New NLC Finance and Economic Development Program Holds Round Table
by Katie Seeger and Christiana McFarland
Earlier this month at the International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) Annual Conference in Reno, Nev., NLC and IEDC co-hosted a round table of city economic development professionals to provide feedback and guidance to NLC’s new Finance and Economic Development Program. The core of the discussion was the importance of city economic development and the key leadership roles for local elected officials.
The round table focused on economic development activities that reflect the new realities of the current economy and the corresponding leadership that is needed on the local level to build stable, wealth generating cities where all residents can prosper.
Although the participants highlighted many of the important economic development functions of local elected officials, first and foremost was the need for local elected leadership to establish and promote a strong, locally-based vision for economic development that is based on city assets, realities and goals. They further stressed that this vision should be more than just words, that it should be a long-term road map that guides and bench marks subsequent local economic development decisions.
“As cities across the country are responding to the challenges created by the recession, economic development policies like entrepreneurship development and business retention and expansion are becoming more important than ever,” said Donald J. Borut, executive director of NLC. “Through leadership and political will, local elected officials play a key role in creating strong, adaptive economies.”
NLC recently established the Finance and Economic Development Program to assist municipal leaders in the areas of:
• city economic and fiscal conditions;
• small business development, entrepreneurship and innovation;
• human capital development;
• retail and downtown redevelopment;
• business attraction, expansion and retention; and
• governance, planning and budgeting.
The NLC-IEDC round table was the first step in a series of program development and outreach efforts. A second round table will be held for local elected officials at NLC’s upcoming Congress of Cities in San Antonio, Texas, on November 12. A publication detailing the round table findings will be released in early 2010.
Details: To learn more about NLC’s Finance and Economic Development Program, contact Christiana McFarland, program director, at (202) 626-3026 or mcfarland@nlc.org, or Katie Seeger, senior program associate, at (202) 626-3131 or seeger@nlc.org.
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