housing.”
Working with a consultant, the committee crafted measurable goals and identified seven action items that would be mutually beneficial to all communities. Key deliverables include the creation of the Greater Lex regional brand and increased investments in place-based marketing to external audiences, educating business and government leaders about regional priorities, developing a new talent attraction and retention website and digital marketing campaign, strengthening connections between employers and students, elevating regional economic development marketing, increasing engagement with national site selectors and key industry targets for job attraction, advocating for federal and state infrastructure investments, improving tax and regulatory policies, and addressing housing affordability.
In 2023, more than $1 million was raised from the private sector to support the initiative, along with over $600,000 secured from local governments using a $1-per-person ratio based on local populations. “We have almost full participation from the local governments in the nine-county region following that model,” Johnson said. Overall, the funding reflects a two-to-one ratio of business to government contributions in support of the plan’s action items.
The first visible outcome came later that year with the creation of a regional brand identity: Greater Lex – Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region. “This brand serves as the umbrella for our initiatives, unifying digital talent attraction efforts with economic development marketing,” Johnson said.
Two new websites further the effort: LookAtLex.com, which targets prospective talent through data-driven content and a digital marketing campaign aimed at alumni and frequent visitors, and LocateInLex.com, which highlights regional assets for site selectors and business decision-makers. In just six months, campaign impressions increased from 7 million to 17 million.
A talent attraction digital ad campaign launched in October 2024 and has reached more than 4 million unique impressions. Marketing focuses on “warm audiences” of alumni of the region’s 10 colleges and universities and prospective or recent tourists to the region. Content blends “live, work, and play” messaging in collaboration with VisitLEX and regional tourism and economic development partners to showcase each community’s distinct appeal. Additionally, the new economic development digital marketing campaign provides key industry leaders and national site selectors with information about the region.
“We’re giving everyone a common set of talking points,” Johnson said. “We want leaders across the nine counties to be able to share those advantages.”
Progress is tracked annually and presented at a regional summit — this year on November 12 — where leaders benchmark job growth, wage increases, GDP, digital engagement, requests for information, and site visits. Earlier this year, the Regional Competitiveness Plan earned gold in the Regional or Cross-Border Partnership category at the 2025 IEDC Excellence in Economic Development Awards, while the Look At Lex talent website received silver recognition.
Local governments in the region are also collaborating on development projects. A notable example is the Menelaus Industrial Park, the first public, multi-county economic development initiative of its kind in Central Kentucky. The cities of Lexington and Berea, along with Madison and Scott counties, are jointly developing a 300-acre industrial park managed by a newly created Regional Business Development Authority. The site is expected to generate 700 to 1,000 jobs when complete, with tax revenues shared among participating governments.
“Regional economic development is a winner for everyone,” said Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton in a statement about the project. “When Central Kentucky’s economy is strengthened, we all benefit. This project will provide good jobs and tax revenue that will allow the governments to make improvements.”
For Johnson, the lessons are clear: “Every community has something to offer, and the plan’s collaborative structure allows us to showcase each asset, whether it’s workforce, infrastructure, or cultural appeal,” she said. “A regional approach ensures that every county can benefit.”