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The Craig/Moffat County Economic Development Partnership is stuck in a classic Catch-22.

Local businesses seem content to wait to see if the partnership can make a big splash before they'll get on board.

But the partnership doesn't have the resources or the buy-in from the business community to make a big splash, and it can't make a big splash until it has more resources and the buy-in from the business community.

We can't blame local business for being leery. They've seen other economic development initiatives fold.

Members of the EDP board probably should expect a little skepticism until they prove themselves.

"That's the name of the game in economic development," EDP Director Tom Flavin said. "No matter how successful you are, you have to prove yourself every day."

The partnership seems well aware of the situation and has taken the right steps to position itself for a breakthrough.

After rebuilding the board and hiring a qualified director in Flavin, the partnership turned its initial focus to existing businesses.

Rather than spending a lot of money trying to recruit new businesses, Flavin and the board devised a "Growing Local Businesses" program.

"The reason we developed a Growing Local Business program is we view existing businesses as economic assets already in the community," Flavin said.

"With some help and technical assistance, they can grow, hire more employees and contribute to the tax base. That's the quickest way to economic development."

The EDP is using a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund the program.

Nine businesses have applied for the grant funds, which will be used to help the awardees train their employees, devise a marketing strategy, manage their books or make capital improvements. The funds can be used for about anything that will enhance a local business operation.

We think it's a smart move. The partnership is effectively saying, "If we expect local businesses to invest in us, then we're going to invest in local business first."

That's not to say the EDP is not interested in recruitment.

They'll unveil a recruitment plan at the June meeting, Flavin said.

The partnership suffered a minor setback last week when it couldn't conduct any business during its first annual meeting.

The group was scheduled to elect new board members, but didn't have enough participation to cast votes.

That's not the kind of message the EDP wants to be sending the rest of the business community.

After all, if it can't get its own members excited enough to participate, why should anyone else?

But Flavin said members are excited and interest is high.

The lack of participation boiled down to a miscommunication. Members have been faithful about attending meetings, which are usually held Wednesdays.

The bylaws called for the meeting to be held on the first Tuesday in May, which created some confusion.

And some of the EDP members running for a position on the board weren't sure if they should show up, Flavin said.

Despite this gaffe, we think the business community should show some confidence in the EDP.

They should look at the EDP as a new organization and let it prove itself, starting with its attempt to improve existing businesses whose future support will be crucial to efforts to expand and diversify our economy.