Project Profile

Business Incentives Policy & Practice Initiative

Pew Charitable Trusts
Start Date: Nov 2013 — End Date: Sep 2015

The Pew Charitable Trusts and CREC implemented a business incentives policy and practice initiative.  Funding for the initiative is provided by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.  This two-year program engaged forward-thinking teams of economic development policymakers and practitioners from six states to work together within and across borders to: (1) identify effective ways to manage and assess economic development incentive policies and practices; (2) improve the participating states’ ability to collect and report results from incentive investments; and (3) develop national standards and best practices that can become roadmaps for other states.  Pew and CREC engaged the participating states through forums, assessments, working sessions, and technical assistance.  This included an assessment of existing incentive policies and practices, data collection and reporting efforts, analytic frameworks, and methods for communicating information to policymakers.  As a result of this initiative the participating states developed actionable and specific recommendations, many of which were implemented as administrative or legislative reforms.

Focusing on Outcome Measures: Virginia Economic Development Partnership

Rob McClintock, vice president of research at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, discusses statewide reporting requirements for economic development incentives and his state’s participation in the business incentives initiative.

Technical AssistanceTrain Your Leaders