The purpose of the research paper is to familiarize students with various economic
development finance instruments and how they are used within different frameworks. Groups
are to select an economic development project in Northeast Ohio that has been implemented
and/or completed within the past 10 years. The project will be divided into 4 parts with each
member of the group responsible for one of those parts.
1) History – Provide the background of the project and the intended benefits. This
section will present a before and after of the site and the project. How did it go from what is
was to what it is? Discuss the site selection process and the driver(s) behind the location.
Discuss the causal theory that underlines the jurisdiction’s development project. Identify the
market, including market size, trends, and competition.
2) Strategy and Plan – Clearly state the goals and objectives of the project. Describe in
detail the elements of the strategy used to achieve the predetermined goals, such as number
of job opportunities, income redirection (the flow of money in the community), infrastructure
development etc. To what degree did the community economic development project
experience the transitions in local planning? Be sure to include a comparison of the project’s
development process to the economic planning challenges outlined in your textbook. Outline
the expected financial returns of the project as a whole.
3) Funding –Most communities use a mixture of strategies and funding
sources/mechanisms to support an economic development program and/or incentive. Identify
the project budget including funding sources and contributions from each stakeholder, and
concessions made from each stakeholder. Compare what financial benefits were received by
the private sector to the expected benefits of the public sector. Describe in detail the
configuration of public, private, and not-for-profit sector linkages that proved instrumental in
making the project a reality.
4) Critical Evaluation – Determine the relevance and fulfillment of objectives,
development efficiency, effectiveness, impacts and sustainability of the project. This section
will capture the intended and unintended effects and describe reasons why certain aspects of a
project or program have or have not been implemented as planned.