Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • December 9, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 21 OTHER VOICES The business case for inclusive economic development By Jay Williams T he Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has spent the past few years actively listening to and learning from residents, donors, and grantees while examining an array of information about the region. Our engagement and assessment makes clear that our community must achieve greater racial, geo- graphic and economic inclusion to reach its full potential as a vibrant, thriving and contributing force for re- gional and state prosperity. We know that persistent dis- parities affected by race/ethnic- ity, place (ZIP code) and income serve as barriers to this vision being fully realized. These disparities result from decades of systemic factors, struc- tural racism and disinvestment in many communities. Much focus has been concentrated on equity and inclusion as a matter of social justice, but there is an equally com- pelling business case to be made about inclusion as a strategy for economic growth and prosperity. The recently released Compre- hensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) calls out the urgent need for inclusive growth in the Hartford region. Co-authored by the Capital Region Council of Governments (CRCOG), MetroHartford Alliance and Hartford Foundation, the report sets out goals to develop talent with a focus on under- represented populations to meet employers' needs, investing in quality of place amenities and promoting our brand strengths to boost investment. While broad economic growth is a clear priority, an unwavering commitment to inclusion is vital to both the short- and long-term success of our region. We must balance attracting new businesses and residents with supporting opportunity for existing residents and businesses. Inclusive economic growth policies and actions can tap into the wider talent pool and have a ripple effect of increasing upward mobility — lifting productivity and economic growth for all. The Brookings Institute confirms that metro economies grow faster, stronger and more sustainably when opportunity is not limited to just a few segments of the population. Accordingly, solutions should pri- oritize a commitment to education, training and investment in our cur- rent residents — providing oppor- tunities that respond to their educa- tion and skills as well as creating new opportunities to increase their skill attainment and employability and investing in small businesses and entrepreneurial ideas owned by people of color and women. Reducing occupational barriers for women and blacks in the latter half of the 20th century was a ma- jor contributor to U.S. economic growth during that period. By the middle of the 21st century, more than half of U.S. workers and consumers will be people of color. Furthering the success of popula- tions of color will not only serve an important social-justice goal, it will be a major driver of our collective social and economic well-being. As laid out in the CEDS, our region's goals should be to reduce the level of disparity for both black and Hispanic/Latino populations with respect to income, poverty and employment. Metro Hartford should also focus on reducing geographic disparities between its urban areas and small- er communities along the same three measures. Economic devel- opment organizations can play a central role in advancing inclusive metropolitan economies, but they will need to adopt new practices and set new agendas, advocate for local and state policy reforms, and be part of broader, more inclusive regional coalitions. Education and training organi- zations, community development groups, metropolitan planning or- ganizations and social-justice orga- nizations provide an important part of this local architecture. Clearly, employers themselves will be criti- cal, and must come to the table with an enlightened self-interest. Often these coalitions do not yet exist and building them takes time and resources. It requires naming the institutional barriers to inclu- sion and realigning our resources in areas that have experienced longstanding disinvestment. Preparing a broader and more diverse set of firms, workers and communities to reach their pro- ductive potential offers a compel- ling opportunity for growth. Met- ropolitan America should seize it. The Hartford Foundation is fully committed to addressing systemic disparities around race, place (ZIP code) and income. This is urgent work, and it won't be easy; however, as we enhance the strategic partner- ships between philanthropy, non- profits and the corporate communi- ty, and establish new ones, informed by the lived experience of residents, our vision for true economic inclu- sion can be realized. Jay Williams is the president of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employ- ment Research in Michigan. That means governments are literally flushing taxpayer dollars down the drain, while also giving certain companies a competitive advantage over others. It is possible that Connecticut could lose out on some jobs and investment by being more stingy with its incentives, but the old way of doing things hasn't been effec- tive either. Connecticut has still not recovered all the 120,300 jobs lost during the Great Recession, even though the state since 2011 spent more than $650 million in loans and grants and hundreds of millions more in tax credits to incentivize job growth. (To be fair, the private sector has fully regained lost recession jobs, while the government sector, including casinos, has not.) Money would be better spent on workforce-development programs that train residents for the tens of thousands of unfilled jobs in manu- facturing, health care and other industries. And the best economic-devel- opment program the state could implement would be providing a more competitive business climate in the form of lower taxes, less regulation, lower energy costs, etc. We still have plenty of work to do on that front. Jay Williams choices based upon her day-to-day priorities. She states, "I live my life, pursue my goals, and find a way to weave what I need and want to do around each other." Disrupters are make-it-happen women. They don't question their competence when presented with an opportunity. They "take the job and figure it out as they go." They play to their strengths and use those of others to develop collab- orative teams. Excellent advice: If the company for which you work shows that it only pays lip service to gender equity, it's time to look for one that values your talent.

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