One of the themes I return to every time I speak is the importance of collaboration: between communities, between industry, and across economic development, workforce development, housing, childcare, and infrastructure. Collaboration is the future of economic development.
So, when I get to travel to a place where that is happening, across all those areas, I always leave inspired.
That is why I was especially energized to be in Tulsa last month for Main Street America’s Main Street Now Conference, where I joined hundreds of leaders focused on placemaking and community development. I came to talk about a Systems Stewardship approach to economic development, moving from deal making to partnerships and systems development, but I left inspired by seeing that approach in action.
Tulsa is a place where collaboration is not just discussed; it is embedded in how the region is growing and evolving.
Over a couple days in Tulsa, I felt like I came to understand the people, culture, and the collective effort that has shaped the community and region over more than a decade. Tulsa is unique. It evolved from a settling point for native tribes to an oil boomtown, through the tragedy of the Tulsa Race Massacre, and now into an evolving commercial center for aviation, aerospace, and innovation. As I toured throughout the city, you could feel that history, both the difficulties and the opportunities, woven into the fabric of the community today.
Over the past decade, investments in stadium districts, housing initiatives, and place-based amenities have helped make the region one of the best places to live, with affordability and quality of life at the center of that promise. Many have heard of Tulsa Remote, a program designed to bring people to Tulsa, but the untold story may be its success in keeping people there.
What I found most remarkable was the sense of community, that the region knows what it is and what it wants to be. You hear similar stories across industry, community, and economic development partners. They are working together, with deep collaboration, to drive opportunity across the region.
Like any community, Tulsa is leveraging its assets in unique ways. Few places have an institutional partner like the George Kaiser Family Foundation, but what stands out is how that asset has been integrated into a broader collaborative strategy. Through support for organizations like Tulsa Innovation Lab and transformative investments like The Gathering Place, a 66.5-acre public space along the Arkansas River, GKKF has leaned into helping Tulsa create innovation and quality-of-life assets that are distinctly its own.
That same spirit of partnership is visible across the ecosystem. The Tulsa Regional Chamber, Partner Tulsa, Tulsa Innovation Labs, Tulsa Remote, and many others are collaborating to advance economic opportunity, working alongside communities across the region, as well as industry and educational institutions, to create a robust platform of partners that complement one another.
That collaborative foundation is also what brought me to Tulsa for the Main Street Now Conference. With hundreds of Main Street leaders gathered to explore placemaking, revitalization, and community-driven economic development, Tulsa provided a powerful backdrop for those conversations. Hundreds of Main Streeters descended on Tulsa, underscoring the place-making, Main Street development approach that Tulsa has utilized to revitalize itself over the past decade. The city reflects many of the themes at the center of the conference and offered a tangible example of how those ideas can take shape in practice.
At Main Street Now’s Main Idea session, part of IEDC’s Centennial Event Series, I had the opportunity to discuss the Systems Stewardship approach to economic development, moving from deal making to partnerships and systems development. In many ways, Tulsa exemplifies that approach, balancing traditional business attraction with a broader strategy that includes business retention and expansion, entrepreneurship, and place-based development rooted in community assets.
Being in Tulsa reinforced how much the field of economic development continues to shift, and how places like this are showing what that shift can look like through a balanced, collaborative approach. I came to Tulsa with my own set of expectations and left inspired by the passion, partnership, and shared vision driving economic opportunity across the region.
As the field continues to evolve, Tulsa stands as a powerful example of what collaborative economic development can achieve.