Services

Our regional economic development team provides a full complement of strategic economic development services.

We offer Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy support to development agencies that are creating or updating their CEDS. Our team handles all aspects of the process, from regional analysis to community consultation to SWOT analysis to EDA-compliance. For us, the CEDS is more than just a bureaucratic exercise. We believe that CEDS are valuable opportunities for communities to identify new regional planning opportunities and overcome longtime barriers. We develop CEDS that are rooted in data and community intelligence, realistic, and representative of the development agency’s vision.

Our recovery plans are designed to assist state and local leaders as they respond to unusual economic challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, sudden employment losses, and natural disasters. These are tailored to the specific needs of clients but all reflect Westwood’s commitment to data-driven analysis and actionable recommendations.

The future of data analysis features fewer static, quickly outdated reports and bulletins, and more dynamic, “live’’ digital tools, through online platforms. Dashboards, AI-enabled Chatbots, Interactive Storyboards, and Custom APIs are just a few examples of how we use modern techniques to present economic data and analysis that are more current, digestible, and, ultimately, more powerful, than “snapshot-in-time” reports.

Westwood seeks to lead the development of digital tools for economic development officials and practitioners: including fully digitized economic strategies. In this effort, it partners with a ‘full stack development’ team that brings extensive frontend, backend, and design talent to our services. Our work ensures that client tools are custom-built and embody a unique visual identity. Together, we seek to make economic data and strategies more relevant to our clients and our communities.

To learn more, please contact us today!

Westwood provides a wide range of services to assist clients understand both the recent performance of, as well as trends shaping, regional economies. Regional products can focus on neighborhood, city, county, state-wide and multi-jurisdictional economies. Analyses typically include the following indicators of regional economic performance:

• Industry trend analysis

• Entrepreneurship trends

• Business activity

• Labor market performance

• Demographic Analysis

• Commercial and residential real estate analysis

A key feature of Westwood’s regional analysis is to cast regional economic performance within a macro context so that local leaders and stakeholders can understand trends shaping their economies. Westwood has developed proprietary analytical software that assists local leaders to compare the performance of their economies to peer jurisdictions and identifies areas of local strength and relative weakness. Regional products can include recommendations to help local leaders navigate an ever-changing economic landscape.

Westwood can assist public and education clients meet their workforce development objectives. Training and talent attraction decisions do not need to be made in a vacuum. Workforce developers who understand the local labor market and anticipate change will make more meaningful decisions.

The workforce development team can conduct a skills gap analysis to identify local area strengths and needs. Using this kind of analysis, we can advise on programming, funding, and evaluation, or convene workforce development discussions. Westwood will also help with grant and proposal writing in support of new programs.

Westwood’s workforce team can otherwise assist on all manner of labor analysis questions. It can provide impact analysis for prospective operations, in support of site selection and attraction, assessing the impact of new operations on wage levels. Similarly, it can conduct labor market analyses of proposed minimum wages.

After decades of urban flight, some major urban centers have experienced a revival over the past 20 years. Yet this “urban resurgence” has not extended everywhere. Despite signs of life, many downtown areas still lack the vibrancy local leaders seek. Even areas with successful downtowns and nighttime economies have encountered their own challenges, with ensuring that city centers belong to everybody. And still, the ‘Work From Home Era’ has brought new uncertainty about the role of the downtown office in the center city economy.

Westwood’s downtown team is equipped to guide city officials and community organizations as they navigate all of these challenges. It can conduct microanalysis of the current downtown economy and land uses, create plans and visioning documents, and produce commissioned white papers that help stakeholders make sense of what’s happening ‘where it all happens.’

Westwood’s team is available to speak to local public officials, business and community leaders, bankers, realtors as well as academic audiences. Topics typically incorporate the company’s core service areas highlighted above.

Westwood also provides services to law firms, including expert testimony and litigation support, and labor market analysis as part of visa applications.

Westwood experts are available to journalists and independent publishers to provide on-demand statistics and commentary about economics, urban planning, entrepreneurial ‘ecosystems’, and urban technologies.

Westwood is proud to partner with independent community groups and nonprofits to assist with urban economics and planning questions. Please write to the entire team at all@westwoodecon.com if you want to propose a pro bono or sliding scale project.