Jason Broadwater works with groups, governments, schools, nonprofit organizations, and businesses to provide economic and community development consulting services, as well as marketing, PR, and facilitation services to those focused on Development, Workforce, Community, Industry, and Institutional Process.
Economic Development Consulting Case Study
Knowledge Park
Knowledge Park is the economic development strategy to bring together a 1.5-mile radius area at the center of Rock Hill, SC that includes the burgeoning downtown, Winthrop University, and the previously blighted abandoned textile corridor that lies in between. The project is focused on the new economy and how jobs and business flows from the cultural vibrancy of the placemaking of the urban environment. The project is ongoing, multifaceted, and has led to hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment in the Knowledge Park area.
Jason is a visionary person with a remarkable ability to put ideas into action. In supporting economic development, highest recommendations!
Jason is a self-organizing and visionary entrepreneur and a leader in our community.
Economic Development Consulting Case Study
University Center
Sidewalk/Rock Hill, LLC is producing a Bold New Vision for a long-vacant textile factory adjacent to the beautiful campus of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Known as University Center, this new development stretches from the southern tip of the revitalizing downtown through the textile corridor to Winthrop University. The 23-acre former bleachery site will include:
Sidewalk Development contacted Jason from the beginning of the project to get input on strategy, audience, and voice. From there, Jason and RevenFlo created the media for the project including the video and the website. We worked on:
My word!!!!! That is beyond a tremendous job. Thank you all for nothing less than a professional & creative collaboration.
Economic Development Consulting Case Study
Aday Remus
Aday Remus was a project in prototyping what a downtown and thus a community could become. The project allowed citizens to participate in designing the potential future of their own communities by attaching ideas to spaces. What would you do with a building?
What’s your idea for the new use of an old space? Participants could identify buildings in their communities and design prototypes of the use of those spaces (a coffee shop, a cowork space, a bookstore, a pizza place, or whatever). Participants could then engage socially around these ideas, thus driving an active redevelopment of your community.
Jason was the creator, producer, and director of the Aday Remus project as whole. Plus, in In 2013, Jason orchestrated a pilot project that brought together a hand-picked group of Masters in Business Administration students from Winthrop University with Economic Development staff at the City of Rock Hill, as well as community leaders and businesses. The MBA students identified available buildings and developed business ideas for the use of that space. The students used Aday Remus as their medium to do the work in a public and social way. Then, Jason, RevenFlo, and the students themselves designed the 2013 Old Town New World Conference around the project.
The project has proven to be a cornerstone for my educational experience both inside and outside the classroom, and I have taken the skills, knowledge, and relationships gained and have applied them daily to my career moving forward.
More than a traditional internship or single class, this project provided deep interdisciplinary problem solving & hands on experience. Being able to work alongside both a university and city officials offered hands on experience, not only in project management, but also in community empowerment.
Economic Development Consulting Case Study
The Hive
For three and a half years, we (a collaboration of businesses and institutions) brought students from Winthrop University and York Technical College into a space in burgeoning downtown Rock Hill, SC and taught them how to design and develop websites by building free or low-cost websites for regional non-profit organizations.
The outcomes of The Hive were many and interwoven.
Jason created the concept of the Hive. He was the co-founder and then managed the project for three years.
The Hive represents the very best of today’s reality. A joint effort with the public private and educational interests combined to enhance economic development and learning experience is a win for everyone. Our hope is that the quality of life in our community and this new high tech initiative will result in creative jobs in a place young people will want to stay and call home.
The Hive is an innovative, collaborative solution for utilizing the growing Internet Industry for workforce, community, and economic development. Not only was the idea truly innovative, but RevenFlo delivered.
Field based learning is at the heart of what we do but the HIVE takes the benefits to a new level; students have a dedicated place to work, the clients are real, other team members come from York Tech with their distinct competencies, so the collaborators is a perfect representation of how their careers will unfold. They feel the pressure and learn to rely on their creativity. Our teachers, working with the other supervising professionals, can act more like conductors than enforcers of a set of arbitrary rules.
The Hive is bringing a new energy, youthful energy, to the core of Main Streets of Old Town. It provides a place for future entrepreneurs to learn a trade, to hone it, and possibly to set up shop in Old Town Rock Hill. And, what’s even better, these entrepreneurs might consider remaining in Old Town as residents. The Hive is a boon to restaurants in Old Town and is a strong contributor as the “third place” to which downtown Rock Hill has aspired. In short, it’s good for business and it’s good for people.
Economic Development Consulting Case Study
Jobs Rock Hill
Jobs Rock Hill is a jobs website for the city of Rock Hill and beyond. The site focuses on the Knowledge Economy. The site is in reaction to a study that revealed that 50,000 people drive out of York County everyday to work in neighboring Charlotte. These talented workers don’t believe there are jobs in Rock Hill. Meanwhile, employers say there is not the talent/workforce in Rock Hill. The Jobs Rock Hill project is an attempt to make both sides recognize that the other is there and thus to retain talent working in Rock Hill and York County.
Jason brought the concept to the table of a standalone jobs website for the community centered around the knowledge economy. He created the business model for a partnership between his company RevenFlo and the Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation. Working with his team at RevenFlo, he developed the brand and the website.
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