Saturday, May 13, 2006
One of the major challenges facing economic development policy in the years ahead will be shifting our investment from firms to people. As one EDPro noted earlier this week. "We're no longer chasing smokestacks, were chasing talent."
(I would make a slight modification. Instead of chasing talent, we should focus our attention on developing talent and attracting talent.)
To make the shift, we will need to accelerate our investment in early childhood education. Advances in brain science in late 1990s demonstrated the importance of investing in early child care.
Working with former KY governor Martha Layne Collins, I drafted the 1998 Commission on the Future fo the South report that recommended states begin investing in early childhood education as an economic development strategy. (You can download the report from this page.)
In our report, we noted that "workforce development begins with a pregnant mother".
More recently, two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank in Minnesota have been underscored the importance of early child care as an economic development strategy. Read more.
You can learn more about the work of the Federal Reserve Board in Minnesota here.
posted by Ed Morrison |
links
Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber:
Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Shifting from recruiting firms to developing talent
