Economic Development

MetroHartford Future

Metro Hartford Future is an initiative to develop a strategy to guide the region’s economic development efforts. CRCOG is leading this effort in partnership with the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the MetroHartford Alliance. The Metro Hartford Future planning process will involve four primary tasks:

  • Goal-Setting: Build consensus around the need for accelerating inclusive/equitable economic growth; that is raising incomes across the income distribution with particular attention to opportunities for engaging those who have often been left behind.
  • Situational Analysis: Do a clear-eyed assessment of our situation: who, what, where to identify opportunities that we should be pursuing as a metropolitan region (i.e., SWOT with an emphasis on context and opportunities).
  • Strategic Planning: Formulate a limited number of “game changer” strategies that will move the trajectory of inclusive economic growth in the right direction.
  • Capacity-Building: Identify organizational forms and collaborations that we will need to implement and sustain the strategies over time.

This effort will also result in a new Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the region, which enable municipalities to apply for certain economic development grants.

Strategies

On June 26, we started the process of developing potential strategies that will be considered for inclusion in the final Metro Hartford Future Plan. The initial strategies were selected based on input from our Advisory Committee, stakeholder interviews, and reviews of previous studies and reports. We invited a broad group of stakeholders to join us for a series of focus groups to refine these strategies. That work is ongoing and will go through a vetting process with the public, private sector stakeholders, and our Advisory Committee. Materials presented at the focus groups can be found below:

  • Strategy Group Meeting Slides
  • DRAFT Situational Assessment – June 2018

    (please note that this draft is unfinished and is subject to change)

Committees and Partners

The CEDS process is overseen by two committees. We have an advisory committee that is made up of regional leaders in government, non-profits, and businesses. View materials from the meetings on the right.

Reports

The Executive Summary of the Metro Hartford Future Report is now available. This document, produced by CRCOG, the MetroHartford Alliance, and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving provides an overview of the report as well as a snapshot of the region. It will be updated annually.

 
  • Metro Hartford Future Executive Summary

The final version of the Metro Hartford Future Project report has been published. You can find the final document below, which includes a new section detailing comments received during the public comment period. The full text of written comments we received is available from Maureen Goulet.

  • Metro Harford Future Report 2019 (Final)
  • Metro Hartford Future: Appendix 2019
  • Metro Hartford Future CEDS 2020 Annual Report
  • Metro Hartford Future CEDS 2021 Annual Report

Background

  • CRCOG Long Range Transportation Plan 2015
  • CRCOG Plan of Conservation and Development 2014

2012 MetroHartford CEDS

  • MetroHartford CEDS Initiatives and Action Steps
  • MetroHartford CEDS Trend Analysis
  • MetroHartford CEDS Industry Analysis

2006 MetroHartford CEDS

  • MetroHartford CEDS Strategy
  • MetroHartford CEDS Regional Assessment

Additional Resources

  • The Downtown Hartford Economic and Urban Design Action Strategy
  • The MetroHartford Millennium Project
  • 2011 Central Connecticut CEDS
  • One Region, One Future: An Action Agenda for a Connected, Competitive, Vibrant, Green Knowledge Corridor
  • Metro Hartford Progress Points 2016
  • Metro Hartford Progress Points 2015
  • Metro Hartford Progress Points 2014
  • Progress Points 2016 Data (Excel)
  • Connecticut Strategic Economic Framework (1999) - Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century