This full-page advertisement acknowledging LVEDC’s 2016 investors will run in The Morning Call on Feb. 19 and March 19.

The Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC) is celebrating a record-breaking year in private investment, and they’re making sure their investors are getting recognized for investing in regional economic growth.

LVEDC has taken out a full-page ad in The Morning Call thanking the companies and organizations who invested more than $625,000 in economic development for the Lehigh Valley in 2016, the single largest private investment year in LVEDC’s 22-year history.

“Without the investment of the private sector, we could never have the success we’ve experienced in economic growth in recent years,” said LVEDC President and CEO Don Cunningham.

“It is imperative that we remain competitive in marketing, recruitment, and strategic initiatives to support business growth and job expansion,” Cunningham said. “We compete every day with markets much larger than our own to tell the story of the Lehigh Valley. Investment makes that possible.”

Click here to see the full Morning Call ad, which ran in the Sunday editions on Feb. 19, and will run again on March 19.

This is not the only way LVEDC is acknowledging its investors. More than three dozen of the leading 2016 investors are currently being featured in a series of digital billboards along Route 22 throughout the first quarter of 2017.

An example of one of the digital billboards that will appear along Route 22, thanking LVEDC’s top investors of 2016.

One of the billboards will be located just east of Fullerton Avenue along eastbound Route 22, and the other is about a half-mile west of Route 987 westbound just past the Airport Road exit, according to LVEDC Director of Marketing Michael Keller.

LVEDC’s annual operating budget is $2.7 million, about half of the revenue comes from private entities or earnings on economic development financing. The other half of the revenue comes from public sources, primarily about $1.4 million from hotel tax proceeds.

LVEDC’s public-private mission is to market the economic assets of the Lehigh Valley, recruit companies, and work with existing companies on strategic initiatives to support job growth and development, along with serving as a regional shared services center.