Projects:

• Sustainable
  Regional
  Development
  • Fellowship for Regional Sustainable Development (Rd I)
  • Greater Boston Economic Development Strategy
  • Portland (OR) Economic Development Strategy
  • Economic Development Toolbox Envision Utah
  • Regional Business Civic Initiative (Minding Their Civic Business)
  • Double Bottom Line Handbook
  • MetroBusinessNet
  • Economic Development Strategy for Northern Pennsylvania
  • Northern New England Family Economic Success
  • Other ED Projects & Initiatives
• Workforce Development & Postsecondary Education
  • Wine Industry Skills Assessment
  • Building a 21st Century Community College (Indiana)
  • Seattle Regional Skill Building Collaborative
  • Greater Washington DC Health Care Assessment
  • CSH Employment Toolkit
  • High Skills for High Growth Careers
  • Pathways to Advancement
  • Other WD Projects and Initiatives

National Initiatives

Regional Double Bottom-Line Investment Funds: Strategies and Methods Handbook

FutureWorks has recently completed a research project to document and disseminate strategies and methods for the emerging field of regional double bottom-line investing. Across the United States, business-civic organizations, community leaders, and government agencies are launching regional investment initiatives to attract private capital investment into the poorest neighborhoods in their regions. These initiatives are utilizing investment funds to produce double bottom-line returns - risk adjusted market rate financial returns and substantial social and environmental returns - in priority neighborhoods. In the past five years, investors have provided more than $2.5 billion in double bottom-line funds, including $500 million in funds with a regional orientation.

As the field of double bottom-line regional initiatives and funds has emerged over the last few years, an extensive body of knowledge and practice has been developed. To date, however, there has been no systematic effort to define the field of regional initiative and fund building, to identify its component parts, or distill promising practice.

In partnership with Sustainable Systems and Economic Innovation International, FutureWorks has finished managing an 18-month project to research and produce a web-based Strategies and Methods Handbook for regional fund sponsors, investors, economic development practitioners and finance professionals. The project commenced in May of 2004 and concluded in the spring of 2006.

Please click to read the Concept Paper for this project.