A recent article by NLC (National League of Cities) which describes one city’s work to create opportunity through pathways to better jobs.
“At City Summit 2018, 50 cities committed to new initiatives to support their innovation economies. NLC’s City Innovation Ecosystems program collects and tracks these commitments in order to showcase successes, identify best practices and connect peer cities who can learn together. Here we share the story of one city’s work:
Over the last two decades, Pittsburgh has transformed itself into a veritable poster child for post-Industrial economic revitalization, a fact few would have predicted forty years ago. The collapse of its manufacturing industries in the late 20th century resulted in a peak unemployment rate of 18 percent, the dissolution of 75 percent of its steel corporations and a 30 percent decrease in its population. Name a dimension of economic prosperity and it’s likely that Pittsburgh saw it decline during this period.
Its fortunes began to change in the early 2000s. Leading a cohort of so-called “legacy cities” like Detroit, St. Louis and Baltimore, Pittsburgh’s recovery was jump started when it began to capitalize on its comparative advantage in high-tech industries, research and development…”
