“Doing Well by Doing Good: A Guide for Leaders” McKinsey Quarterly (2013)
LinkRegional Transit System: Return on Investment Assessment (2013)
shOW DESCRIPTIONLinkThis report addresses 3 questions:
1) A built-out regional transit system would require substantial investment. What would be the return on that investment?
2) Investments can be made more or less quickly. Would accelerating build out change the return on investment?
3) Many communities with developing transit systems experience more growth near transit stations. Would such expectations for growth change the return on investment?
The report finds a positive ROI, with a return of $6.6 – $10.1 billion (internal rate of return 7.8-14.8%), and that accelerating development and concentrating development around stations are two ways to increase that return, up to $16.5 billion.
Higher Education: Partnerships for Prosperity (2012)
SHOW DESCRIPTIONThis report synthesizes the findings of the Higher Education Taskforce and its Advisory Group, and lays out four priorities for creating a world-class higher education system in Minnesota:
1) Align academic offerings with workforce needs
2) Foster an ecosystem of research and innovation
3) Form new collaborations across higher education to optimize system-wide intellectual assets and efficiency
4) Graduate more students.
Charting a New Course: Restoring Job Growth in the Minneapolis St-Paul Region (2010)
SHOW DESCRIPTIONLinkFor three decades, the Minneapolis-St. Paul region’s diversified, vibrant economy outpaced the nation in growing employment, personal income, and GDP per capita. Starting well before the 2008 downturn, however, the region fell behind the nation in terms of job growth. This report identifies strategies and policies the region could use to create, retain and attract high-quality jobs. The taskforce studied the Minneapolis-St Paul region’s environment, assets, and capabilities and benchmarked them against high-performing regions in the US and around the globe. The report proposes three strategic priorities:
1) Address the cost of doing business
2) Develop a vision, strategy and approach for regional economic development
3) Enhance entrepreneurship and innovation
Minnesota’s Future: World Class Schools for World Class Jobs (2008)
shOW DESCRIPTIONLinkThe Itasca Project joined with the Minnesota Business Partnership to examine the best practices of world-class education systems, benchmark Minnesota against those systems, and identify initiatives that the business community could support to elevate Minnesota’s school system to world-class.
The Economics of Early Childhood Care and Education in Minnesota (2006)
shOW DESCRIPTIONLinkThis report examines the market for early childhood care and development, identified four factors that limit the overall success of the system (weak buyers, weak suppliers, lack of good information and minimal standards & accountability) and identified strategies to address each, such as educating parents both to be more effective care providers themselves, and to hold providers to higher standards.
Mind the Gap (2005)
shOW DESCRIPTIONLinkThis report, created in partnership with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, tracks plainly the disparities that exist in the region. It also argues that not only is reducing such disparities the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do to protect the continued economic success of the region.