Services

Economic Development Strategy

Set economic development priorities, agree on who will carry them out, and give local partners a way to track progress.

Discuss Your Economic Development Project

Choose where to start

Strategic planning

Assess local conditions, choose priorities with stakeholders, and build an implementation plan.

Explore this service

Planning deliverables

See what a regional assessment, action plan, and performance measures can include.

Explore this service

Selected project work

See how the Austin plan addressed the costs of growth and how the Kenya research identified an opportunity in water infrastructure.

Explore this service

An economic development plan should help local leaders decide where to invest limited time and resources. We start with the local economy and the decisions your organization needs to make. Then we work with employers, entrepreneurs, residents, and partner institutions to test priorities and decide who can carry them out.

Arclight works with cities, counties, economic development organizations, and regional partnerships. We can develop a new plan, update an existing one, or handle a defined part of a larger assignment, such as the regional analysis, stakeholder engagement, or implementation plan.

What we can help you do

Develop or update a local or regional economic development strategic plan
Assess industry, employment, workforce, and entrepreneurship trends
Identify constraints to growth, such as housing, transportation, or infrastructure
Facilitate interviews and workshops to test and prioritize options
Design entrepreneurship programs and define roles for delivery partners
Set implementation milestones, performance measures, and reporting responsibilities

Planning deliverables

Economic baseline and analysis of regional strengths and constraints
Stakeholder findings and implications for the plan
Strategic priorities and rationale for choosing them
Action plan with responsible partners, timelines, and resource needs
Progress measures and a reporting schedule

Selected project work

LBJ School of Public Affairs

Austin metropolitan regional analysis and strategic plan

Lance McNeill examined where people lived and worked, how far they commuted, and how local wages compared with the cost of living. The plan proposed employer grants to help workers with long commutes work remotely, zoning changes to allow more small apartments, and a preference in the city’s small business loan program for employers creating living-wage jobs. It set targets of 300 new affordable homes and 1,000 new living-wage jobs, with regular progress reporting to city and regional leaders.

Meadows Fellows · National Instruments

Technology entrepreneurship in Kenya

Lance McNeill co-authored the Kenya section of an LBJ School of Public Affairs report developed with National Instruments. The team interviewed local stakeholders, mapped Kenya’s innovation ecosystem, and identified water infrastructure as a starting point for technology commercialization. The report proposed a partnership involving the University of Nairobi, Millennium Water Alliance, National Instruments, and UT Austin to give local entrepreneurs access to prototyping tools and training to bring water technologies to market.

Economic Development Strategy

Set economic development priorities, agree on who will carry them out, and give local partners a way to track progress.

Discuss Your Economic Development Project Explore Strategy & Co-creation