About the alliance
The National Initiative Behind This Playbook
How 24 coalitions across 22 communities built durable partnerships — and what they produced for others to use.
Built for Long-Term Impact
What Is the Economic Partnership Alliance?
The Economic Partnership Alliance is a national initiative led by New Growth Innovation Network (NGIN) in partnership with the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and the HBCU Community Development Action Coalition (HBCU CDAC), with support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA).
The initiative was created from a central recognition: sustainable regional growth requires both institutional expertise and community knowledge. No single organization—public, private, or nonprofit—has the complete set of relationships, technical skills, and infrastructure needed to meet today’s economic opportunities and challenges. By linking the strengths of community-based organizations and economic development organizations, the Alliance built durable partnerships that delivered regional economic prosperity for all residents.
Why the Alliance Was Created
Economic transformation of a community or neighborhood is a result of intentional workof leaders uniting behind a shared, bold vision, and working together to make that vision a reality. Community and economic leaders are catalysts for opportunity – sparking growth and investment, creating jobs, supporting small businesses, building childcare centers or whatever other gaps exist in the community. They know how to design initiatives, secure funding, and deliver visible results.
What is harder, and what this Playbook addresses, is the behind-the-scenes work that makes those results possible - building and sustaining the civic infrastructure that keeps progress moving long after a single grant or project ends. Achieving lasting economic progress, especially in communities facing persistent distress demands collaboration, not just good programs. It requires durable cross sector partnerships built on shareddecision making, mutual accountability, and the agility to adapt as conditions change.
Through the Economic Partnership Alliance, we accelerate the cross sector partnerships that are force multipliers and essential to long term local and regional prosperity. They can multiply impact, build economic stability and strength, and drive innovation in ways that no single organization can accomplish alone. These partnerships between organizations that usually work in different domains, such as local governments, economic development agencies, nonprofit service providers, workforce development organizations, and neighborhood associations bring together different resources and perspectives. Together, they can take on challenges that are too complex for one type of organization to solve on its own.
Program structure
The Alliance Approach
The program brought together 24 coalitions of community based and economic development organizations in 22 locations, across two cohorts. Each received a package of supports:
Customized Training for EDOs and CBOs
Training modules on the history of community and economic development, barriers to collaboration, and frameworks for building durable partnerships, delivered to EDOs and CBOs separately.
Technical Assistanve
Guidance on project design, power mapping, role definition, and investment alignment, with applied modules in storytelling, data, policy, funding, and relationship building.
Facilitation
Skilled process support to help partners navigate differences, clarify expectations, and resolve conflict.
Peer Learning
A national network for exchanging lessons, strategies, and resources.
The Focus
Program Objectives
1
Expand CBO Participation
Expand the participation of organizations with deep community ties in regional economic development planning and implementation.
2
Advance Investment Readiness
Strengthen future potential EDA awardees’ ability to meet investment priorities by broadening local reach and leveraging complementary expertise.
3
Deliver a Sustainable Framework
Produce tools, templates, and case studies that can be adapted and applied in other regions.
Take the Next Step
Turn shared vision into lasting community impact.
Use the Playbook to strengthen collaboration across sectors, align around common goals, and build the foundation for progress that lasts beyond any single initiative.