Indy Chamber selected to join Brookings Inclusive Economic Indicators Lab
Lab will help the Indy Chamber advance locally-relevant metrics of economic inclusion to help advance growth and opportunity in the Indy Region
The Indy Chamber has been selected by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program (Brookings Metro) as one of three participants for the Inclusive Economic Indicators Lab (the Lab), a one-year project focused on developing tools for tracking and driving inclusive economic outcomes. Brookings Metro selected the Indy Chamber for the Lab through a competitive process based on its readiness and commitment to advance inclusive economic outcomes through the development and deployment of locally-relevant metrics. The other members of the new cohort include Innovate Memphis of Memphis, Tenn. and Orlando Economic Partnership of Orlando, Fla.
The Lab is supported by the Kresge Foundation through the Shared Prosperity Partnership (SP2), a joint undertaking of Kresge, Brookings Metro, the Urban Institute, the Aspen Institute, and Living Cities. The Lab, like SP2, contends that the strength of American cities—and the nation as a whole—depends on generating inclusive economic growth, prosperity, and opportunity for all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, and income.
For many years, regions have used “dashboards”—collections of thematically organized data and indicators—to track the condition and progress of their communities, and to inform agendas and investments among local stakeholders. Traditional versions of such indices focus almost exclusively on economic growth and “quality of life” measures such as population, jobs, house prices, safety, and school performance. Brookings Metro has encouraged regions to embrace a more holistic vision of economic success that includes not only the growth of the local economy, but also the degree to which it generates improved average outcomes, and narrows disparities by income, race, and place.
Over the last several years, the Indy Chamber has worked with The Brookings Institution to better understand the barriers to economic mobility for residents of the Indianapolis region and discuss them with hundreds of community stakeholders. Last year, Mayor Joe Hogsett and the Indy Chamber leveraged this information to create a new roadmap to inclusive growth which included the rollout of an Inclusive Incentives program. These incentives went into effect in January of this year.
“The Indy Chamber and dozens of partners in the community are making headway on inclusive initiatives, but our work is not done. The Indy Region needs alignment on the metrics, indicators, and mechanisms for shared accountability,” said Ian Nicolini, the Indy Chamber’s Vice President of Indianapolis Economic Development. “It’s time to prove what our city is capable of when we truly commit to building a more inclusive economy.”
According to Alan Berube, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director at Brookings Metro and project lead for the Lab, “What gets measured, gets done. We’re excited to work with the Indy Chamber and other regional leaders who are serious about using metrics to drive more inclusive outcomes in their local economies.”
As part of the Lab, the Indy Chamber will build a new dashboard of inclusive economic indicators, advance a model of shared accountability that can inform the strategies of local organizations, and develop a plan to ensure buy-in and ongoing commitment to the indicators by key stakeholders. The Indy Chamber will convene a group of community and philanthropic partners to support the project including the City of Indianapolis, United Way of Central Indiana, Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Urban League (IUL), Employ Indy, the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), among others. The organizations in the Lab will share best practices as they develop, implement, and communicate their dashboards.
“With the creation of a dashboard unique to our region, we can use data to respond to the challenges we face and showcase the successes we’ve achieved as a city,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett. “Numbers tell a story, and we want Indy’s story to be about economic transformation for all.”
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The Indy Chamber empowers business to assure all have the opportunity to succeed in the Indianapolis region by connecting, convening, and taking action to move our region forward. Through membership, economic development, entrepreneur services, and advocacy, the Indy Chamber and its nearly 2,000 businesses strive for inclusive economic growth and mobility. For more information, please visit IndyChamber.com.
Brookings Metro provides research and solutions that help leaders in cities and metro areas build an economy that works for all. For more information, please visit www.brookings.edu/metro.
The Shared Prosperity Partnership (SP2) is dedicated to supporting and accelerating local efforts to grow inclusive economies in U.S. cities. For more information on SP2, please visit www.sharedprosperitypartnership.org
Media Inquiries:
Joe Pellman, Indy Chamber – 317.464.2251, jpellman@indychamber.com