Talk that Music Talk: Passing on Brass Band Music in New Orleans The...
In the early 1900s, jazz was created in New Orleans. Soon afterwards the fear began…it’s moving away, it’s going to die out, it needs to be preserved. Yet each generation has put time and energy into...
View ArticleHealth and Wealth In Your Region: Anchor institutions and regional food...
Health and Wealth In Your Region: Anchor institutions and regional food procurement Hospitals, schools, universities, and government agencies anchor towns and cities by driving economic development,...
View ArticleUncle Sam’s Favorite Corporations Identifying the Large Companies that...
Over the past 15 years, the federal government has provided $68 billion in grants and special tax credits to business, with two-thirds of the total going to large corporations. During the same period,...
View ArticleSustaining tradition: The Andrus Family philanthropy program
When the Surdna Foundation decided it wanted to involve all of the members of the founding Andrus family, they knew they were starting a formidable challenge. Historically they involved a select few...
View ArticleTargeting Inclusive Development: A Value Chain Approach to Sewer...
The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the nation’s sewer systems will require $298 billion worth of capital investments over the next 20 years to replace aging infrastructure and meet new...
View ArticleBlack Workers Matter
Asserting that black lives matter also means that the quality of those lives matters. Economic opportunity is inextricably linked to the quality of the lives lived by blacks in America. Several years...
View ArticleExpanding Opportunity Through Infrastructure Jobs
Since 2010 infrastructure employment has jumped 5 percent, higher than the average across all occupations. These jobs often provide competitive and equitable wages while expanding opportunities to...
View ArticleA National Urban Innovation Report
A National Urban Innovation Report highlights national and local case studies that break new ground and change the game for urban areas in New Jersey and beyond. The Rutgers Center for Urban...
View ArticleCounting Values. Food Hub Financial Benchmarking Study
The nationwide emergence of food hubs is an indicator that local food is becoming more readily available in higher-volume sales channels. The more than 300 food hubs operating around the country use a...
View ArticleLifting Wages for 35 Million Americans
Raising the federal minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2020, as proposed by the Raise the Wage Act of 2015, would lift wages for 35 million American workers, according to a new report by EPI’s David...
View ArticleLocal Hiring Hits the Road
New report analyzes local hiring as an anti-poverty tool. In the last few months, local hiring has rapidly gained traction as an anti-poverty tool utilized at the local, state, and now federal level....
View ArticleNew Study Spotlights Racial and Income Divides In Restaurant Industry
While Jim Crow laws regulated the enforced separation between white and African American patrons in restaurants, today restaurant workers are effectively separated by race and gender by a partition...
View ArticleStrengthening U.S. Manufacturing Through Public Procurement Policies
This study advances a policy framework capable of supporting a major revival of the United States manufacturing sector. We are especially focused on the prospects for greatly expanding good job...
View ArticleCities Building Community Wealth
In cities across the nation, a few enjoy rising affluence while many struggle to get by. This situation is created in part by the practices of traditional economic development. Current trends threaten...
View ArticleInvesting in Businesses Converting to Worker Ownership
The Democracy at Work Institute, a Surdna Foundation grantee, the Cooperative Fund of New England, and Project Equity recently partnered to release an FAQ and case studies about worker coop conversion...
View ArticleSeizing the Power of Public Participation
Today, as low-income communities and residents of color engage in building the power to ensure that their voices are heard and their needs met, federal and state laws impose a wealth of...
View ArticleTo Represent the Public: The Federal Reserve’s Continued Failure to Represent...
The boards of directors of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks are important decision-makers and influencers of national monetary policy. Designed to bring voices from diverse economic perspectives to the...
View ArticleThe Cooperative Growth Ecosystem
The Cooperative Growth Ecosystem framework presents the recent wave of worker cooperative development as a timely, high-potential strategy for inclusive, place-based community economic development. The...
View ArticleStudy Reveals Lack Of Staff Diversity In NYC’s Cultural Nonprofits
The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs announced results of a survey examining the diversity of staff and leadership at City‐funded nonprofit cultural organizations. The survey release marks a major...
View ArticleSlicing the Budget Pie for Big Business
A detailed analysis of economic development budgets in three diverse states—Florida, Missouri, and New Mexico—finds that at least 68 percent of overall state economic development spending goes to large...
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