Our Approach Recalibrates What Already Exists.

Economic competitiveness strategies already exist for every rural and urban area in the United States, and create favorable conditions to foster prosperity. Led by Regional Economic Development Organzations (RDOs), they guide transformative economic policies and market trends to benefit anchor institutions, individual investors, and public and private investors. Economic competitiveness strategies create favorable conditions that foster prosperity in regions.

Since the launch of formal economic development planning after 1945, American efforts to build communities have been aligned with regional competitiveness goals have helped reshape skylines of cities and suburbs, and generate white wealth across generations. But there has never been an Inclusive Competitiveness Strategy developed in any city, region or state to prioritize those outcomes and contributions from the nation’s most vulnerable populations (MVPs). We use STEM education and entrepreneurship as the feedstock to enter the innovation economy, with HBCUs serving predominantly Black communities as the hub for moving past inertia.