Cities thrive when economic opportunity benefits everyone.

New Growth Innovation Network (NGIN) is a national nonprofit that equips economic, community, and government leaders with insights, innovations, capital, and localized support to ensure that economically excluded communities can lead, shape, and benefit from regional economic growth. 

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Featured Initiatives

Initiatives
LEAP (Learn. Explore. Activate in Place)
LEAP (Learn. Explore. Activate in Place)

LEAP (Learn. Explore. Activate in Place.) is a leadership development and strategic learning initiative that connects community and economic development leaders with innovative communities across the country. Through immersive site visits to exemplary cities, participants explore innovative community wealth-building strategies they can adapt and apply in their own communities.

SCALE (Strategic Capacity for Advancing Local Economies)
SCALE (Strategic Capacity for Advancing Local Economies)

NGIN’s Strategic Capacity for Advancing Local Economies (SCALE) program supports Small and Midsized Cities (population 50,000–500,000) to advance community wealth and commercial real estate development.  

Small and Midsized City Hub (SMC Hub)
Small and Midsized City Hub (SMC Hub)

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NGIN's Small and Midsized Cities Hub offers a suite of programs, technical assistance, resources, and tools to support economic and community developers build healthy, thriving communities.

Economic Partnership Alliance
Economic Partnership Alliance

This program offers tailor-made training and in-depth localized partnership support for Community-Based Organizations and Economic Development Organizations.

Advancing Economic Mobility (AEM)
Advancing Economic Mobility (AEM)

NGIN leads Advancing Economic Mobility (AEM) to support local economic leaders adopt data, tools, and knowledge resources to advance economic mobility in their communities for low and middle income workers and residents. This project is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Inclusive Recovery Initiative
Inclusive Recovery Initiative

Funded by the Economic Development Administration, this program supported six Economic Development Districts incorporate inclusive economic recovery actions into regional economic strategies and develop a National Community of Practice.

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The partnership resource guide for cross-sector collaboration

Experience the Economic Partnership Alliance Playbook. Informed by partnership assistance in 24 communities over 2 years, this interactive Partnership Playbook delivers insights, resources, and case studies to build stronger partnerships.

Explore the Playbook
Download Resources

Exploring Economic Innovation in Exemplary Cities with LEAP

Join us in St. Paul, Minnesota, September 14–18, 2026, for a 5-day convening focused on community wealth building and innovative shared ownership models. For the first time, NGIN is opening a limited number of paid seats for leaders to join the Newark cohort LEAP trip. Registration is now open.

Register for LEAP St. Paul

Relive the Cityscapes Summit Experience with New Event Resources

At NGIN’s biennial economic development conference, Cityscapes Summit, leaders from across sectors shared ideas, strategies, and lessons for powering local economies. We're excited to continue those conversations through a new collection of Summit resources.

Access Resources

Join Our Community of Practice for Economic, Community and City Leaders

Join NGIN’s Community of Practice — a national network where small and midsize city leaders learn, test, and build economic systems together through events peer connection and curated programming. 

Our Community of Practice (CoP) helps leaders connect, share strategies, accelerate innovations, and activate investment. 

Join

NGIN Blog

Blog
NGIN Releases New Research and Action Guide on Regional Engagement in Technology-Based Economic Development 
NGIN Releases New Research and Action Guide on Regional Engagement in Technology-Based Economic Development 

NGIN’s newest report examines how communities engage with technology-based economic development initiatives and explores what it takes to ensure innovation investments create benefits that extend beyond traditional innovation ecosystems. Drawing on research conducted in two NSF Engines regions, it highlights approaches to regional engagement and broad-based outcomes.

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Community Wealth Building Is Economic Development: Five Ways Communities Can Keep Wealth Local 
Community Wealth Building Is Economic Development: Five Ways Communities Can Keep Wealth Local 

Economic development professionals often spend significant time chasing growth: recruiting employers, attracting investment, securing grants, and competing for the next major project. Yet a question raised repeatedly during Cityscapes 2026 challenged a core assumption underlying much of that work: What if the real challenge isn't attracting wealth—but keeping it? 

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AI Readiness for Local Economies: Expanding Opportunity, Agency, and Trust
AI Readiness for Local Economies: Expanding Opportunity, Agency, and Trust

Talk of artificial intelligence was everywhere at Cityscapes Summit 2026, even in sessions where it wasn't the topic on the agenda. Yet what stood out most was not technology itself. The deeper conversation was about power, participation, and preparedness.

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How Communities Can Attract, Direct, and Deploy Investment for Shared Economic Prosperity
How Communities Can Attract, Direct, and Deploy Investment for Shared Economic Prosperity

At Cityscapes 2026, practitioners explored how communities can move beyond attracting investment to building the power and capacity needed to shape where capital flows and who benefits.

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NGIN Partners with RTI to Support 22 Communities Through EDA Recompete Initiative
NGIN Partners with RTI to Support 22 Communities Through EDA Recompete Initiative

New Growth Innovation Network (NGIN) is partnering with RTI International to support the development and delivery of a national community of practice.

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At New Growth Innovation Network, we believe in staying informed with the latest practices of inclusive economic growth. If you want to stay up to date with developing initiatives, innovative projects, useful tools, and chances to collaborate, our bi-weekly Get Active with NGIN newsletter is the resource for you!