Developing a national model for defense industry, community collaboration

General Dynamics Electric Boat is at the heart of the regional economy in Southeastern Connecticut, and it could soon be at the heart of a national model for collaboration between the defense industrial base and local communities when it comes to addressing opportunities and challenges.

What started as a roundtable discussion over the winter between local leaders and the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation in the Department of Defense resulted in the creation of a pilot program and finally the formation of the Eastern Connecticut Defense Industry Community Partnership. Leaders from various organizations and the municipalities of Groton, New London, Ledyard and Waterford have been meeting since January to identify challenges and develop solutions.

In other words, while Southeastern Connecticut has long benefited economically from hosting one of the nation’s premier defense contractors, it also faces problems that naturally occur from hosting such a major employer.

As Executive Director of the Southeastern CT Enterprise Region, the area’s federally designated economic development agency, the kind of collaboration this partnership seeks to create is heartening. While we at seCTer are charged with developing a strong, resilient economy, we do not approach that mission in a vacuum.

Every five years, seCTer updates the region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy to provide a framework for developing “the flexibility needed to adapt to both macro- and micro-economic conditions, and to fully utilize the region’s unique advantages to maximize economic opportunity for its residents.”

If a major employer such as Electric Boat were to express interest in locating to the region today, we would convene area leaders and discuss everything from preferred locations to infrastructure needs for both the entity and the community.

Housing, child care and parking are among the top challenges facing the region based largely on Electric Boat’s need to continue increasing its workforce to meet the U.S. Navy’s demand for submarine production and overhaul (or maintenance) work.

The Department of Defense, through its Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation, wants to learn from this pilot project how best to work through these and similar issues in communities across the country that also host large employers in the defense industry supply chain.

This is not an easy mission, as we are working in reverse. Electric Boat has existed since the early 20th century and has grown in a footprint bordered by neighborhoods that preceded it and the Thames River.

As mentioned previously, economic development on a large scale today is well planned, with consideration for the infrastructure needs — from transit to family amenities — of both the major employer and the community.

Although this pilot project is working from a reverse-engineering approach, it is a step in the right direction with local and statewide leaders cooperating in the process.

In addition to Electric Boat executives, leaders of the municipalities previously mentioned, the group includes representatives from United Way, the Southeastern CT Council of Governments, UConn-Avery Point, Eastern CT Workforce Investment Board, Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, and consultant groups with expertise in improving relationships between the defense industry and communities — PM Consulting in Connecticut and Sparks Policy Group in Washington, D.C.

So what does success look like if we accomplish our mission?

We will have improved collaboration between Electric Boat and the region’s communities, provided balanced community and company solutions, and provided an environment in which Electric Boat and similar manufacturers across the country will be able to modernize and expand to meet the nation’s defense needs while also improving local infrastructure and services.

Paul Whitescarver is the Executive Director of the Southeastern CT Enterprise Region (seCTer), a retired U.S. Navy Captain and former Commanding Officer of U.S. Naval Submarine Base New London.