Mt. Auburn Associates was established in 1985 to help organizations and municipalities achieve better success in planning and facilitating economic development projects.  Since that time, we have built a strong reputation as skilled partners in projects that create shared and sustainable economic well-being in communities across the United States.

Our associates and collaborators share a commitment to listening carefully to clients and developing strategies targeted to meet their specific goals.  The scope of our work ranges from broad-based economic development planning to more focused strategic plans involving workforce development, the creative economy, entrepreneurship and small business development, development finance, and industry "cluster" development.

Our broad experience and strong grounding in regional and local economic development theory help us to focus clients on the factors most likely to influence their projects’ success.  Mt. Auburn’s work at the state, regional, county, municipal, and neighborhood levels has given us an in-depth understanding of both the dynamics of regional development and the way in which sub-regional areas function economically within a larger regional context.

Our approach includes the following:

Economic development traditionally has focused on business attraction, expansion, retention, and startup.  Mt. Auburn’s model integrates traditional economic development with community development, an approach that includes revitalizing defined geographic areas and helping residents acquire the skills they need for job access.  We view this integrated model as a more powerful framework for improving local and regional economic conditions.

We believe it is not enough to develop strategies that simply promote job creation.  An important goal of economic development is to raise income levels, particularly among the economically disadvantaged.  This requires attention to the quality of jobs and concern about who is getting those jobs.  In addition, development activity should be undertaken in a manner that retains or enhances the quality of life and environment not only in the present, but also for future generations.
  Too often, economic development studies are characterized by standardized methodologies and over-reliance on quantitative data.  Mt. Auburn uses data and standard analytical tools extensively, but only as a starting point, augmenting them with in-depth primary research.  We then weave quantitative and qualitative information into a clear, in-depth situation analysis.  Our recommendations are similarly tailored.  While Mt. Auburn is highly knowledgeable about relevant models and best practices, we carefully draw from successful models to craft homegrown solutions.  The results are fully attuned to local objectives, resources, and capacity.