Economic Development – THE Winning Strategy
I have lived in Cleveland now for the past 7 years having moved here from Chicago during the tech boom.
This area is really struggling, the city has been shrinking for about 30 years, businesses have been leaving pretty regularly, manufacturing employment is way off due to competitive offshoring by companies and poor management in others.
There are at least 10 different Economic development entities but progress is very slow. I have the answer but no one wants to listen.
Imagine if Cleveland or Northeast Ohio (NEO) as we like to call it could say "We have the best educational system for children through adulthood" what do you think would happen? Would you have a hard time attracting talented individuals who want to live here? How about businesses? I don't think so. But most of the economic development entities never raise this topic.
When I say best school 'system' I mean system, not just public schools, but private schools, online schools, seminars, alternative learning opportunities, in fact education could become our number one product. Everything else would be an offshoot of that.
What do you think?
2 Comments
Other Links to this Post
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
By Brian McLaughlin, July 24, 2006 @ 5:05 am
Steve – the “best” school system is clearly a start- one barometer of that success level would be to interview seniors in area high schools AND colleges, and ask THEM where do you want to live in 10 years? when more of them say “Cleveland” than not..I think you are on the right track! thank you!
By Liz, July 26, 2006 @ 1:04 am
Education is definitely an important component. The type of education provided matters significantly. For example, Costa Rica put aside military spending in order to focus on education and the country has certainly benefited. But it has not become what you would call an industry magnet. India, on the other hand, has focused on supplying the world with in demand science and technology workers and industry has taken notice.