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White House memo on “place-based” policies for development

 

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Community and Economic Development – Blog by UNC School of Government

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White House memo on “place-based” policies for development

By CED Guest Author

Published October 15, 2009

the_white_houseOn August 11, Peter Orszag and others from the President’s budget/economics team released a memo to all executive agencies and departments entitled “Developing Effective Place-Based Policies for the FY 2011 Budget.” The memo asks agency and department heads to identify three to five programs that show special promise for achieving better outcomes through place-based approaches. According to the memo, “place policies target the prosperity, equity, sustainability and liveability of places — how well or how poorly they function as places and how they change over time.” The memo also recognizes that “change comes from the community level and often through partnership; complex problems require flexible, integrated solutions” and ends with a strong call to action with respect to regionalism, “federal investments should promote planning and collaboration across jurisdictional boundaries. Given the forces reshaping smaller communities, it is particularly important that rural development programs be coordinated with broader regional initiatives.”

Any thoughts on how SOG might play a role in advancing some of the models at work in NC—like the Kerr-Tar Hub, Local Gov’t Service Corps, regional water planning, etc.?

Will Lambe authored the NC Rural Center report, Small Towns, Big Ideas, and he served as Director of the Community and Economic Development Program at the School of Government from 2009 to 2014.
 

Published October 15, 2009 By CED Guest Author

the_white_houseOn August 11, Peter Orszag and others from the President’s budget/economics team released a memo to all executive agencies and departments entitled “Developing Effective Place-Based Policies for the FY 2011 Budget.” The memo asks agency and department heads to identify three to five programs that show special promise for achieving better outcomes through place-based approaches. According to the memo, “place policies target the prosperity, equity, sustainability and liveability of places — how well or how poorly they function as places and how they change over time.” The memo also recognizes that “change comes from the community level and often through partnership; complex problems require flexible, integrated solutions” and ends with a strong call to action with respect to regionalism, “federal investments should promote planning and collaboration across jurisdictional boundaries. Given the forces reshaping smaller communities, it is particularly important that rural development programs be coordinated with broader regional initiatives.”

Any thoughts on how SOG might play a role in advancing some of the models at work in NC—like the Kerr-Tar Hub, Local Gov’t Service Corps, regional water planning, etc.?

Will Lambe authored the NC Rural Center report, Small Towns, Big Ideas, and he served as Director of the Community and Economic Development Program at the School of Government from 2009 to 2014.

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One Response to “White House memo on “place-based” policies for development”

  1. Rick Morse

    This is very encouraging to see the White House rediscover (if you will) place-based approaches to development. Clearly some of our work, like CCP, community visioning efforts like that of Wilson, and our forays into facilitating regional collaboration (Surry County project) are examples of placed-based approaches. I think the emphasis on “drawing on the compounding effect of cooperative arrangements” as it says in the memo is precisely the kinds of “advising” projects we should be looking for. The “Strategic Public Leadership Initiative” that is currently being looked at by the DAC is an example of the kind of work that all of us could potentially plug in to if the DAC does indeed endorse it and empower us to make it happen. It would have us develop partnerships with clients looking to not only engage with us in strategic planning, but beyond the planning into actual implementation. In most cases this would involve (I suppose) partnerships (“cooperative arrangements”) in a variety of ways. We would also look to do this work specifically with partnerships (public-private, multi-jurisdicational, etc.) to help them think and act strategically. I encourage you all to look at our proposal and draft plan of work (P:\wilkins\Strategic Planning – defining The Work) and also attend the information session with the DAC on 10/26 at noon. I think this effort is where CED and the Public Leadership Group could create a lot of synergy.

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