States, counties, and cities across the United States are reimagining their economic futures. Leaders are striving to build stronger, more equitable, and more resilient economies in the face of diverse and unprecedented challenges—including the lasting effects of the pandemic and the acceleration of technological change.
This moment presents state and local leaders—and their business and civic partners—with immense opportunity but also poses significant strategic and operational hurdles. How can leaders design strategic programs to help them accomplish their desired goals—whether securing the right skills and talent, fueling productivity and innovation, building vibrant places and communities, or ensuring an inclusive and sustainable future? How can state and local organizations collaborate to achieve target outcomes, measure success, and bring lasting change?
For more than 50 years, we have worked side-by-side with public, private, and social sector leaders across the country on economic development and recovery efforts. Among the many important lessons from this work is that inclusion and growth, or sustainability and growth, are not conflicting goals. In fact, insufficient economic inclusion and environmentally unsustainable approaches are threats to prosperity—and therefore these goals are best pursued in tandem.
The following knowledge collection represents this experience and understanding, as well as independent research on what works, including the latest economic analyses from our internal think tank, the McKinsey Global Institute; a range of capabilities and action-oriented tools that we have developed to help state and local leaders tackle critical economic development challenges; and our deep expertise in managing and delivering on outcomes. Taken together, these insights can help state and local leaders and their business and civic partners to lay the foundation for healthy, and equitable, economies.
