I was pleased once again to serve as course advisor and lead instructor for the Intro Incentives course with the Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA). The purpose of the course is to help economic development leaders approach incentive use as a process that can be designed and managed to achieve community goals.

This week marked the first time we have offered the class in-person during the National Development Finance Summit. I thoroughly enjoyed working with a smart and engaged class plus fellow instructors Kent Gardner and Courtney Pogue.

The course agenda used the Smart Incentives 4×4 framework as a guide, working with participants to address:

  • Designing and Deploying Incentives
  • Using Data and Analytics to Reduce Risk
  • Incentives Planning for Your Community: An Interactive Case Study
  • Compliance Monitoring and Program Evaluation
  • Reporting and Communication for Transparency and Accountability

Smart Incentives and CDFA share a commitment to advancing good practices so that incentives and related finance tools are used wisely in the services of our economic and community development objectives.