Economic Development

The vitality of a local economy doesn’t happen by accident. Behind the scenes, lots of work goes on by any number of city planners, economic developers and local, state and federal agencies and partners. Economic development isn’t about creating jobs, though that’s a wonderful side effect. Rather, it’s about strengthening communities, ensuring that the community has the right ingredients for success, from a well-trained workforce and sufficient workforce to the right kind of employers, educational and employment opportunities and a sense of place.

 

Organizations/Associations

The Urban Land Institute provides leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. ULI is the oldest and largest network of cross-disciplinary real estate and land use experts in the world. Through their members’ dedication to the mission and their shared expertise, the Institute has been able to set standards of excellence in development practice.

StreetShares offers unique financial solutions for America’s military veterans and their communities.. StreetShares provides a suite of specialty finance products focused on the military and veterans market, including small business funding, lines of credit, and alternatives to VA small business loans for vet-owned businesses. StreetShares is also a factoring company offering invoice factoring and account receivables financing for the government contract (GovCon) community, as well as the StreetShares Patriot Express® program. StreetShares offers alternative investments, including a veteran’s social-impact investing product called Veteran Business Bonds. StreetShares is veteran-run and located outside of Washington, D.C.

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) is a non-profit, non-partisan membership organization serving economic developers. With more than 5,000 members, IEDC is the largest organization of its kind. Economic developers promote economic well-being and quality of life for their communities, by creating, retaining and expanding jobs that facilitate growth, enhance wealth and provide a stable tax base. From public to private, rural to urban and local to international, IEDC’s members are engaged in the full range of economic development experience. Given the breadth of economic development work, our members are employed in a wide variety of settings including local, state, provincial and federal governments, public-private partnerships, chambers of commerce, universities and a variety of other institutions.

The Southern Economic Development Council supports its members throughout the American South by providing a network for economic developers, tools, and resources to enhance your programs and access to timely information. Founded in 1946, SEDC was the founding organization for the Industrial Development Institute, now called the Economic Development Institute. SEDC is the oldest and largest regional economic development organization in North America. They have a network of more than 1000 economic development professionals operating in 17 states

Mid America Economic Development Council members are dedicated economic development professionals who share best practices and contacts with site selectors, advancing regional economic development programs, and accessing thought leadership. The Mid-America Economic Development Council also is an organization that provides resources, recognition, and networking opportunities to promote idea exchange and partnering. They promote the Mid-Atlantic states to site selectors and industries to raise the level of awareness.

Industrial Management Asset Council is the leading industrial and manufacturing real estate trade association, offering dynamic professional development, networking opportunities and endless resources for its members in the U.S. and abroad.

The Site Selectors Guild is an association of the professional site selection consultants. Guild members provide location strategy to corporations across the globe and for every industry, sector, and function. Founded in 2010, the Site Selectors Guild is dedicated to advancing the profession of international corporate site selection by promoting integrity, objectivity, and professional development. Members are peer-nominated, vetted, and must demonstrate significant professional location advisory experience.

CoreNet Global is the world’s leading association for corporate real estate (CRE) and workplace professionals, service providers and economic developers. Over 10,000 members, who include 70% of the Fortune 100 and nearly half of the Forbes Global 2000, meet locally, globally and virtually to develop networks, share knowledge, learn and thrive professionally.

Reports

Why State and Local Governments Should Stop Subsidizing Amazon

Talent Attraction Scorecard – Emsi

Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency – N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center

Talent Wars: What People Look for in Jobs and Location – Development Counsellors International

How States Are Improving Tax Incentives for Jobs and Growth – Pew Charitable Trusts

A New Data Base on Business Incentives for State and Local Governments – Upjohn Institute for Employment

State Economic Development Strategies Toolkit – Urban Institute

Articles

Why Cities Can’t Stop Poaching From One Another

A Not So Quiet Revolution in Economic Development

Should we ban States from Offering Tax Breaks in Exchange for Jobs

The Real Cost of Luring Big Companies

There is a Better Way to do Economic Development

The New Opportunity Boomtowns

Promising Billions To Amazon: Is It a Good Deal For Cities

A Conversation with Richard Florida About Amazon’s HQ2

City Hall, Brought To You By Amazon

The New Corporate Recruitment Tool: Workers in Dead End Jobs

Site Selection in the Age of Trump

Marketing Campaign Attracts New Residents

How States Are Improving Tax Incentives for Jobs and Growth – Pew Charitable Trusts

The complicated business of evaluating tax incentives

Domestic sourcing market is changing how economic developers attract new businesses

The site selection process explained (Infographic)

Movie industry subsidies don’t provide much in return

Top 10 economic development trends impacting site selection decisions in 2015

Associations/Organizations

The Urban Land Institute provides leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. ULI is the oldest and largest network of cross-disciplinary real estate and land use experts in the world. Through their members’ dedication to the mission and their shared expertise, the Institute has been able to set standards of excellence in development practice.

StreetShares offers unique financial solutions for America’s military veterans and their communities.. StreetShares provides a suite of specialty finance products focused on the military and veterans market, including small business funding, lines of credit, and alternatives to VA small business loans for vet-owned businesses. StreetShares is also a factoring company offering invoice factoring and account receivables financing for the government contract (GovCon) community, as well as the StreetShares Patriot Express® program. StreetShares offers alternative investments, including a veteran’s social-impact investing product called Veteran Business Bonds. StreetShares is veteran-run and located outside of Washington, D.C.

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) is a non-profit, non-partisan membership organization serving economic developers. With more than 5,000 members, IEDC is the largest organization of its kind. Economic developers promote economic well-being and quality of life for their communities, by creating, retaining and expanding jobs that facilitate growth, enhance wealth and provide a stable tax base. From public to private, rural to urban and local to international, IEDC’s members are engaged in the full range of economic development experience. Given the breadth of economic development work, our members are employed in a wide variety of settings including local, state, provincial and federal governments, public-private partnerships, chambers of commerce, universities and a variety of other institutions.

Business Retention and Expansion International offers two professional certifications for its members, the BRE Coordinator and the BRE Professional. These Business Retention and Expansion certifications are the mark of a BRE professional and certify that one has the knowledge and experience to lead economic development activities in his or her community.

Founded in 1985, the Edward Lowe Foundation aims to “champion the entrepreneurial spirit.” This foundation achieves this fantastic goal by connecting second-stage entrepreneurs with their peers through leadership programs like Economic Gardening and the PerSpectives Roundtable System. The ELF also has the beneficial tool, YourEconomy.org which tracks the performance of over 44 million businesses in the U.S.

Executive Pulse provides customer-focused technology, training and support for business retention and expansion, business recruitment, entrepreneurial development and workforce initiatives. They have been serving the needs of government, economic and workforce development and allied professions throughout North America since 1996. Their newest CRM system has been built from the ground up specifically for economic development.

Reports

How EDO’s Add Value Through Business Retention and Expansion: The report is free for International Economic Development Council members; non-members may purchase a copy for $75 at IEDC

Articles

It’s simple, but it’s not easy. A formula for BRE program success

State-level business retention & expansion programs and practices

What is Business Retention and Expansion

Establishing A Business Retention and Expansion program

BRE: Creating Jobs, Building Communities

BRE: Market Analysis

Associations/Organizations

The US Travel Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the travel industry that generates $2.4 trillion in economic output and supports 15.6 million American jobs. U.S. Travel operates as a 501(c)(6) organization. As the united voice of the industry, U.S. Travel prioritizes high-impact issues that matter most to our collective membership. We not only identify the industry’s biggest opportunities and challenges, but also develop the messages and actions to create positive growth.

Project for Public Spaces is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build strong communities. We are the central hub of the global placemaking movement, connecting people to ideas, resources, expertise, and partners who see place as the key to addressing our greatest challenges

Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful, a 501 C 3 organization, has a mission to inspire and educate people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. They envision a country where every community is a clean, green beautiful place to live. Through a variety of national programs and initiatives with our more than 600 community-based affiliates and partner organizations, they engage more than 5 million volunteers in their effort to End Littering, Improve Recycling, and Beautify America’s Communities.

Destinations International is a membership organization that serves destination-marketing professionals first and foremost. As the self recognized world’s largest and most reliable resource for destination organizations, they inform, connect, inspire and educate members with the goal to drive destination economic impact, job creation, community sustainability and quality of life through travel.

The Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) is a membership organization that provides quality research on which to make informed decisions. For more than 45 years, TTRA has been the industry’s go-to for evidence-based, global data and analysis. The association unites the travel and tourism research community – university academics, professional practitioners, and users of research – so they can network, collaborate, and ideate in person and across borders.

Destination Development Association is a membership organization that provides an array of resources for everyone charged with making the place they call home better. DDA membership includes dozens of “how-to” videos, handouts, sample ordinance, photographic example books, webinars, weekly video blogs, and more. Topics include place branding, downtown development & revitalization, tourism product development, economic development, and all-things marketing.

Technical Assistance

Destination Analysts is a tourism research and marketing company based in San Francisco, California. They are a for profit organization consisting of a team of travel industry experts with extensive, hands-on experience working with some of the world’s greatest tourism brands and Destination Marketing Organizations. They are widely known for their pioneering, customized travel and tourism research  They assist not only clients with the interpretation of their research results but the architecture and execution of strategy based on that research. Our travel studies, The State of the International Traveler™ and The State of the American Traveler™ , are standards in the industry.

Reports

The State of the American Traveler: 2018 Destination Analysts

Economic Impact of Outdoor Recreation American Recreation Coalition

Destination Promotion: An Engine of Economic Development Oxford Economics

Articles

The Most Popular Tourist Attraction in Every State

America Has a Foreign Tourism Problem

The Fastest Growing Trend in Tourism: Multi-Generational Travel

Books

Growing Jobs: Transforming the Way We Approach Economic Development – Thomas Tuttle

Reports

Workforce of the Future – Center for State and Local Government Excellence

Renewing Americas Economic Promise – Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings

Making a Market for Irregular Employment – Kauffman Foundation

Challenges for Economic Developers in the Next Decade: Future Ready – (Available for purchase though the IEDC. Members can download for free)

The Western Governors Workforce Development Initiative  – Western Governors Association

Navigating A Future No One Can Predict: What Todays Students Will Need Now for Tomorrows Jobs -New Schools Venture Funds

Helping Manufacturing-Intensive Communities: What Works?  -Policy Works

Workforce Investment Strategies to Support Local Economies – National League of Cities

Manufacturing is Not Dead: The Rise of High Wage High Skill jobs – EMSI

Investing in America’s Workforce: Needs and Opportunities Federal Reserve SystemJobs Lost, Jobs Gained: Workforce Transitions in a Time of Automation – McKinsey Global Institute

Good Jobs that Pay Without a BA: A State by State Analysis  – Good Jobs Project

How Community Colleges Prepare the Workforce – IEDC/American Association of Community Colleges

Supporting Reshoring in Communities: Tools and Strategies for Economic Developers –  International Economic Development Council

Public Policy and Investments in Good Quality Jobs: Ideas for Policy Change – Surdna Foundation

State Level Estimates of Arts and Culture Employment  – National Endowment of the Arts

Skills In the States: Work Based Learning Policy, A 50 State Scan – National Skills Coalition

Articles

Cities and States Experiment With New Ways to Attract and Retain Talent

Revitalize Your City by Helping to Retrain Your Workers

State of the Cities 2018 – National League of Cities

The Market is Stacked Against Low Skilled Workers

Internships Keeping South Dakota Graduates Local

Why Small Business Matters to Workers

How Bad is the Labor Shortage? Cities Offer Cash To Relocate

Five Cities That Will Pay You To Live There

Washington’s First Youth Apprentices Graduate

The Importance of Scaling and Supporting Apprenticeship Programs

Helping US Manufacturers: What Works

Don’t Predict The Future of Work, Prepare For it

Women at Work: Pre-Apprenticeship Programs Boost Female Construction Workers

The Future of Work

Jobs attributable to foreign direct investment in the United States

Connecting through the Spokane STEM network (video)

What is STEM (video)

Opportunity for all: Investing in Washington State’s STEM education pipeline

Tech and the Renaissance of Manufacturing in America

Will Robots Make Job Training and Workers Obsolete

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