In 2018, the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research launched a major research initiative into place-based strategies for local prosperity. Place-based strategies are nothing new. For decades, cities, regions, and states have sought to increase the number of jobs available to residents, expand their tax base, and promote amenities and…

We study how the employment effects of enterprise zones vary with their location, implementation, and administration, based on evidence from California. We use new establishment-level data and geographic mapping methods, coupled with a survey of enterprise zone administrators. Overall, the evidence indicates that enterprise zones do not increase…

The main objective of this project is to demonstrate how a community action agency can operate manpower and economic development programs with continuing impact. The program offers: (1) training in four areas, (2) supportive services, including counseling and basic education, (3) youth programs, (4) economic development efforts to help the local…

The Duke Endowment's Program for the Rural Carolinas is a 5-year effort to assist the revitalization of rural communities. Guiding principles of the program are that the rural Carolinas matter, this generation of workers matters, effective community development involves the entire community, solutions must be locally determined, healthy…

This guide, based on approaches for targeting jobs and business opportunities that were developed during the Targeted Jobs Demonstration Program (TJDP), contains strategies and techniques for ensuring that some of the benefits of economic development investments are directed to low-income individuals and small and minority businesses. Addressed in…

This practical aid is designed to help individuals and organizations working at the local level on employment and economic issues to build effective public-private partnerships and develop stronger links between economic development and employment and training activities. It is intended for practitioners at the policy and program levels in public…

Grameen Banks are a model of successful support for the smallest businesses. The Grameen Bank began in 1976, when Muhammad Yunus, an economics professor at Chittagong University in southern Bangladesh, loaned Sufiya Khatun, a weaver of bamboo stools, $4 U.S. to buy supplies and raise her daily profit from 2 cents to $1.25. Her success prompted…

Designed specifically for private industry councils (PICs), this guide introduces the subject of economic development and job creation and highlights the impact PICs can make through carefully chosen involvement in local economic development efforts. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to economic development: What it is; how it is related to…

A model program based on three demonstration projects of the Appalachian Women's Employment Information Project plus one Women's Bureau funded project for rural women in Mississippi provides a guide to the development or expansion of training and employment services for rural women. The model program is designed to help economically disadvantaged…

The Appalachian Regional Commission used its $120 million appropriation for fiscal year 1986 to create and retain jobs under the jobs and private investment program, provide basic public facilities to the worst-off Appalachian counties under the distressed counties program, and to work toward closing the gaps in the Appalachian Development Highway…

In the third year of its finish-up program, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) used its area development appropriation of $44 million to target three broad areas: (1) creating and retaining jobs in the region; (2) providing basic public facilities in the worst-off Appalachian counties; and (3) improving health care throughout the region.…

Inner-city business development is often proposed as a solution to inner-city poverty. However, research evidence suggests that creating new jobs in the inner city is unlikely by itself to increase significantly the employment or earnings of the inner-city poor. Public subsidies for inner-city business development may be justified by greater…

In the 1970's Rural Development Counselors and Community Affairs Specialists of the Manitoba Department of Agriculture were part of an effort to reverse trends of economic depression and rapid outward migration from rural to urban centers by assisting rural Manitobans individually, in groups, and as communities. Low- to moderate-income farmers and…

The effectiveness of state enterprise zone programs was examined by using a hypothetical-firm model called the Tax and Incentives Model-Enterprise Zones (TAIM-ez) model to analyze the value of enterprise zone incentives to businesses across the United States and especially in the 13 states that had substantial enterprise zone programs by 1990. The…