Robert H. Pittman - Rebooting Local Economies: How to Build Prosperous Communities

Rebooting Local Economies

Rebooting Local Economies

How to Build Prosperous Communities

Robert H. Pittman, Rhonda Phillips, and Amanda Sutt

Rebooting Local Economies: How to Build Prosperous Communities

Copyright Business Expert Press, LLC, 2022.

Cover design by Kaitlin Henre

Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior permission of the publisher.

First published in 2022 by

Business Expert Press, LLC

222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017

www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-63742-254-0 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-63742-255-7 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Economics and Public Policy Collection

First edition: 2022

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Description

Why do some communities thrive and grow while others struggle and decline? Smart communities know how to attract and nurture the kinds of businesses and organizations they want to create a vibrant economy and higher quality of life.

The more that elected officials and all residents know about community and economic development, the more the community will prosper. How to Build Prosperous Communities is a practical guide to help communities reach their goals for prosperity. Numerous examples throughout the book show how communities and regions of all sizes have attained and maintained prosperity in a constantly changing environment.

The book is based on the authors years of experience helping communities and regions across the country and around the world create their roadmaps to prosperity with better jobs, improved public services, and enhanced amenities.

Keywords

economic development; community development; city growth; prosperous community; rebooting economy; new normal; job creation; city planning; community marketing; community strategic planning; community visioning; community assessment; business attraction; high quality of life; high standard of living

Contents

Rebooting Local Economies: How to Build Prosperous Communities is highly recommended by practitioners, elected officials, and others involved in community and economic development.

Using real-world examples blended with just the right amount of academic research, Rebooting Local Economies is the equivalent of a master class in how to build a prosperous community. If you are an economic developer of an American community in need of a turnaround at any level, Robert Pittman, Rhonda Phillips and Amanda Sutt have done the homework for you and produced a blueprint for success. They have distilled the work of community development and improvement to its essence, and they have documented the results that inevitably follow when this recipe is followed.I encourage every elected community official, city manager and economic developer in the U.S. to read this manual. Its the best book on this topic I have read in a very long time.Ron Starner, Executive Vice President, Site Selection Magazine and Conway, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia

Rebooting Local Economies: How to Build Prosperous Communities provides real life stories that can put you on a path to building a more prosperous community. If youre an elected official, board member, community volunteer or citizen who aspires to live in a prosperous community,Rebooting Local Economies: How to Build Prosperous Communities is a must read.Glenn McCullough, Jr., Former Mayor, Tupelo, Mississippi, ChairmanTennessee Valley Authority 0105, Executive Director Mississippi Development Authority 1520

You have done almost an impossible task of creating a really concise guide for community development. The case studies are particularly interestingand compelling.Strategic planning has long been associated with successful organizations; much time and energy have been devoted to creating plans that, for one reason or another, fail to be implemented.

In How to Build Prosperous Communities, community leaders are offered a roadmap to community prosperity that can be achieved by breaking the process into manageable components.The incorporation of important topics for consideration, including impacts from the global health pandemic, as well as contemporary case studies of communities with diverse populations, will provide individuals a masterful approach to changing the culture of their communities in dramatic fashion.James F. Mellichamp, President, Piedmont University, Demorest, Georgia

The book was very informativeit is a must read for local leadership and a blueprint for success in economic development.Greg James, Chair, Board of Commissioners, Rabun County, Georgia

The authors do an excellent job outlining economic development initiatives and follow it up with case studies and examples where the initiatives have worked. This quick read is a great tool to have at your fingertips as a City official.Chuck Warbington, City Manager, Lawrenceville, Georgia

This is a great resource for community leaders to share so they are all working from the same play book for the critical work of community economic development. It is a quick read with easy-to-use resources no matter what level of experience you have.Nicole Love Hendrickson, Chairwoman, Board of Commissioners, Gwinnett County, Georgia

I have been lucky enough to be part of a team of elected officials that have revitalized our downtown to become the pinnacle example of how to revitalize a city. After reading Rebooting Local Economies, I realize I have not considered many gaps in our economic development plan.This book gives recent and relevant research to show trends as well as being written for anyone to easily follow regardless if you are in industry or not.It has left me with many ideas to research and implement that I hadnt considered before. I really enjoyed the read!Greg Whitlock, City Council, Duluth, Georgia

Movies about space exploration often show humankind at our bestsmart, daring and above all, working together. The Right Stuff and First Man, respectively, tell the success stories of achieving earth orbit and landing on the moon. Apollo 13, on the other hand, begins as a story about failure but ends as a testimony to how people at all levels and pay grades came together to avert disaster and save three brave astronauts. These movies show that while the astronauts obviously must be well-trained and knowledgeable, the support teams must be equally capable. Their knowledge of the astronauts, their spacecraft, and the mission was crucial to success.

The same logic applies to building prosperous communities. Success is more likely when teams that are knowledgeable and supportive of the mission back community and economic development professionals and others working on the frontlines. Who are the support teams for community prosperity? The short answer is that all residents should work to make their community a better place, but key mission team members such as elected officials, civic board members, and other community leaders can spearhead the effort. And, as in space exploration, the more that community residents and team members know about community and economic development, the more likely the mission of community prosperity will succeed.