Name Change

ACCRA NOW IS THE COUNCIL FOR COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH.

The purpose of the name change is to more clearly define to our customers, our members, and our stakeholders who we are. Starting in January, ACCRA will no longer be part of our organization's official name. It will become a part of corporate history-much like Standard Oil, MCI, and of course, the most famous old corporate names among us economic development types-the American Economic Development Council (AEDC) and the Council for Urban Economic Development (CUED). "ACCRA" will remain a part of our tradition and we will retain this moniker as part of the brand identity for some of our products, especially the ACCRA Cost of Living Index where the brand value remains critical.

Yes, "ACCRA" easily rolled off the tongue-and did so for 45 years-but the times, they are a changing. Unfortunately, we've received one too many quizzical looks when we had to explain what "ACCRA" stands for. (Hint: the wrong answer was "nothing"!)

The "Council for Community and Economic Research" is much more descriptive of our members, but let's face it, the abbreviation: CCER isn't too hip for the 21st Century. First of all, the website was already taken (well, it is an important part of our branding strategy after all). Also, it is way too easy to confuse the name with our sister organization CREC (the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness) and some of our clients (e.g., CERC, the Connecticut Economic Resource Council). So, we're opting to go with the jazzier sounding "C2ER," as our abbreviation. This comes with an easy to remember web and email address-www.c2er.org.

It will take us some time to adjust, but we think this change will open up many new avenues for us in the coming years. Feedback to date from members and customers is that they agree that the new name is more expressive in describing who we are and what we have in common.

During the past 12 months, C2ER Board and staff members have been busy preparing for the name change by designing a new logo and redesigning the website. In addition, the Board and staff implemented a very aggressive work program aimed at providing expanded products and increased training.

• Conducted 14 training seminars attended by nearly 300 researchers and practitioners on topics ranging from basic data sources to techniques/tools for conducting cluster studies, including the first C2ER seminar in the United Kingdom
• Provided outreach to data users regarding the US Bureau of Economic Analysis
• Sponsored training on the US Census Bureau/Bureau of Labor Statistics' Local Employer Dynamics (LED) data product and on conducting workforce studies
• Generated an historical data series of Cost of Living information for use by researchers, including economic developers
• Developed a web-based cost of living comparison calculator that is available for license for organizations wishing to add content to their web sites
• Completed a study of the financing and development programs under contract to the Arizona Department of Commerce
• Completed studies of state incentives and 2005 and 2006 economic development expenditures for distribution to policy makers across the country
• Continued providing top-notch membership services, including our library and access to the Reference USA database
• Advocated for federal data agencies, including aiding in retaining funding for the Census' American Community Survey program
• Expanded our membership program to encourage greater participation from multiple persons from within our member organizations