Falmouth Economic Sustainability

Falmouth's Wonderful Plan for Economic Sustainability

What is Sustainable Economic Development?

the practice of economic development is being remade in response to fundamental changes in the economy, technology, workforce, & global integration

investments in home-grown start-ups & existing small business owners--often works because it does not target sectors, but offers opportunities across them

great for a community that is ready for change and seeks innovation

talk to them to understand the challenges & assets

What is a good job?

The Number 1 concern for business is access to a strong, skilled workforce, and has replaced the desire for a low-cost business environment.

-International Economic Development Council (March, 2010)

Job quality is based on wages and earnings, benefits, job security, advancment opportunity, work schedule, health & safety, fairness, & worker voice

"A Progressive Economic Development Agenda for Shared Prosperity:

Taking the High Road & Closing the Low" by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (2006)

What Does Local Government DO?

From the public perspective, local economic development involves the allocation of limited resources--land, labor, capital, & entrepreneurship in a way that has a positive effect on business activity, employment, income distribution patterns, & fiscal solvency

It is a process of selective intervention in the normal economic function of a place.

provides social services & economic infrastructure

regulates economic activities

manages the natural environment

facilitate diverse interests

What Else?

People

soft & hard skills training

interventions to address barriers such as housing, transportation, child care

place-based community & neighborhood development

job matching

Regulations & Policies

These tools do work to create quality jobs under specific conditions, they do not create sustainable frameworks that transform communities, economies or neighborhoods.

Regulations need to guide & encourage desired activities, not just prohibit undesirable ones

Employer and Industry-Focus

focus on increasing efficiency, productivity, innovation & competitiveness through industry partnerships & other sector or cluster-based strategies, & establishing career ladders, skill standards, & other initiatives to ensure the availability of an appropriate workforce

4 Characteristics of Sector Strategies

1. Intensive focus on a specific industry over a sustained time period

2. Strengthen industry competitiveness by creating new pathways into the industry

3. Led by a strategic partner with deep industry knowledge

4. Promote systemic change that achieves benefits for the industry workers & the community

not all communities have a set of sectors strong enough on which to base a strategy

there is also the risk of overlooking emerging jobs that are not part of an existing sector

a too-narrow focus may also undervalue the importance of entrepreneurs & small business

Emerging Framework

living wage laws

Leadership & Management

community benefit agreements (i.e. affordable housing, parks, on-site day care, etc.)

From the Center for Law and Social Policy:

attaching job quality requirements to tax incentive packages

combine materials, money,& personnel successfully

The High Road

characterized by firms, industries & clusters that compete on the basis of high quality rather than low cost

• higher productivity
• higher wages
• improved labor relations
• greater commitment by business to a community
• corporate environmental stewardship

hire locally provisions

motivators

visionaries

coordinators

risk takers

creates a low wage, low regulation, low tax environment that minimizes costs for business at the expense of workers, infrastructure, & ultimately economic growth itself

innovators

The Low Road

build human capital

competitive advantage

balanced local economy

enhance existing businesses

Business Retention & Expansion

Objectives

increased social welfare

protect the environment

3 Approaches

new businesses from outside town

improve the quality of life

development over growth

Business Attraction

greater local wealth

grow new local businesses

Business Start-Ups

self-sufficiency focused more than export based

environmentally sensitive & responsible

What is your idea of...

ranks individual impacts & priorities--yield social, economic & environmental benefits together, rather than one at the expense of another--systems based

creation of quality jobs

improvement of existing jobs

based on the area's competitive advantage

create a foundation for change

Economic Gardening

individuals, businesses, communities succeed together

opportunity for action instead of reaction

provide direction

based on systems of relations & alignments across organizations within the public, private & community sectors

Why Plan?

set the overall framework

built around common goals

build concensus

shared objective of creating sustainable, quality jobs in a more resilient, more diverse economy

link the future to the present

Who are the stakeholders in the garden?

directs focus on the right things

alignment in a regional context

engaged local leadership

incorporating inclusion

building capacity

building on existing assets

basing plans on solid information

innovation & entrepreneurship

Common Componenets