Driving an Inclusive Economic Empowerment Strategy in our Nation’s Cities: How Four Cities are Making it a Reality

Sponsor Remarks: Stephen Steinour, CEO, Huntington Bank

Moderator: Christopher Gergen, CEO, Forward Cities

Panelists:
Ashleigh Gardere, EVP of the New Orleans Business Alliance
Andre Pettigrew, Director, Economic & Workforce Development, Durham, NC
Regina Ann Campbell, Chief Program Officer, Epicenter Memphis in Germantown, TN
Evelyn Burnett, Co-Founder & Partner, ThirdSpace Action Lab and Third Space Café

A critical challenge facing our cities is how to foster a growth economy that produces shared prosperity at a time when the future of work is so uncertain. Rapid advances in technology, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have led to significant opportunities for some, while threatening to leave other communities farther behind.

This session will feature a panel discussion centered how four cities are establishing target outcomes for improving their inclusive innovation economy and investing in strategies to build achievable and sustainable outcomes for entrepreneurial and economic success that includes underserved communities. Without new economic growth engines and strategies for broad-based neighborhood revitalization, these communities are at significant economic and social mobility risk.

Listen as panel members from four cities share best practices for investing in strategies to achieve bold targets and discuss how they address challenges to build upon and sustain this work. By taking an intentional, systemic approach to inclusive growth and innovation, cities can lead the way forward as models of urban inclusive economic development.