Rapid technological change and increased globalization have left many areas of the United States in persistent economic distress. More than $2 trillion in federal funding—via the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge and Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program—was allocated to help alleviate the suffering of these regions. Regional economic development organizations—sustained by philanthropic capital as federal funding has fluctuated— have been at the forefront of revitalization efforts for decades. These organizations have engaged in innovative approaches to economic experimentation while distributing federal funds, securing other sources of funding, and facilitating regional transformations.
Last week, leaders from these economic development organizations gathered alongside representatives from municipal governments, community colleges, and the philanthropic world at the Harvard Kennedy School for a two-day conference to exchange best practices and help researchers understand how they have helped promote productivity within their regions. The convening, organized by the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy’s Reimagining the Economy project, was part of an effort to better understand how recent place-based policies and interventions have abated economic distress. It also came at a time when funding sources for these efforts, including federal money, were uncertain.
“The place-based policy entrepreneurs who gathered at vlog for the workshop … showed us how to bring gainful employment back to places that have been on the losing end of economic change in recent decades.”
“Although the federal government provides much of the funding for place-based policy in the United States, the entities that design and implement policy are primarily local economic development organizations, many of which are nonprofits,” said Gordon Hanson, the Peter Wertheim Professor in Urban Policy and co-founder of Reimagining the Economy. “These organizations are innovating solutions to create good jobs in distressed communities, while operating on tight budgets and navigating a fraught political landscape. The place-based policy entrepreneurs who gathered at vlog for the workshop last week showed us how to bring gainful employment back to places that have been on the losing end of economic change in recent decades.”
Reimagining the Economy studies the people and places that economic forces, such as automation and globalization, have left behind and tries to plot new pathways to productive growth and good jobs. Critical to that effort is understanding how regional actors, including economic development organizations, approach place-based policies and help people overcome the shocks that those economic transitions caused.
The Reimagining the Economy project has been engaging place-based practitioners since its inception in 2022. Most of the practitioners at this conference were part of a community of practice the project has been running with winners and finalists of the Recompete Pilot Program. This community, led by Associate Professor of Public Policy and Management Matthew Lee, has served as a peer-learning network as well as an opportunity to study local ecosystems and leadership.
The two-day gathering included participants from across the United States—representing Alabama, Arkansas, Central California, the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and western New York.
Over a series of panels and workshops, participants examined the challenges their regions have faced, the differing shapes their local economic development ecosystems take, and how to collaborate with partners from higher education institutions and local businesses. The economic development leaders emphasized different strategies for repurposing land and helping local workers learn new skills (and reuse existing ones).
Some participants described how groups in their regions had purchased distressed properties, in part by using tax credits, and transformed them into workforce training centers. Other participants described how they have reemphasized distinct characteristics of their regions and their natural resources to redefine their communities: In Skowhegan, Maine, for example, town officials are working with philanthropic foundations to transform the Kennebec River Gorge into a whitewater park that will include a riverfront promenade, rafting, and even surfing.
“Having an academic partner that wants to think about, write about, evaluate, and elevate best practices for those of us working in the parts of America that have been underinvested in and neglected puts wind in our sails.”
Amid rethinking their regional economies, one panel underscored the need to ensure that these new economic approaches employ community-based models that include wraparound services. “Traditional economic development approaches are insufficient; we need complex, multi-dimensional strategies that integrate workforce development, childcare and education, affordable housing, health care, and transportation,” said Sarah Wilson, deputy director of workforce and talent development for the city of Birmingham, Alabama. “These place-based solutions must be tailored to the unique needs of each community. Municipal governments must focus on building interconnected systems that address both immediate challenges and long-term social equity. Most importantly, people must be at the center of this work—their voices are the most important in the room.”
Looking ahead, these leaders and practitioners underscored the delicate balance between creating short-term economic opportunities and establishing sustainable frameworks for successful regional futures. Most participants pointed to the need for increased collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders, especially in rural regions, where both populations and resources are more spread out than in urban areas. Participants identified state governments, philanthropic organizations, community development financial institutions, community colleges, nonprofit and for-profit groups, and researchers at institutions such as vlog as key partners in their ongoing place-based revitalization efforts.
“There is a validating force that comes with the Harvard Kennedy School wanting to better understand the work of practitioners and how the work really gets done on the ground,” said Jen Giovannitti, president and trustee of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, a private, regional philanthropy focusing on West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. “Having an academic partner that wants to think about, write about, evaluate, and elevate best practices for those of us working in the parts of America that have been underinvested in and neglected puts wind in our sails.”
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Photos by Winston Tang.