From infrastructure to education, the complex economic and social issues that economic development strategies seek to address are highly ‘multi-disciplinary’ in nature.  This means communities must develop a comprehensive portfolio of initiatives addressing diverse issues to support the pursuit of their long-term economic development goals.  This process requires the engagement of several overlapping groups of stakeholders and government agencies, each with their own interest in various aspects of economic development, and each with their own organizational structure, federal and local partners and existing programs. 

For example, workforce development initiatives are typically the province of partners that include the Department of Labor, local Workforce Investment Boards, the Virginia Community College System, local schools, and other organizations.  These initiatives to strengthen the labor pool often aid in the mission of ‘traditional’ economic development organizations to attract employers, although these organizations usually focus more on business incentives and physical infrastructure, with partners such as the EDA, USDA Rural Development, the Planning District Commissions, municipal and county agencies, chambers of commerce, and others.  In addition, ‘community development’ organizations have their own spheres of activities, including providing support and opportunities for disadvantaged members of the community, or working toward the physical redevelopment of deteriorating neighborhoods.  These types of initiatives involve yet another set of government and non-profit stakeholder organizations. 

Although we can point to many examples of increased collaboration across these institutional boundaries between economic development, workforce development and community development, the risk remains that these stakeholders’ initiatives become segmented in their traditional silos, and miss opportunities to collaborate regionally and across disciplines to address common goals and support each other’s efforts. Consider the opportunities to work together and share resources across institutional boundaries and political jurisdictions.  Should you make the effort to take someone to lunch to explore your common ground and possible areas of mutual interest in more detail?  Are the right partners on board with what you’re doing?