Manufacturing Regional Prosperity

By:  John Colm, President & Executive Director, WIRE-Net

The Regional Prosperity Project brings together economic development initiatives from 8 regions across the USA to share notes, compare strategies and find ways to overcome barriers to broadly shared regional economic prosperity.  Supported by the Surdna Foundation, the Project is now in its 2^nd year.

I was invited to talk with the group when they held their Cleveland meeting this August, hosted by the Fund for Our Economic Future.

I discussed the 2-3 major ways that WIRE-Net has worked to grow manufacturing jobs, and to connect those new opportunities to low and moderate income communities and individuals.

First on my list was WIRE-Net’s company by company efforts to understand what the main challenges are to growth and “hassle-free” operations in older cities like Cleveland, and to connect manufacturing leaders to resources to get over those barriers to growth. 

WIRE-Net manages the Cleveland Industrial Retention Initiative (CIRI) which aims to bolster Cleveland’s economy as NE Ohio’s largest city.  Over the past 6 years of CIRI under WIRE-Net’s management and partnership with the Cleveland Department of Economic Development, CIRI has helped attract or retain 4800 jobs and $200 million in payroll within Cleveland.  Clearly CIRI is an important tool and asset in Cleveland’s redevelopment efforts.

I’ll share the other two strategies in later posts.