LONG-TERM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
LONG-TERM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
Background
In 2021, Governor Dan McKee convened a series of community listening sessions to inform and strengthen the State’s RI2030 Plan (www.ri2030.com), which was initially released in 2021 and further updated in 2022. This working document lays out a bold and holistic vision for the state over the next seven years.
Since January 2023, RI Commerce and the Division of Statewide Planning have worked together to further develop the RI2030 vision and hone the implementation strategy for economic development for Rhode Island.
Ocean State Accelerates is the result of this work. With the approval of the US Economic Development Administration (EDA), it serves as the state’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and with the adoption of the state’s Economic Development Planning Council, it is the Long-Term Economic Development Vision and Policy for Rhode Island. Our efforts in this process built off the work undertaken through RI2030 and aim to provide a detailed roadmap of how to reach the goals set forth in RI2030.
Ocean States Accelerates aligns with all EDA and state requirements in order to create one single plan that fulfills our federal and state obligations, furthers our efforts of reaching goals set out in RI2030, and is truly actionable.
Read Ocean State Accelerates Read Appendix E: Statewide Diagnostic
Process
To develop Ocean State Accelerates, RI Commerce and the Division of Statewide Planning convened a 27-member Economic Development Steering Committee; hosted a dozen formal focus groups; received feedback through another score of small-group conversations; and hosted 1:1 interviews with over forty Rhode Islanders, representing industry, business support, workforce development, the arts, housing, climate resilience, nonprofits, youth supports, and more. The team also reviewed over twenty recent reports and state plans to build off recent analytics and to align this effort to others relevant to economic development. Hundreds of Rhode Island voices and hundreds of pages of strategy and data analysis built from those Rhode Islanders were incorporated into the process of creating a draft for public comment. Then, between September 20th and October 20th, 2023, the draft version of Ocean State Accelerates was available for Rhode Islanders to read, evaluate, and submit feedback on. Dozens of people reached out and engaged with the plan to provide feedback, which the team used to help update the final version of the document. The final version of the plan, which was adopted by the Economic Development Planning Council on November 15, 2023, was approved by the EDA in December 2023.
Measuring Success
In order to track Rhode Island’s progress in achieving the goals and objectives set forth in Ocean State Accelerates, we have established metrics for each priority objective. Selected metrics can be viewed in the PowerBI dashboard below, which is updated regularly as new data becomes available.
Get Involved
Following approval of the plan comes the most important step: implementation. If you see yourself or your organization reflected in the plan and want to get involved to put it into motion, we want to hear from you. If you have ideas for metrics to track or ways to measure the success of the plan, we want to hear from you. For any questions, comments, or feedback that you may have, please submit them via email to LTPlanning@commerceri.com.
Thank you so much for your time and feedback. While we may not be able to respond individually to all who provide feedback, please know that we will be diligent in reviewing your thoughts.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING COUNCIL MEETINGS
- April 19, 8:30AM: Kick-off: Review work plan and schedule and confirm project expectations and priorities; overview how this project fits with other planning efforts and RI2030
- May 17; 8:30AM: Review initial data analysis; advise on economic baseline; advise on outreach
- June 21; 8:45AM: Strategy development workshop and discussion
- July 19; 8:45AM: Workshop to develop and shape tactics, implementation partners, and metrics
- November 15; 9:00AM: Review and adopt Ocean State Accelerates as the state’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy and Long-Term Economic Development Vision and Policy
NAME | ORGANIZATION |
Liz Tanner (chair) | Executive Office of Commerce |
Jude Amoako | Millennial RI |
Meredith Brady | Department of Administration |
Liz Catucci | Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce |
Dave Chenevert | RI Manufacturers Association |
Channavy Chhay | Center for Southeast Asians |
Jane Cole | State Department of Revenue |
Andrew Cortes | Building Futures |
Pamela Cotter | State Department of Transportation |
Roshini Darnal | United Way of Rhode Island |
Rilwan Feyisitan Jr. | East Bay Community Action Program |
Lori Giuttari | Visual Thrive (small business designee) |
Shannon Golkey | RI Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner |
Philip Gould | Town of Lincoln (League of Cities and Towns designee) |
Russ Griffiths | State Department of Business Regulation |
Roberta Groch | Division of Statewide Planning |
Chelsea Siefert | Quonset Development Corporation |
Elizabeth Lynn | van Beuren Charitable Foundation |
Jason Martiesian | State Department of Labor and Training |
Carol Malysz | RI Bio |
Bernadette MacArthur | Glocester Economic Development Committee |
Oscar Mejias | Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce |
Lisa Ranglin | RI Black Business Association |
Krystafer Redden | State Department of Education |
Michael Sabatoni | RI Building Trades Council |
Loren Spears | Tomaquag Museum |
Kira Wills | YMCA of Greater Providence |