EMSI Joins NYU on the Initiative for Creativity and Innovation in Cities

EMSI was recently invited to partner with New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS) to help develop the Initiative for Creativity and Innovation in Cities, a new certificate program built around economic development in the urban economy.

Launching in the fall semester of 2014, the program is designed to equip economic development organizations and the broad range of economic development professionals (city and state officials, nonprofit leaders, site selectors, city managers, etc.) with the theory, knowledge, and data skills they need to proactively develop their regional economies.

Below is a description of the program and ensuing certificate from NYU-SCPS:

The NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies Certificate in Creative Cities and Economic Development will provide city and state officials, economic development professionals, nonprofit leaders, and city builders with the skills, expertise, and insights which they need to create, implement, and measure asset-driven strategies and plans that move beyond real estate to build upon the creativity, innovation, and human capability of their local communities.

Upon completion of the Certificate program, students will have achieved the following capabilities and competencies:

• Mastery of the fundamentals, tools, and techniques of economic development
• Development of full-scale, data-driven city economic development attraction and retention strategies
• Identification of key economic data, including industry and occupational measurements and demographic sources and metrics
• Grasp of necessary quantitative and qualitative skills and expertise that are critical for success
• Establishment of a network of peer economic development practitioners and experts
• Understanding of key differences between economic development practices across the globe for developed cities/countries, as well as for those still developing
• Best practice development and curation of creative cities approaches
• Development of a creative placemaking toolkit for a variety of communities and neighborhoods
• Comprehension of  a diverse array of economic development tools, incentive programs, and partnership model
• Knowledge of livability and resiliency factors, as well as best practices for the built city environment

The Faculty

The driving force behind the class is Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, founder of the Creative Class Group (which works closely with governments and companies worldwide), and NYU’s newest global research professor. Richard is also the co-founder and editor at large for The Atlantic’s CityLab.com. As you might recall from reading our blog, EMSI has worked with Richard Florida via CityLab on a number of occasions. You can check out some articles here and here.

Steven Pedigo is the course director for the class. As assistant clinical professor for economic development at NYU-SCPS, Steven leads the school’s effort to develop and to deliver its civic engagement and economic development curriculum and research program. Steven has also served as vice president for the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a national research organization founded by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter; the vice president for business attraction and research for Greater Portland, Inc., a regional economic development organization for the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region; and the director of research for the Greater Washington Initiative, a regional marketing organization for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Richard and Steven are joined by Rob Sentz, EMSI’s newly appointed chief innovation officer. This fall he will serve as an NYU adjunct faculty member as he leads the instruction for the class Tools and Techniques for Understanding Urban Economies. Prior to his new position at EMSI, Rob led EMSI’s marketing and communication efforts for eight years. He has written on a broad range of economic and workforce realities through regular contributions to Forbes, The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, and partner company CareerBuilder.

EMSI Class: Tools and Techniques for Understanding Urban Economies

The program will be divided into two distinct classes. Richard and Steven will teach Principals of Economic Development while Rob and the EMSI team will teach Tools and Techniques for Understanding Urban Economies.

The EMSI class has a hybrid format with a total of eight lessons: three synchronous sessions (live) and five asynchronous sessions (online). All course work is contained within NYU classes (NYU’s LMS), including readings, discussion forums, and other assignments. Students can take the class from anywhere via NYU’s learning management system (LMS).

All students of the EMSI class will receive access to Analyst, EMSI’s online labor market analysis tool. We will be using the tool extensively in the course activities. By the end of the course, students will be able to the following:

• Explain why labor market analysis is useful for economic and community development, and demonstrate how to use it in workforce and business development planning
• Define a city or regional economy and articulate its relative strengths, target industries, competitive advantages, and emerging clusters
• Create a workforce and gap analysis to understand key occupational clusters, staffing patterns, human capital, and educational training needs
• Develop an urban economic development strategy using the data, tools, and theory presented in the course

The eight lessons are as follows:

1. Introduction: Developing a Data-Driven Economic and Workforce Development Strategy
2. The Why, How, and What of Data in Economic Development
3. Data and Analyst Orientation
4. The Regional Economy, Part 1–Drawing the Circle: Determining Your Region’s Boundaries
5. The Regional Economy, Part 2–What’s Inside of the Circle?
6. What Are Your Regional Strengths?
7. Understanding and Assessing Your Workforce
8. Final: Group Presentation

The Certification

The classes within the program stand independently; you may take them together or alone. But please note that to obtain the certificate, you will need to take both required classes (Principles of Economic Development; Tools and Techniques) as well as two electives. 

How Do You Enroll? 

To learn more or to register click here. Tuition is $795 per class. We are really excited about this opportunity and think that many economic development organizations can greatly benefit from this program. Share it around with your colleagues and friends!

If you have any questions, please contact Steven Pedigo. You can also check back with the Initiative for Creativity and Innovation in Cities website or follow Rob Sentz on Twitter via @EconomicSentz. For more history about the program, click here.