Key Takeaways from UMA’s 2018 National Gathering: Pittsburgh

Urban Manufacturing Alliance’s 7th National Gathering, co-hosted with Bridgeway Capital, was held in Pittsburgh from September 26-28, 2018. The Gathering theme was “Building Coalitions To Create Equitable Manufacturing Ecosystems.”

For decades, economic development in cities has depended on “smokestack chasing”: luring large employers from one community to another or incentivizing them to stay.

But through our network of members, we’ve begun to see a shift from this zero-sum paradigm towards a locally-focused, place-based approach that supports, lifts up, and champions manufacturing businesses of all sizes.

The goal for this Gathering was to showcase organizing and systems-building strategies that are promoting manufacturing, while creating new economic opportunities for diverse communities. To do so, we put a spotlight on local and national organizations that represent the finest in ecosystem-building.