10.22.2007: The Third Annual J.McDonald Williams Institute conference in Dallas featured a panel on urban revitalization including researchers, developers and business representatives. Riccardo Bodini spoke about new information resources influencing retail location decisions and the implications of the current trends in urban America for communities engaging in retail development.
10.20.2007: The Williams Review publishes "Regional Effects and Convergence in Dallas Neighborhood Housing Markets," a paper by Riccardo Bodini presenting selected findings from the Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy project. The paper investigates two key questions relating to the dynamics of neighborhood change: the extent to which change in housing prices at the neighborhood level is driven by change in the region, and the extent to which neighborhoods tend to converge over time. The paper is available in the Publications section of this site.
10.19.2007: In the context of the Urban Markets Initiative Forum "Connecting Communities," Robert Weissbourd and Riccardo Bodini unveiled some of the tools that the Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy project is developing, including the innovative DNT Repeat Sales Index and a new method for estimating the impact of various development interventions. The power point presentation from the conference can be found here.
10.19.2007: The Urban Markets Initiative Forum also featured a plenary on Innovation. Robert Weissbourd's speech addressing opportunities for and barriers to innovation in the field of economic development can be found here.
10.03.2007: The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership invited RW Ventures to present the initial results of the Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy project at its conference in Indianapolis. The presentation included a brief background on the project, the initial findings from the Evolution phase of the analysis, as well as a description of the work the project is currently undertaking. To access the report with the findings from the Evolution phase of the project, as well as additional project materials, please register here.
6.15.2007: "The City that NetWorks: Transforming Society and Economy through Digital Excellence" was unveiled by Julia Stasch, Chair of the Mayor's Advisory Council on Closing the Digital Divide, at the Community Media Summit on June 15. The Report lays out a comprehensive plan for achieving universal digital excellence, as vital to the future of a global city. RW Ventures played the lead role in drafting the Report (a copy of which will soon be available in the Publications section of the web site).
5.03.2007: "Exploring Innovation," a national conference on community development finance sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, featured Bob Weissbourd as a "Key Leader," presenting a session on "Into the Economic Mainstream" with Mark Pinsky of Opportunity Finance Network, and a luncheon plenary on "Innovation in the Nation," along with Sandra Braunstein of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and John Talmage of Social Compact.
3.12.2007: Chicago's Global Future Study Group is a series of discussion meetings on how Chicago can compete and thrive in the global economy, sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. In connection with this series, RW Ventures prepared a policy brief based on the implications of "Grads and Fads: The Dynamics of Human Capital Location" for the Chicago Region. The brief was presented by Bob Weissbourd at the March meeting of the group, which focused on the importance of education. The full report presenting the Study Group findings can be found here.
1.29.2007: On January 29th, the City of Seattle hosted the Seattle kickoff meeting for the Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy project. The meeting of community, government, business, academic, foundation and other leaders introduced the project and presented preliminary findings on patterns of change in Seattle neighborhoods. To find out more about the project, please register here.
1.10.2007: RW Ventures is pleased to announce that Michael He has joined the firm. Michael, who has a Masters in statistics from Stanford and private sector experience in market analysis and segmentation, brings an exceptional set of skills in sophisticated quantitative and analytic methods, and is a tremendous addition to the RW Ventures team.
11.20.2006: On November 20th, The Cleveland Foundation hosted the Cleveland kickoff meeting for the Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy project. The meeting of community, government, business, academic, foundation and other leaders introduced the project and presented preliminary findings on patterns of change in Cleveland neighborhoods. To find out more about the project, please register here.
11.02.2006: The Opportunity Finance Network has opened up a new dialogue on policies to make markets more effective and inclusive. At the OFN annual conference, "The Power of Opportunity," Bob Weissbourd presented a new framework for this policy discussion, which is also the topic of a paper soon to be released by OFN. The Power Point presentation from the conference can be found here.
10.24.2006: The Foundation for Community Empowerment hosted the Dallas kickoff meeting for the Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy project. The meeting, attended by a group of practitioners, academics and local government officials, was designed to introduce the Taxonomy project and gather feedback on preliminary findings for the Dallas repeat sales index. To find out more about the project, please register here.
10.23.2006: Market-based economic development and the Shorebank experience were the themes of the keynote address delivered by Bob Weissbourd at the second annual conference of the J. McDonald Williams Institute in Dallas. The same conference featured a panel on economic development policy and a presentation on market-based economic development.
08.22.2006: Living Cities has recently released the first volume of the Living Cities Policy Series, a collection of papers to stimulate serious conversation about issues that are important to American cities. The Series includes our piece "Strengthening Communities for Regional Prosperity," which highlights key connections between neighborhood and regional development. The series has been distributed by Congressman Michael Turner to the members of the Speaker's Saving American Cities Working Group, and to the Working Group's Urban Advisory Committee. The full article is available here.
06.05.2006: RW Ventures has moved into new office space. Click here to see our new contact information.
04.05.2006: The MacArthur Foundation and Living Cities hosted a meeting of research organizations, community development practitioners and data providers to introduce the Dynamic Neighbnorhood Taxonomy Project and discuss data and measurement issues for community economic development. The meeting, titled "Measuring Neighborhood Dynamics," attracted leading experts and organizations from across the country and generated an engaging and productive conversation. Meeting materials will be available soon on our web site.
02.10.2006: Sponsored by Living Cities, RW Ventures is launching the Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy project, a multi-year initiative designed to create better tools for understanding urban communities. Ultimately, the DNT aspires to enable neighborhood development practitioners, businesses and others who invest in neighborhoods to identify, with respect to particular communities, the neighborhood type, its pattern and stage of development, and key interventions to drive change. The project hopes to establish a network of participating partner organizations that would share data, provide feedback and apply the project results. A short project description can be found here. Contact us to learn more about this initiative.
02.07.2006: "Attracting and Retaining Knoweldge Workers" was the subject of a Central Philadelphia Development Corporation Forum presentation by Bob Weissbourd. CPDC, a leading downtown development organization, is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
09.12.2005: Bob Weissbourd and Carol Coletta of CEOs for Cities present Changing Dynamics of Urban America to the Greater Milwaukee Committee. The event was designed to launch a joint effort to brand and promote the Greater Milwaukee Region.
09.01.2005: Bob Weissbourd is selected to be on the Advisory Board of the Metropolitan Economies Project. The project, recently launched by the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, is a multi-year initiative designed to promote understanding of the economic transformatioin underway in American cities and metropolitan areas.
08.30.2005: RW Ventures completes a market analysis report for the Planning Department of Oklahoma City. The report assessed the potential for commercial revitalization in the Northeast sector of Oklahoma City.
06.23.2005: Riccardo Bodini presents at BorderLines in Toronto, a conference on how to foster prosperity in Canadian and American city regions.
06.11.2005: Bob Weissbourd is the special guest on Smart City,
a weekly radio show that takes an in-depth look at urban life, the
people, places, trends and ideas shaping cities. To listen to Bob's
interview click here.
05.06.2005: Bob Weissbourd
presents the policy and strategic implications of our work at the
national meeting of CEOs for Cities. The presentation, "Seeing the Forest and the Trees," is available on CEOs for Cities web site, as well as under the Publications section of our site.
04.28.2005: Riccardo Bodini and Jim Rooney present The Changing Dynamics of Urban America at the Tampa Bay Partnership annual meeting.
03.30.2005: Knowledgeplex
hosts an online presentation of our new papers on market-based economic
development. The slides and a streaming audio file of the presentation
can be found here.
03.10.2005 Hot off the presses! The Urban Markets Initiatives at the Brookings Institution has published our two new papers on market-based economic development.
02.17.2005 Riccardo Bodini and Jim Rooney present The Changing Dynamics of Urban America at the MetroBusinessNet annual convening in Miami.
© 2005 RW Ventures, LLC
