Neighborhoods at the Center: The Inclusive Economic Development Lab hosts CitySCOPE’s Live Conversation on Community Power

More than a traditional panel, the event created a shared space for exchange. CitySCOPE is one way the Inclusive Economic Development Lab (IEDL) connects classroom learning with real world practice, bringing together those working on economic development from different vantage points. As Professor Kate Cooney, who leads the IEDL, described, “The goal is to move ideas out of the university and into the city, and create opportunities for people to learn directly from one another.”

That intention was visible throughout the evening. The speakers, community development leaders from Chicago’s North Lawndale and the Bronx in New York City, spoke from decades long experience organizing at the front lines of neighborhood change. Their work, rooted in neighborhoods shaped by systematic disinvestment, focused on building models of development that center local priorities and long-term ownership. Yet what stood out was not only their experience, but their openness. As Whittney Smith of the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation reflected, “There is nothing we are doing that is proprietary. It is about staying connected, collaborating, and sharing what we have learned.”

The conversation did not remain on stage. For students involved in the Inclusive Economic Development Lab, the event was part of the SOM course MGT826 IEDL City Studio where students utilize university-based research to support community economic development efforts. This semester, working with the Greater Dwight neighborhood advisory committee in New Haven, students have spent spring semester supporting neighborhood planning efforts, including listening to residents, understanding past efforts, and learning what has and has not worked. Events like CitySCOPE then become a way to connect those local insights with examples from other cities. As Rei Marshall ’27, an MBA and MPH dual degree student, shared, “We try to use our Yale resources to support the community’s vision in the best way we can, rather than imposing external solutions.”

That exchange extended to community members in the room. Sarah Beckford, a lifelong New Haven resident, attended with a clear goal: to learn how to better engage youth in her community. She emphasized that collaboration is very important and that community demands must be clearly specified in writing. The event offered not just ideas, but tools that could be carried forward into local work.

Across perspectives, a pattern emerged. Practitioners shared experience. Students connected those lessons to ongoing work in New Haven. Community members translated insights into action. The conversation moved in multiple directions at once, shaped as much by the room as by the speakers.

In that sense, the live recording of CitySCOPE became more than a discussion. It was an example of how meaningful learning happens when ideas are tested, adapted, and grounded in real contexts. The value of the evening was not in a single takeaway, but in the connections and learning it created - between cities, between roles, and between those working toward more inclusive forms of development.

Learn more about the Inclusive Economic Development Lab and CitySCOPE on their website: https://iedl.yale.edu/.