On this episode, we talk to two trailblazers from GroundBreak Coalition (GBC), a group of over 40 corporate, civic and philanthropy leaders who are trying to make a case that within our resources, a racially equitable and climate-ready future is possible. GBC is building a platform to mobilize and aggregate capital, and provide pathways for corporations, financial institutions, government, philanthropy, and even individuals to equitably and efficiently invest in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. What's interesting about this coalition is not just what they're trying to do, but also how they're doing it.

Tonya Allen is President of the McKnight Foundation, and the Founder and orchestrator of GBC. Alex West Steinman is CEO and Co-founder of The Coven, a network of radical spaces for changemakers to connect, learn, and grow. She is a member of GBC's working group on BIPOC entrepreneurship. 

GBC deploys its capital in four areas: BIPOC homeownership; stable & affordable rental housing; community-led commercial development; and BIPOC entrepreneurship. Their goals are ambitious and wide ranging to launch 11,000 BIPOC owned businesses,, enabling 45,000 new BIPOC homeowners and so on. While they're starting out in Minnesota, they hope to inspire action across the country.

 In this two part conversation, Tanya and Alex talk about:

- the formation of the GroundBreak Coalition, and what it takes to bring together this vast network of stakeholders

- GBC's vision for creating racial and economic justice, and what it means to create wealth for BIPOC communities

- the role of philanthropy and other forms of blended finance capital in driving systemic change

- how the goals of the Coalition have evolved over the past year

Learn more about the Reimagining the Economy project: http://reimagining-the-economy.hks.harvard.edu

The GroundBreak Coalition

McKnight Foundation

The Coven

On this episode, we talk with Rachel Lipson about the community college system in the US. Rachel was until recently co-founder and director of the Harvard Project on Workforce, an interdisciplinary, collaborative project across the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Rachel and Robert Schwartz, Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, are editors of an upcoming volume titled "America’s Hidden Economic Engines: How Community Colleges Can Drive Shared Prosperity".

On this episode we talk with Rachel about the potential of community colleges in powering the economy, including:

- how they fit into their local economic development ecosystems

- how some community colleges around the country have innovated

- the institutional constrains that prevent them from being as powerful as they can be.

Schwartz and Lipson’s book published by the Harvard University Press will be available later this Spring. See episode notes for more details (including pre-ordering links and individual case studies) and other references from the episode!   

Learn more about the Reimagining the Economy project: http://reimagining-the-economy.hks.harvard.edu

America’s Hidden Economic Engines: How Community Colleges Can Drive Shared Prosperity

The Project on the Workforce at Harvard

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

NOVA (North Virginia Community College)

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

Project Quest

Year Up

Lorain County Community College

Per Scholas

Redesigning America’s Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success; Thomas R. Bailey, Shanna Smith Jaggars, Davis Jenkins

We kick off 2023 with Lisa Nandy, a member of UK's Labour Party and Member of Parliament for Wigan since 2010. She serves as the Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities & Local Government. In the past, she has also served as Shadow Foreign Secretary, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and Shadow Minister for Education.

In this episode, Lisa talks to us about:

- the UK’s productivity challenges and its 'leveling up' agenda

- the politics of economic reforms, and why progressives globally are unable to understand the level of economic discontentment

- how she looks back at the economic legacies of Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown

- the "everyday economy" that is the backbone of our modern economy

- regional inequalities and regionalism in the UK

- how to to devolve power and build state capacity

Lisa has a new book out titled "All In: How We Build a Country that Works", where she unpacks the range of socioeconomic challenges that the UK faces, including the winners and losers from globalization, regional inequalities, and underinvestment, and outlines a vision for inclusive development. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/all-in-how-we-build-a-country-that-works-lisa-nandy?variant=40704030408738.

Learn more about the Reimagining the Economy project: http://reimagining-the-economy.hks.harvard.edu