Projects

Kane County’s diverse assets – its skilled workforce, industrial base, agricultural strength, good quality of life, natural beauty – provide tremendous opportunity for the county’s future economic growth. While the…

As further described in Evolving Corporate Business Engagement in Community and Economic Development, changes in the economy are increasing the alignment between businesses’ bottom-line interests and the traditional goals of…

Upstream Illinois, prepared for Current, lays out a roadmap for the Chicago region to grow and sustain a globally significant Inclusive Blue Economy. The report summarizes findings from an analysis of…

Portland’s Inclusive Economic Growth Plan presents an ambitious plan for Portland to develop into a next generation model for inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the emerging economy. The report…

Leading financial and development stakeholders in the United Kingdom are exploring how U.K. financial institutions can expand their capacity to effectively make place-based impact investments. This paper synthesizes lessons from…

This presentation was the basis for an Economic Mobility Roundtable discussion in Atlanta, co-hosted by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and the New Growth Innovation Network (NGIN). The presentation addresses…

This August 2018 presentation to a Council on Foundations conference describes the changing drivers of growth in the next economy, presents the data and analysis demonstrating why we must undertake…

Following a detailed market analysis of the metals, machinery and equipment (MM&E) sector in the South Suburbs of Cook County (the “Southland”), this concept paper proposes an intervention to re-establish…

Researched and published with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this report from Mass Economics and RW Ventures offers insight on innovative and potentially more effective opportunities for…

ScaleUP Sacramento presents a framework and action agenda to generate inclusive economic development for the Sacramento region. Building from and supplementing existing studies of the region’s major assets and economic…

The City of Charlottesville has been increasingly confronting its history of racial inequality, spurred in part by the events during the Summer of Hate, especially on August 12, 2017. The…

Food and beverage manufacturing and packaging is a major opportunity for inclusive cluster-based development in the Chicagoland region (see RW Ventures’ Chicagoland FOOD report). Cook County’s South Suburbs are home…

The “Opportunity Corridor” is a roadway connecting Cleveland’s two most significant hubs of economic activity: downtown and University Circle. It traverses a diverse set of neighborhoods that are well-located and…

The South Suburban Economic Growth Initiative (SSEGI) brings together community, industry, and government to reestablish the South Suburbs as an economic powerhouse. It is a wide-reaching and ambitious convening of…

As major transitions in the global economy create new challenges and opportunities, new strategies for driving economic growth are emerging that are often broader in scope, larger-scale, more comprehensive and…

In this story addressing the State’s role in business development, Bob Weissbourd notes that the key issue is not low tax rates but the value proposition a state offers companies,…

An industry profile of the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network highlights the history and progress of the world’s first inclusive cluster organization, in which RW Ventures, LLC played a key…

A national movement is growing to support and affect the trajectories of “middle neighborhoods” – a distinct type of neighborhood described as “on the edge between growth and decline…. where…

Economic development professionals are beginning to think differently about how they create stronger neighborhoods, cities, and regional economies. They are applying an asset- and market-based development framework, which entails “growing…

If Chicago is chosen for the location of Barack Obama’s presidential library, Illinois taxpayers could be on the hook for $100 million. Are the benefits that come with presidential libraries…

This presentation (also available in Italian upon request) for a regional business conference in Rovereto, Italy describes the growing market for “green” products, identifies business opportunities and sustainability strategies and…

This presentation outlines the theoretical framework for market-based community economic development, including a discussion of how market-based strategies work and when they are most effective. The presentation also provides examples…

This document is the culmination of an innovative, two-year effort to develop an integrated and mutually reinforcing set of strategies and initiatives to drive growth in four contiguous Chicago neighborhoods:…

Delivered by RW Ventures, Chicago TREND and the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, this pair of training sessions were designed to help communities pursuing retail, industrial land use, small business or…

Originally developed as a two-day training for HUD Choice Neighborhood program grantees, this presentation was delivered to grantees from NeighborWorks America’s Catalytic Grant Program. The training presents the rationale and…

Chicago TREND (Transforming Retail Economics of Neighborhood Development) combines innovative predictive analytics, deal brokering and financial products to support “retail on the leading edge” of emerging neighborhood markets. The new…

Prepared for the Chicago Federal Executive Board, this presentation assesses the nation’s progress over the last 50 years and suggests a new framework for winning the “War on Poverty.” Finding…

This report, written in partnership with the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC), highlights the opportunities for driving inclusive regional growth through the collaborative development of the Chicagoland region’s food manufacturing…

Chicago TREND (Transforming Retail Economics of Neighborhood Development) combines innovative predictive analytics, deal brokering and financial products to support “retail on the leading edge” of emerging neighborhood markets. The new…

This paper was prepared as background for a convening of national experts to explore how the fields of urban planning/design and economic development can better inform each other in practice…

This slide deck, presented at the 2014 CEOs for Cities National Meeting, highlights the economic imperative, and offers a framework, approach, analysis and examples for better achieving both prosperity and…

Building on The Changing Dynamics of Urban America, this study examines the relative importance of economic and quality of life factors in attracting and retaining college-educated workers. The project, conducted…

This set of documents reflects recommendations for leveraging urban industrial corridors in Indianapolis, Indiana in ways that support high-growth-potential regional clusters. The project was undertaken by RW Ventures in partnership…

This presentation, delivered to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s leadership team, provides a set of strategic redevelopment scenarios for a 31-acre site the foundation owns in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of…

Developed for the June 2014 Convening on Inclusive Regional Economic Growth at the Ford Foundation, this framing paper captures findings from interviews of attendees and other leading practitioners to provide…

Developed as part of a two-day training for planning and implementation grantees from HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods program, this presentation walks through the logic and structure of a new approach to…

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, accepting the recommendations of her Council of Economic Advisors, adopted Partnering for Prosperity: An Economic Growth Action Agenda for Cook County, a report developed…

As part of a Chicago Tribune series on the region’s biggest challenges in 2014, Bob Weissbourd argued for the importance of achieving inclusive economic growth, and identified strategies for better…

Prepared for Cook County by its Council of Economic Advisors, Metropolis Strategies and RW Ventures, this Action Agenda begins by addressing Cook County’s role in the regional economy, in light…

The Chicago Tribune published this op-ed, authored by Bob Weissbourd, which argues that greater public-private collaboration and a more flexible, dynamic and open institutional infrastructure are necessary to be competitive…

These three presentations outline the key drivers of economic growth in the next economy, articulate the concept of “metro-economics” and describe the approach of Metropolitan Business Planning. The first two…

The Milwaukee 7 (M7) released a draft of its Framework for Economic Growth at the November meeting of its Regional Economic Development Advisory Council.  M7 engaged public, private and civic stakeholders from…

The plan was developed at the request of Mayor Rahm Emanuel by World Business Chicago and a team of consultants, including RW Ventures. It begins with an overview of the…

This report, written jointly by RW Ventures and Innovation Network for Communities, explores opportunities for Chicago-area firms arising from the increasing market demand for energy- and resource-efficient products and services….

Bob Weissbourd delivered these remarks as part of the “Connecting to Markets” series sponsored by the Institute for Comprehensive Community Development, the Urban Institute, and the Federal Reserve Banks of…

MyHomeEQ, a joint venture of RW Ventures and CNT Energy, officially debuted in the Chicagoland market as part of Energy Impact Illinois (EI2), a CMAP-led initiative for more energy-efficient buildings.  As the online…

The “Implementing Regionalism” project, supported by the Surdna Foundation, begins to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of regional economic development through a comprehensive review of existing research…

This short slide deck was created in response to a presentation by Joe Cortright at CEOs for Cities Fall 2011 Meeting concerning metrics of city vitality. Highlighting the importance of…

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin and the Chief Executives of Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will Counties convened on September…

This presentation, delivered by Bob Weissbourd to the Economic Development Foundations Working Group of Cook County, provides an overview of how the different pieces of the economy fit together and…

Bob Weissbourd delivered this presentation at the London School of Economics’ City Reformers Group Workshop, in a session on public financing. The presentation outlines the troubles facing city governments —…

The Metropolitan Business Planning initiative, co-developed by The Brookings Institution and RW Ventures, continues to generate great interest at the local, state and federal levels. Bob Weissbourd has been presenting…

Prepared in partnership with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program for “Global Metro Summit 2010: Delivering the Next Economy,” this policy brief formally introduces the concept of metropolitan business planning,…

This speech and accompanying PowerPoint were delivered by Bob Weissbourd as part of the Portland Plan — Inspiring Community Series. The speech begins to tie together the various pieces of…

This report explores how the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s GO TO 2040 plan will influence the performance of the regional economy. The report offers a framework for understanding regional…

The Institute for Comprehensive Community Development (ICCD) released the inaugural issue of its journal, including a paper entitled “Lessons from the Field: How 21st Century Community Development Can Inform Federal…

RW Ventures’ analysis of the impact of foreclosures on neighborhood property values has garnered attention from civic sector stakeholders. Bob Weissbourd and Michael He presented the findings of the firm’s…

The Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy (DNT) project provides new analysis on how urban neighborhoods operate, how they change over time, what factors determine their success and how these dynamics vary across…

This concept paper, reporting on a project collaboratively developed by RW Ventures and O-H Community Partners, offers recommendations for catalyzing the emergence of a large-scale market in building energy efficiency…

The Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy (DNT) project provides new analysis on how urban neighborhoods operate, how they change over time, what factors determine their success and how these dynamics vary across…

This presentation, prepared for the Aspen Institute Roundtable and Funders’ Exchange on Community Change, Poverty Reduction and Prosperity Promotion, presents a new framework for thinking about neighborhood change, as well…

This paper, published in the Williams Review, presents selected results from the first phase of the Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy Project. In particular, the paper investigates two key questions relating to…

The Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy (DNT) project provides new analysis on how urban neighborhoods operate, how they change over time, what factors determine their success and how these dynamics vary across…

This speech was delivered by Robert Weissbourd as part of a plenary session on Innovation at the 2007 UMI Forum.  The speech addresses the barriers and opportunities for innovation in…

This report, prepared for the Mayor’s Advisory Council on Bridging the Digital Divide, outlines a comprehensive plan for achieving universal digital excellence, as vital to the future of a global…

This paper and related presentation, prepared for Opportunity Finance Network and CFED, introduce a new framework for bipartisan economic development policies, centered on the idea of “inclusionary growth”.

The increasing attention paid to the region as a key unit of economic activity has given rise to powerful new economic development strategies. By focusing on economic rather than political…

This presentation, prepared for CEOs for Cities’ annual meeting, explores some of the key findings that have emerged from the literature on the role of cities in the national economy…

These two complementary papers written for the Brookings Institution’s Urban Markets Initiative examine the role of information resources in spurring markets and creating investment strategies to boost urban neighborhoods. The…

The Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program hired RW Ventures and Alen Amirkhanien to complete a preliminary assessment of Kansas City’s economy in the context of the Heartland region. This study…