Develop This: Economic and Community Development

When you spend $75 million on a sports complex in a city of 38,000, the economic impact better follow.  The City of Westfield, IN, pulled of Grand Park - a 400 acre facility designed to serve thousands of competitors.

In this follow-up episode, Jason interviews Amanda Rubadue and William Knox with the City of Westfield to break down the deal and share some of the challenges and successes of pulling off such an endeavor.

You will hear about:

-If you build it, will they come?

-How can you maximize the economic impact of an investment such as this?

-Balancing land use needs between residential and commercial

-Building capacity within the hospitality industry to serve visitors

Grand Park Sports Campus

More About Amanda Rubadue

More About William Knox

You have a great idea, but you need to seek and build consensus from others.  How can you get other people to latch on to your concept, take ownership, and run with the ball?

In this episode, Dennis and Jason share four methods for transplanting your idea into others:

1. The Trump Effect

2. Either/Or

3. Set the Context

4. Brainstorming

This episode brought to you by Accrisoft Corporation - leaders in the economic development web design business.

To close out the series, Dennis brings Mark Lautman, author of the book, When the Boomers Bail back one more time to paint the reality of the current and future workforce crisis.

Join them as they discuss the fake economy, the misalignment between education and the future of work, and whether or not technology can save us.

More About Mark Lautman

When the Boomers Bail: How Demographics will Sort Communities into Winners and Losers

In this episode, Dennis brings Mark Lautman, author of the book, When the Boomers Bail back to scare the heck out of you.

If you think we have seen the worst of the talent crisis, buckle down because the worst is yet to come.  You will hear a bit about:

-Irreversible forces -The zero sum game -Immigration -The inverted dependency ratio

More About Mark Lautman

When the Boomers Bail: How Demographics will Sort Communities into Winners and Losers

Disasters can happen in many forms from weather to employment closures to riots.  By their very nature, they are unpredictable.

As the community development group, what should you do when disaster strikes?  What if you don't know what to do?

In this episode, Dennis and Jason share some best practices and food for thought when the time comes.

This episode brought to you by Accrisoft Corporation - leaders in the economic development web design business.

As is customary, the month of May concludes with your favorite podcast co-hosts sharing their updates from the month, tackling a listener question about retail recruitment, and providing some key takeaways from the interview shows.

In this bonus episode, Dennis interviews Lee Thomas, the head of the Georgia Film Office.

Despite some challenges with the audio, this episode highlights the economics of film production as well as some great anecdotes from working in this business.

More About Lee Thomas

More About the Georgia Film Office

It is possible that your favorite podcast co-hosts are skilled in the art of procrastination.

Instead of working on your to-do list, take a few minutes and listen to this episode where Dennis and Jason provide the world's best excuses for procrastination and then offer strategies that may or may not work.

Either way, listening to this episode allows you to take a break from what you should be doing for the cause of professional development.

In part 4 of this series on Opportunity Zones, Deborah Burns is back to help us look at this program from the point of view of a banker, attorney, or accountant.  How can service providers help their clients reap the benefits of Opportunity Funds?

Get some tips for useful resources as well as some advice for steering clients in the right direction.

Deborah Burns with investUS has enjoyed a 30 year career in finance and has analyzed more than 3,000 business and been a part of more than $3 billion in investments.

More about Deborah Burns

investUS Opportunity Fund

By now, we are all well aware of the workforce challenges faced by most communities.  Unfortunately, we do not yet see the light is not at the end of the tunnel.  In fact, it may get much worse before it gets any better.

In this episode, Dennis interviews Mark Lautman, author of the book, When the Boomers Bail.

There are four big challenges:

-Boomers didn't have enough kids -Our birth rate is too low -We are living much longer -The education system is dropping half the kids in the academic dirt

More About Mark Lautman

When the Boomers Bail: How Demographics will Sort Communities into Winners and Losers