While Shop Local campaigns may generate a slight bump in local sales for a few weeks, the results are usually mediocre and temporary. This is not a criticism of the people running these campaigns. The problem is, instead, with the nature of the Shop Local campaign itself. Ditch your Shop Local Campaign for a Discover Local initiative, and see a permanent change in local consumer behavior.
Ideas for Change
“If a person can accurately look into the future of America’s cities of the twenty-first century, that person is Jason Broadwater.”
— Dr. Eddie Lee, Mayor of York, SC (retired)
Upstream of Strategic Planning
Across the country, communities are experiencing an economic reality that they cannot explain. While they are recruiting businesses, growing in population, and developing real estate, the people in their community are getting poorer. Wages may be increasing and the markets soaring, but somehow people are less able to afford basic expenses and build wealth over time. They are increasingly incapable of owning a home, paying for healthcare, and affording higher education.
This common outcome is the result of national structural economic forces that have reshaped how wealth is created, distributed, and retained in our economy. Understanding these forces is the first step in your community’s success for the next 20-50 years.
Jason helps communities gain clarity in understanding the larger economic forces that affect them, build a vision for real success, and identify current opportunities to affect lasting change.
Keynotes & Workshops
Jason works with small cities, towns, and rural communities in the US to help them:
- see the new and shifting economy more clearly,
- align economic and community development strategy with long-term economic health, and
- identify current opportunities for positive change.
White Papers on
Community Economic Development
Extractive vs. Circulatory Economics
Why people and communities are getting poorer over time, and what to do about it
Credit Unions Must Act Now
The Impact of Credit Union Financial Structure on Community Wealth
Seven-Steps to a Successful Discover Local Initiative
Ditch your “Shop Local” campaigns for a “Discover Local” initiative and see permanent change in local consumer behavior
Thought-Leadership Articles
on Economic Development
Extractive Economics: Why communities are getting poorer & what to do about it
Are the people of your community getting richer or poorer? Well, by isolated metrics, like wages and 401ks, one could argue richer. But by lived experience, in relation to the important expenses of our lives and our ability to build wealth over time, the clear answer is poorer. But why? The answer is woven into our economic system.
Individual Economic Health
Economic Developers have traditionally focused on business recruitment and real estate development. Now we find ourselves in workforce development, skills training, soft-skills, even transportation and childcare. We need a new perspective on what it means to serve a community in Economic Development.
Shift: Pending U.S. Economic Crisis
More people are getting poorer over time. We must evolve our understanding of the economy so that we can see the pending crisis that lurks underneath. Only then can we design the changes that will avoid calamity and create a better future for all.
The Agriconomy as an Economic Development Strategy for York County, South Carolina
York County should invest significantly in developing the “Agriconomy” (as I call it) – agri-business, agri-tourism, agri-lifestyle, etc. – in the western part of the county.
20 Solutions that You May Not Like for the Economic Crisis in the US
Some of you will not like these solutions… I get it. Some of these are pretty radical. But, the fact remains, doing all of (or even some of) these things that I spell out below would help combat the economic crisis in the US, The Great Slide I call it, of the working class into poverty.
Change Needed in the City’s Approach to Residential Development
Recently, I attended a joint meeting of City Council and the Planning Commission in Rock Hill, SC. I was among the listening public.
Point-to-Point: The Radical Impact of the Internet on the Global Supply Chain
Innovation and technology are changing everything we do. No industry, no institution, and no social structure is unaffected. Read the full article here.
The Crisis Underneath the US Economy
I work most every day trying to add value in a way that makes me proud of what I do. I enjoy my work – its creative and fun.
Economic Success for York, SC (and any small town in the US)
Economic Development is quality of life. It is the bettering of the quality of life of the people in a particular place. We tend to think of it as the pursuit of jobs or tax base or real estate development. But it’s quality of life, plain and simple.
Be a Florence in the New Renaissance
As your organization or community looks to recruit and retain talent, evolve with and for the millennial generation, and reorganize around a new vision of success for the radical changes in our world and economy, it will behoove you to think of yourself as a Florence in the New Renaissance.
State of Infrastructure in SC
Jason addresses the annual $1.4 billion shortfall in the roads and transportation systems of South Carolina. He discusses the concept…
Incentives for Growth
What drives business to your community? Sometimes tax incentives aren’t a feasible option for many communities who want to bring…
Streetcars in Communities
What’s the difference between a transportation tool and an economic development tool? Not much, according to Jason Broadwater. Often underestimated…
Transportation Strategy
How long does it take for you to get to work? Your favorite café? Whether you’re stuck in traffic daily…
An Economic Development Strategy for the City of Rock Hill, SC
I developed an economic development strategy for the City of Rock Hill, SC. I want to share it with whomever…
Innovation Horizontal
How can one person be valuable to many different industries? Easy. Jason identifies the little known horizontal slice of innovation…
Education in Economic Development
To revitalize your community, you have to start from within it. Think about what you learned in school. So much…
Winthrop Football, Still Undefeated
At a business luncheon, someone asked the new president of Winthrop University if we will get a football team. This…
Find Your Champions
How can you get the new generation of millennials to want to participate in your community or business? Can you…
Economic Development in Communities
Creating a community that’s culturally vibrant seems daunting. But it may not be as difficult as it seems. It’s not…
A Partial Vision of My Community (like remembering a dream)
I had a vision, partial vision, of my community, like remembering a dream, starting from where I stood in RevenFlo…
The Connected Village
A short video we shot on the Connected Village – urban revitalization for new-economy Economic & Community Development.
How Rock Hill, SC (and your town) are Like Florence of the Renaissance
I once wrote a children’s youth fiction fantasy kinda book called Wayland. The book was about a little boy who…
Nominated Rock Hill, SC for the GEC in Milan, Italy
I nominated Rock Hill, SC (particularly Knowledge Park) for the Global Entrepreneur Congress event in Milan, Italy. Here’s the video…
Learning from Boston while at Harvard
I’m currently in a program at Harvard in the John F. Kennedy School of Government on Innovation in Economic Development.…
Knowledge Park Study Offers Helpful Recommendations
Rock Hill’s local newspaper The Herald published an article yesterday focusing on the new city-commissioned study of Knowledge Park. The…