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Urban Economic Development

Insights and strategies for leaders in urban economic development

Learn more about the Inner City Economic Forum

Download the Report from the 2010 Inner City Economic Forum Summit.

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Setting the urban growth agenda
 

The Inner City Economic Forum is the country’s most influential network focused on inner city business development. Understanding what firms need to grow and thrive in urban communities will ultimately help drive the success of inner city economies. The Forum includes leaders from every discipline that contributes to business success, urban wealth creation and job creation in the inner city: banks and public pension funds; real-estate developers and private equity providers; mayors and economic development professionals; Fortune 1000 businesses and inner city CEOs; researchers and academics; and community groups, not-for-profits, and foundations with a community and economic development agenda. 

Through a series of roundtables, webinars and on-line discussions, as well as the annual Summit each fall, Forum participants:

  • Discuss and shape investment and policy ideas
  • Develop and share best practices and critical tools
  • Forge public and private partnerships to better leverage resources
  • Set future ICIC research agendas

The Forum agenda. In 2011, the Forum will focus on three drivers that ICIC research has shown to have the most immediate impact on inner city market conditions and the greatest potential for long-term, sustainable job creation.

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  • Increasing capital flows to inner city businesses. Inner city businesses are undercapitalized by 20 to 50% during their growth phase as compared to average businesses, significantly impacting their ability to scale, grow revenues and create jobs. The Forum will explore the factors limiting capital access, discuss new and potential financing models and construct necessary federal policy recommendations to improve access to capital for urban firms.
  • Leveraging anchor institutions to create jobs and market opportunities. Inner cities are home to more than their share of America’s greatest anchor institutions – universities, medical centers and cultural facilities – which spend billions on goods and services. As engines of local economic growth, anchors play several distinct roles within their communities, including purchaser, workforce developer and community infrastructure builder. Forum participants will share best practices and approaches for how to leverage anchors' resources to grow businesses and improve economic vitality.
  • Strengthening local business-to-business clusters. Local clusters are groups of inter-related industries that serve almost exclusively local demand and account for 72% of all U.S. employment. Examples of these clusters include transportation and logistics; construction, real estate and housing; and specialty foods. Forum participants will discuss and develop strategies to leverage local clusters to create sustainable jobs for inner city residents and additional business opportunities for inner city firms.
Case History

Leading the Way for Small Businesses

By Robert Walsh, NYC Department of Small Business Service

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to office in 2002, he created Small Business Services (SBS), the first agency dedicated entirely to serving the city’s 220,000 small businesses. When I was put in charge of the agency, it was a collection of different departments and initiatives from previous administrations that didn’t fit into other portfolios. SBS created a direct link between the city’s job programs and the needs of the business community, revitalized the city’s network of business improvement districts and built a suite of services to help businesses start, operate and expand.

Two top priorities are helping those who have been hardest hit in these tough times and making it easier to open and grow a small business. Last year, SBS placed New Yorkers in over 25,000 jobs and we’ll build on our success by using our newly opened Healthcare, Transportation and Manufacturing Sector Centers to place New Yorkers in even better paying jobs.

SBS is also leading a 20-agency initiative that makes starting, operating and expanding a business in New York City clearer, faster and simpler. A single website, www.nyc.gov/businessexpress, launched in March 2010, navigates 44 city, state and federal programs. We are also going to be even more aggressive in our efforts to connect entrepreneurs with loans, legal assistance, training for their employees and business courses that teach New Yorkers to retool their business strategies.

We are proud of our progress, but are also fully aware that there’s much more to be done. These are tough times and we are determined to do an even better job of serving small businesses. 

Robert W. Walsh is commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS).

Want to learn more about the Forum and its impact?To get more information about the work of the Inner City Economic Forum, contact Rachel Hitch at rhitch@icic.org or 617-297-3128.

Forum in Action: Interise

  • Who? Interise, a Boston-based small business development organization
  • What? StreetWise MBA™ Program
  • Why? Through its StreetWise MBA™ program, Interise provides urban CEOs with a structured training curriculum and mentoring network to help grow and scale small businesses. Since 2004, approximately 300 entrepreneurs have completed the program.
     
  • "When I started the StreetWise MBA™ program, I did $1-$2 million a year. One year later, I’m already sitting on $6 million in contracts. It’s amazing!"
    Al Canzater, Canzatar Associates
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Forum in Action: JumpStart

  • Who? JumpStart, a Cleveland-based venture development organization
  • What? JumpStart Entrepreneurial Network
  • Why? The JumpStart Entrepreneurial Network provides Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs access to the necessary resources to grow their companies and create jobs: seed funding, incubators, business advisory services and an online community of investors and mentors.
     
  • “The JumpStart Entrepreneurial Network gives entrepreneurs a place to start when they begin their search for the resources they need to grow their early-stage companies.”
    John Dearborn, President of JumpStart Inc.
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  • A sustainable economic base can be created in the inner city through private, for-profit initiatives and investment based on economic self-interest and genuine competitive advantages.
     

Professor Michael E. Porter,

Founder and Chairman

ICIC

for our monthly Inner City Insights.

© 2011 Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. All rights reserved.