Black Business Owners in Memphis: A Data Story

Memphis, Tennessee, USA downtown skyline.

Introduction Heartland Forward is assisting Memphis-area policymakers and entrepreneur support organizations in creating a more equitable entrepreneurship ecosystem for Black business owners. Achieving equity is key to improving quality of life in the Black community, as entrepreneurship can be a gateway to creating generational wealth for families. It is also key to unlocking the potential… Continue reading Black Business Owners in Memphis: A Data Story

Child Care Policy Efficiency: What States Can Do To Promote Affordable, Accessible, High-Quality Child Care

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the following people who graciously spent time answering our questions and sharing their expertise to help inform our research: Jerry AkersEntrepreneur who offers child care benefits to employees Suzanne SchreiberOklahoma State Legislator Jane AlexanderFormer center director Dan TeefeyExecutive Director of Tracy Family Foundation Cindy DeckerExecutive Director of Tulsa Educare… Continue reading Child Care Policy Efficiency: What States Can Do To Promote Affordable, Accessible, High-Quality Child Care

Place-based Economic Development: Creating growth in the heartland

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Three relatively new federal acts constitute nearly $2 trillion of investments aimed to bolster U.S. competitiveness by stimulating innovation, tech commercialization and domestic manufacturing, while stabilizing and enhancing domestic supply chains1. Such a place-based, capacity-building approach would seem to dovetail nicely with the heartland’s traditional strengths and work ethic. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act… Continue reading Place-based Economic Development: Creating growth in the heartland

Regional Collaboration Drives Economic Development: Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas’ FLAME Proposal

Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas are embarking upon a novel cross-state, super-regional economic development collaboration to create greater density of assets in order to build a logistics and advanced mobility cluster. In the past, jurisdictional geography boundaries have restricted attempts and success in forming broader asset pools to fill gaps in competency and compete against larger… Continue reading Regional Collaboration Drives Economic Development: Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas’ FLAME Proposal

Just Published: Health Care Access in the Heartland

Read Heartland Forward’s most recent research report, Health Care Access in the Heartland: How to improve services in rural America, offers a qualitative and quantitative look at the causes, effects and possible policy solutions to improve health services and workforce opportunities for rural communities. Visit the Rural Health Care Accessibility Atlas Download our policy roadmap

From Research To Renewal, Part 2: States Realizing The Potential Of Research Institutions

Technology transfers – or sharing the results of research that leads to innovation – are an essential fuel for the economic growth of state economies. A better understanding the technology transfer activities in each state helps governors, state agencies and state legislatures – the ultimate guardians of economic development – to make informed decisions about… Continue reading From Research To Renewal, Part 2: States Realizing The Potential Of Research Institutions

Economic Savings in America: A Story of Public-Private Partnership in Rapid COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Deployment

The rapid development and deployment of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic lessened the impact of the virus on the economy, generating an estimated economic savings in the U.S. of $438 billion in terms of 2021 real GDP gain, or 2.3% of 2021 real GDP. These savings, and the development of the vaccine itself, are possible because of the United States’ unique public-private partnership between government agencies, academia and the biopharmaceutical industry that supports innovations in disease therapy.

Heartland of Opportunity

This report focuses on how to identify opportunity occupations for working-class people and what locations are well suited to grow and support these occupations. Can the American Dream be saved? The U.S. middle-class, which epitomizes American values such as hard work, commitment to family and the expectation that a relatively secure future is achievable for almost all, is less easily obtained today than… Continue reading Heartland of Opportunity

Arkansas Economic Recovery Strategy

Commissioned By The Governor’s Taskforce For Economic Recovery COVID-19 has caused substantial economic dislocations in Arkansas and across the nation. It has accelerated changes that were already underway, such as the ability to work remotely on a large scale and the necessity for high-speed internet access to conduct commerce, obtain educational and workforce training and… Continue reading Arkansas Economic Recovery Strategy