National Resource Network: Technical assistance for economic growth and job creation
The U.S. Department of Housing Preservation and Development has announced that a consortium including NYU Wagner Innovation Labs will serve as the first National Resource Network Administrator under the White House Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative.
The SC2 Network, funded with HUD technical assistance resources, will provide communities with targeted technical assistance to help support locally identified priorities for economic growth and job creation.
In addition to NYU Wagner Innovation Labs, the consortium includes Public Financial Management, Enterprise Community Partners, HR & A Advisors, and the International City/County Management Association.
The consortium's research, which is presented in a report authored by Wagner Innovation Lab's Neil Kleiman, highlights the critical role economically challenged cities play in the state’s economy, and describes their potential to become significant catalysts for further economic growth if challenges are overcome. It further illustrates why it is important for elected officials and policymakers to work with the leadership in these cities to make the most of resources that can improve their economies and their residents’ quality of life.
Accelerating Cities
Accelerating Cities: Why States Are the Most Important Partners for Economically Challenged Cities, provides recommendations for states to effectively work with cities and includes case studies and data from Virginia and New Jersey – two states with incoming governors and cities that have significant economic challenges.
The report claims that state governments can be crucial partners in supporting the turnaround of economically challenged cities, but too often states are afterthoughts in these discussions. In states like Virginia and New Jersey and others around the country, there are great opportunities for better partnerships to drive change.
Hidden in Plain Sights
Hidden in Plain Sight highlights the critical role that economically challenged cities play in the California’s economy and describes their potential to become significant catalysts for further economic growth if challenges are overcome. Already, these cities have the ingredients to turn their economies around. They are growing faster than other cities in California, spurred by immigration and the presence of medical centers, major universities, and other economic assets. They are more racially diverse and younger than the rest of the state. In spite of their struggles, they already create more than $1 trillion in GDP annually and are home to more than 4.6 million jobs.
But the challenges they face are deeper rooted than any Hollywood-inspired disaster. Far fewer of these cities’ residents are college educated and on average, they earn 60 percent less than residents in other cities. The report illustrates why it is important for elected officials and policymakers to work with the leadership in these cities to make the most of resources that can improve their economies and their residents’ quality of life. Understanding, identifying, and then overcoming the economic barriers in California’s cities is vital to our nation and most of all, to the 12 million people who live in them.