Talent 2025 Promising Practices Research
Evansville Regional Business Committee
Economic Strategy
The Evansville Regional Business Committee (ERBC) is a coalition of public and private partners, formed to improve and promote the business and commercial climate and conditions in the Evansville, Indiana region. It leads the region’s Talent 2025 Initiative designed to align resources to make Southwest Indiana the talent and economic region of choice in the Midwest.
An initial economic analysis of Southwest Indiana showed that though the region is performing better in some areas, serious challenges remain that hinder its future prosperity. In response, the Talent 2025 Initiative developed five workstreams, established measurable goals and clear objectives for each, and engaged Fourth Economy Consulting to support the identification of promising practices across the country. These promising practices would help to inform the development of strategies around wage and population growth, poverty, educational attainment, and health.
Our Approach
Using the shared economic analysis data and client context setting calls to establish a framework for research, the Fourth Economy team leveraged a number of resources to support the identification of promising practices including desktop research, an existing practice library, and experienced national partner networks. The preliminary list of promising practices were vetted in sessions with workstream participants and prioritized to three or four for further research and one-on-one interviews with practice leads.
The Results
Fourth Economy submitted a report on fifteen promising practices in the areas of educational attainment, health, population growth, employment and wage, and poverty. Each practice included a thorough analysis of its origin, goals and outcomes, as well as organization, funding and community engagement models. Additional context within the report highlighted common themes and recommendations the Talent 2025 initiative can deploy as it shifts from issue identification to strategy development.
Location
Evansville, IN