NKADD’s Tara Johnson-Noem speaks to Covington Rotary on her work, region’s issues

By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter

The hype was ridiculous; and the anticipation was mind-boggling.

Tara Johnson-Noem was billed as the best speaker ever to grace the Rotary Club of Covington.

The lunch crowd at the Radisson Hotel sensed the mood – and they were ready. Quietly finishing their lunch, and waiting for what was promoted as, The Speaker of all Speakers, at their most recent weekly meeting.

Tara Johnson-Noem is the Executive Director of NKADD — Northern Kentucky Area Development Districts. She was appointed to her position just about two years ago to the day.

The NKADD is a collaboration of local leaders and staff educating and empowering communities by implementing quality services through specific areas of expertise in:

• Aging and Disability Services
• Community Development and
• Workforce Development

“We serve as a forum, clearinghouses, technical center, convener for the region and provide continuity to projects during the transition of local elected officials,” the speaker du jour told the Northern Kentucky Tribune .

The ADDs strive to foster regional strategies, solutions and partnerships that achieve sustainable economic growth and improve the overall quality of life for the citizens of Kentucky.

The Northern Kentucky Area Development District was organized and held its first Board meeting, September, 1971, Johnson-Noem said.

There are fifteen ADDs in Kentucky, she noted, covering 120 counties and 435 cities. “The NKADD Board is organized to include at a minimum the County Judge Executive from each county, mayors and non-elected citizen members from each county,” she said.

The Governance-Board in Kenton County includes:

• Judge Kris Kohlmann (Chair)
• Mayor Joe Meyer – Commissioner Ron Washington (alt.),
• Mayor Paul Meier – Bill Dorsey (alt.),
• Mayor Chris Reinersman – Chris Moriconi (alt.),
• Mayor Jessica Fette,
• Billie Bradford,
• Amy Heeger,
• Jordan Huizzenga, and
• Bryan Norton

Johnson-Noem provided a chart with Northern Kentucky’s workforce formation, and a What We Are Known for:

• Open Jobs
• NKY Unemployment rates
• NKY Labor Force participation rate

Her take-a-ways for the northern counties includes:

• Workforce job creation is out-pacing workforce housing : The logistics industry is central to job growth in the region, generating demand for high-growth but lower wage “workforce” jobs, she noted. Today, there are 2.68 workforce jobs for each housing unit they could afford.

• Monoculture of single-family homes is not aligned with household income and size : The supply of single-family, three-four-bedroom homes outpaces the demand. Targeting ‘missing middle’ homes would better account for the diversity of incomes and smaller household sizes, her study showed.

• ‘ Missing middle’ houses and affordability strategies are required to continue economic growth : Economic growth creates a strong labor demand. A lack of housing affordable for jobs being created will make it harder and more expensive for employers to find and recruit labor at prevailing market wages.

NKADD trails behind Charleston, Columbus, and Nashville in percentage growth since 2010, her studies show.

“NKADD’s growth of eight percent is similar to that of the wider Cincinnati region,” she told the group.

Some other tidbits included average household size.

“The average household size has dropped but is steadying across the counties of Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, Owen and Pendleton,” she said. “Median household income varies from a range of a low of $2,499-$30,00 in parts of Owen, Carroll, Gallatin and Pendleton counties,” she noted. “A high of $120,000 to $180,000 could be found in parts of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.”

Household income, according to the report, is diverse in the area.

She noted that some 25,133 people commute from Kentucky into the city of Cincinnati, or 10.6 percent of total commuters.,

Commuters are more heavily concentrated in northern Kenton and Campbell County, and more likely to work in higher wage New Economy jobs clustered downtown, the report stated.

New multi-family housing in Covington and Newport are specifically designed to attract young professionals into historic urban areas, while newer construction single family suburban housing in Campbell, Kenton, and Boone attracts larger and older households, the report said.

In summary, The NKADD region needs to build 6,650 housing units to support economic development in the next five years, which equates to 1,330 units per-year.

Yes, the group was spellbound with her message.

The hype? Well, when she was finished the group learned she was a guest of – and introduced by — the club’s president – Shane Noem who happens to be Tara’s husband.

The post NKADD’s Tara Johnson-Noem speaks to Covington Rotary on her work, region’s issues appeared first on NKyTribune .