A study by the Economic Policy Institute released in July 2012 highlighted what St. Paul policymakers already knew too well: the region faced a massive racial disparity in unemployment rates. Approximately five percent of white residents in the metropolitan region were unemployed, versus a staggering 18 percent of black residents. In order for St. Paul and all of its residents to truly thrive in the years to come, a radical intervention was required. Read More

Linking inner city businesses to strong regional clusters. Engaging anchor institutions to create shared value. Connecting inner city companies to appropriate growth capital and contracting opportunities. Supporting management education and strengthening business networks. At ICIC, we talk at length about these drivers of inner city economic development as strategies crucial for ... Read More

In 2016, Austin, Texas was named by CNBC as the number one place in America to start a business. While starting a business in a location such as Silicon Valley typically relies on individual entrepreneurs, venture capital, and large risks, Austin has taken this formula and turned it into a neighborhood activity. Read More

Through more than two decades of research and practice, ICIC has recognized the importance of small businesses in growing urban economies, revitalizing inner city neighborhoods and creating jobs and wealth for inner city residents. Encouragingly, small businesses continue to grow and hire new employees across the U.S. Read More

Three Brothers Bakery has deep roots. Before it was a “Houston institution,” employing 65 people at 3 locations in one of America’s most diverse cities, it was a small bakery run by the Jucker family in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Poland. When World War II spread throughout Europe, the family was sent to Nazi concentration camps. On May 8, 1945, Sigmund Jucker woke to find that the camp’s SS soldiers had fled. He cut through the surrounding wire fence, leading himself and the other prisoners to freedom. Read More