By Nicole Morell, Director of Communications
Over the past two years, a dozen practitioners from across the country have gathered for the Taubman Center’s first Economic Development Community of Practice. Hosted in collaboration with the HKS Reimagining the Economy Project, the community was formed to build connections across values-driven state and local economic development leaders and provide a forum for discussing challenges and opportunities in a field where practitioners often face strong headwinds to advance equitable economic outcomes. The community of practice rounds out the Taubman Center’s broader State and Local Economic Development (SLED) Initiative—spanning coursework, experiential learning programming, and fellowships—by extending support to practitioners alongside students and alumni.
Driving impact through economic development
There are thousands of economic development professionals nationwide, all working to strengthen local economies and improve quality of life for residents. While organizations like the International Economic Development Council, (a frequent Taubman Center collaborator) offer valuable connections at a larger network and system-wide level, the Taubman Center set out to complement that by bringing together a more intimate cohort of practitioners to dive deeper into shared challenges while exploring ways to further support these professionals.
Economic development is a key priority for the Taubman Center because, as Executive Director Rafael Carbonell explains, it is one of the most powerful tools available to state and local governments for creating opportunity and new revenue. “Basic services that states, counties, cities, and towns provide are crucial for residents. When it comes to driving forward-looking, transformative change in a region, economic development is essential and does not happen on its own.” he says. “That’s why it is so important to the Taubman Center to support current and future leaders in this space who are focused on the question of ‘economic development for whom and to what end?’”
Economic development needs and approaches differ across communities based on a region’s assets, demographics, geography, and business landscape, but there are many shared challenges in the field. “The Taubman Center is passionate about better informing and inspiring the next generation of economic development leaders through our State and Local Economic Development Seminar, State and Local Economic Development course, and Economic Development Post-Graduate Fellowship for HKS students” shares Natalie Philips, Economic Development Program Manager for the Taubman Center. “We saw this opportunity to bring together some of the exceptional leaders in the space and work through some of their shared problems and identify creative solutions, while also mentoring and connecting HKS students to pathways into the field.”
The community of practice was designed to represent a diversity of regions, organizations, and individual experiences, bringing together economic development leaders from communities from across the country—from the State of Washington, to the City of San Antonio, TX, to Mingo County, WV and many places in between. The cohort met at the Kennedy School multiple times in 2025 and 2026, with virtual meetings keeping the group connected in between. In their first on-campus convening, practitioners zeroed in on common challenges ripe for collective problem-solving, and identified three top issues:
Talent Pipelines: How can the field of economic development recruit and retain the next generation of top talent? How can agencies better prepare for an upcoming wave of retirements?
Public Narratives: How can economic development leaders create more compelling narratives around the role and impact of economic development activities?
Future Industries: How can economic development leaders identify and better plan for industries of the future in their regions?
In discussing the challenges surrounding the talent pipeline, community members benefited from hearing from HKS students interested in a career in economic development as they held a dual meeting with Taubman Center’s Economic Development Seminar cohort. The nearly three dozen students in the seminar joined a dialogue with the practitioners as they addressed both the needs and expectations of the economic development professionals in the current landscape. The visiting practitioners have also gained insights from Harvard Kennedy School faculty, including Professor Elizabeth Linos, Faculty Director of The People Lab, and Professor and Academic Dean for Strategy and Engagement Gordon Hanson, who also serves as Co-Director for Reimagining the Economy.
As convenings and discussion continue across the community of practice, members are eager to share their work with other fellow economic developers, and they will be crafting a set of tools and ideas on the key topics of talent pipelines, public narrative, and future industries. “Our community of practice members have been excited to build something together that can hopefully be useful to other practitioners, and they have informed and shaped every step of this effort,” explains Phillips. “The trust and camaraderie this group has built with one another and with HKS faculty, staff, and students has generated some unique insights that we look forward to sharing.”
The convening of a community of practice of experienced state and local leaders is core to the Taubman Center’s work and has included a recurring convening of governors’ chiefs of staff in partnership with the National Governors Association. It’s all part of the Center’s mission, which includes helping state and local governments implement and scale solutions. “These convenings create the space for public servants to come together for peer learning, problem solving, idea generation, and relationship building. We take great pride in playing a role to spark and sustain these important conversations that can lead to new and improved outcomes, and to connect participants to the incredible resources we have available through the Taubman Center, Kennedy School and Harvard at large, including our phenomenal HKS students who aspire to serve as the next generation of state and local government leaders,” says Carbonell.
