By Nathan Sparks, CEcD
Executive Director of One Okaloosa EDC
Welcome to 2026! I have noticed two themes as I’ve spoken with many of our investors and partners during the first couple weeks of the New Year. First, everyone is already dialed in and extremely busy. In other words, there’s been no “easing in” to the year. Second, there is a real level of optimism for 2026 among the business leaders of our community. This was readily apparent during our Jan. 8 Business Leadership Council meeting (which, by the way, resulted in the best turnout we’ve enjoyed in quite some time) and again during our Jan. 13 TeCMEN meeting. As we went around the table during the BLC, Chairman Dezinski asked the 60 or so attendees to each share something they were looking forward to in the year ahead. It was truly amazing to hear that so many of our partners are planning new capital projects (including new facilities / facility enhancements), new hiring, new products and services and/or cementing new partnerships that will allow them to level up in 2026!
From One Okaloosa EDC’s perspective, we have a number of new tools we are excited to unveil during 2026. First, in an effort to provide actionable, real-time information related to workforce housing, a “Housing Dashboard” will be developed and housed on our website. To facilitate this, our vendor will be conducting a deep dive of the various planned and permitted housing communities located throughout the county. By collecting information on the specific location of the development, the number of homes being planned, the development schedule (including any planned phasing) and, last but not least, target price points, our goal is provide builders with the information they need to bring forward new housing stock that can fill the geographic and price point gaps that exist. In addition, we hope the tool can also be used by local elected leaders as they consider future housing development proposals.
Another tool that we’re looking to bring forward in 2026 is an “Internship Connections Portal”, which will also be housed on our website. With our military installations and many of our STEM-related businesses offering top notch internships, the goal here is to create a single information repository where college students and active duty military members can go to review (and perhaps even apply for) these opportunities. Our hope is that by providing increased visibility of local internship opportunities, our partners will be better positioned to attract and retain the best talent around. After all, growing our overall skilled talent base is truly the best way to “level up” our community – not just in 2026, but for many years to come.
