Stimulus is coming. Let's make its impact inclusive.

by Bruce Katz

Despite the shocking national turmoil of the past week, we know that the most important thing that we must do now is drive an inclusive recovery with all of the public and private resources we can muster.

We know that with the coming transfer of power, we will see the largest stimulus of our lifetimes, and cities must seize the opportunity this year to rebound economically, socially and psychically. Cities will receive the most significant investments in generations, and leaders will be confronted with choices that could yield transformational investments in innovation and human capital or result in missed opportunities, depending on who they assemble to problem solve and the frameworks they use to make decisions. Successful cities and metros will deploy these short-term fixes to directly address long term racial and ethnic disparities and structural weaknesses in their economics to produce inclusive growth.

What does this mean in practice? In a recent process with Greater St. Louis Inc., we defined inclusive growth as broad-based economic growth that enables all stakeholders in a metro area (including residents, workers, entrepreneurs, companies, organizations, and communities) to realize their full potential. Such growth enables the widest range of people and places to both contribute to and benefit from economic success. Inclusive growth aims to produce more prosperity alongside greater equity in opportunities and outcomes by substantially increasing the number of quality jobs and radically reducing racial and spatial disparities in income, health and wealth that have undermined metropolitan performance for decades.

To make the most of this moment, we must position our institutions and intermediaries to produce inclusive outcomes. Some cities have a long head start and others are just beginning, but the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel will continue to work through its network of reflective practitioners to help share best practices to organize around this shot in the arm by federal government. Over the coming weeks, we will capture, codify and broadcast how cities are using funds strategically to slingshot past old barriers and address disparities, and for what can be done in real time to produce inclusive growth and sustain it for the long term.

We believe the innovation economy is a key sector of this recovery and can produce inclusive outcomes when leaders are intentional. This week, amidst the chaos in Washington, we released our most recent City Case, The Cortex Innovation District: A Model for Anchor-Led Inclusive Innovation, co-authored with my colleague at Drexel’s Lindy Institute, Karen Black. This case study shows how St. Louis’ leading institutions came together twenty years ago with a big vision and jump started their innovation economy through long term, strategic and patient investment. It is a roadmap for cities to fully leverage the collaborative power of anchor institutions, strategic public investment and smart use of vacant land to invent an economy from the ground up and begin to make inroads on intractable inequities.

I hope you can take time to focus on this important model by joining us next Wednesday at noon central time with our partners at Washington University, Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth, Accelerator for America, and the Global Institute on Innovation Districts. Details below:

Wednesday, January 13, 12:00PM CT

Innovation Districts and Inclusive Growth

RSVP here

Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Andrew D. Martin will make opening remarks, and the panel will be moderated by Marla Blow, Senior Vice President of Social Impact-North America at Mastercard, and the North America lead for the corporation’s Center for Inclusive Growth. I will be joined on the panel by:

? Hank Webber, Washington University, Executive Vice Chancellor for Civic Affairs and Strategic Planning, Washington University in St. Louis; Board Chair, Cortex Innovation Community

? Sam Fiorello, President & CEO, Cortex Innovation Community

? Jackie Hutchinson, Executive Director, Consumers Council of Missouri; member of the Inclusive Growth Advisory Committee at the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis

? Julie Wagner, President, Global Institute of Innovation Districts

? Otis Williams, Executive Director, St. Louis Development Corporation

The event is hosted by Washington University, in partnership with Drexel University, Accelerator for America, Mastercard, the Global Institute on Innovation Districts (GIID), and the Washington University Social Policy Institute.

I hope to see you there,

Bruce