In the Redevelopment Trailblazers podcast, National Center for Economic Gardening founder Chris Gibbons explains how communities can build sustainable wealth by supporting "Stage 2" companies—locally grown firms with 10–100 employees and up to $50 million in revenue. Unlike traditional economic development that focuses on recruiting outside corporations, Economic Gardening provides high-growth local businesses with the sophisticated strategic tools usually reserved for the Fortune 500, such as market research, competitor intelligence, and GIS lifestyle mapping.
Gibbons shares several success stories illustrating the program's versatility, from a small-town Kansas porch banner maker who used neighborhood-level data to scale her workforce, to a West Virginia software firm that identified new markets for trucking scales through Department of Transportation records. For agencies interested in boosting their local economy, Gibbons recommends starting with a five-company pilot project. This "toe-in-the-water" approach allows leaders to see tangible results and CEO feedback before committing to a full-scale program.
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