Help local businesses and workers navigate AI with a clearer community strategy.

AI adoption is changing business decisions, skill needs, and the entry-level roles that help people begin careers. Economic developers need a practical way to understand where local employers and workers stand and where support will be most useful. Join Alex Sejdinaj for an applied learning lab that examines AI literacy and organizational capacity as community economic development priorities. Connect employer adoption to your talent pipeline and design a response that fits your organization’s resources.

Inside the learning lab

Use a six-stage AI sophistication ladder to assess your organization and estimate community needs. Map local careers against automation and augmentation considerations, examine small-business scenarios, and work with peers to outline a program your organization could pursue.

What you will gain

• Diagnose differences in AI maturity across organizations, employers, and the talent pipeline.
• Evaluate how AI could change roles and skills in locally important industries.
• Distinguish feasible small-business approaches from enterprise AI strategies.
• Use basic AI cost concepts to shape a practical community program and immediate actions.

What you will take back

An AI sophistication self-assessment framework, a career automation and augmentation framework, a working Community AI-Density Map, and an initial program concept.

Who should join:

Economic and workforce developers, business support practitioners, and leaders aligning employer needs with community opportunity.

Bring the AI questions you are hearing locally and turn them into a focused response.

Registration (Opens December 2026)

Professional Development Credits

Attendance and participation during all sessions of the training course is required by a registrant to obtain the following credits. 

• Certified Economic Developer (CEcD)
  • Exam = Core Requirement
  • Recertification = (3) Level-1 Points
    
    
• Entrepreneurship Development Professional (EDP)
  • Exam = Elective Requirement
  • Recertification = (3) Level-1 Points

Note: IEDC will send a registrant an electronic certificate of completion after the course for their records.

Questions

If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or call (202) 223-7800.

Policies

Please read the following policies carefully prior to registering for the training course.

Materials

The materials provided by IEDC are intended for use only by the registrant of the training course. A registrant should not share the training course materials with anyone else.

A registrant found in violation of this policy will be removed from the training course immediately and will not receive a refund for it.

Payment

A registrant will not receive the materials for the training course until IEDC receives the full amount owed for their registration.

Substitution

A registrant is not allowed to substitute a colleague in their place for any IEDC training course.

Cancellation

Please review our cancellation policy here.

No Show

A registrant is considered a “No Show” if they fail to send a cancellation email and/or do not attend the training course. A “No Show” registrant will forfeit any monies paid to IEDC for the training course.