The Bronx Economic Development Summit celebrates the Bronx’s inaugural borough-wide Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS).

Since 2019, community, faith, and labor organizations have come together to create a unifying vision for the future of our borough’s economy that brings us together across neighborhoods and advances an economy that is equitable, resilient, and environmentally sustainable.

In 2024, with a planning grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), the Bronx Economic Development Corporation (BXEDC) andOur Bronx (formerly the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition) partnered to coordinate and finalize this momentous accomplishment for our borough.Join us June 5th and 6th, 2026 at the historic Andrew Freedman Home as we celebrate the Bronx’s assets, leadership, and shared future.

What to Expect
At the Summit, you will have the opportunity to:

  • Explore the core strategies and approaches that guided the Bronx CEDS process;

  • Dig into the economic analysis that shaped the report’s priorities and action steps; and

  • Hear from visionary leaders from across the Bronx as well as from around the country and abroad, advancing bold, community-rooted economic development initiatives.

Why You Should Attend
We are designing the Summit to be welcoming to all. Expect a space to learn, connect, celebrate, be inspired, and think critically and holistically about what it will take to build an economy that truly works for all Bronx residents.

Speakers
We are excited to showcase visionary leaders from across the Bronx, as well as from across the US and abroad, who are advancing work that builds shared wealth, democratic decision-making, and collective ownership.

Friday Program‍ ‍Saturday Program

Program At A Glance

Andrew Freedman Home
1125 Grand Concourse, Bronx NY
Friday June 5th and Saturday June 6th, 2026

Friday June 5th, 2026 

On Friday, we are inviting speakers to share how economic development is being reformed and revived in communities across the country. The sessions will address the intersections of national and local landscapes, and invite local Bronx and New York City participants to be inspired and make connections between the challenges and opportunities in other places and our own place here. Join us for the reception as well to make new friends and catch up with your old ones!

11:30am: Registration and Check-In, Get Boxed Lunch

12:30pm:  Welcome Remarks

1pm - 2pm: Lunch and Opening Keynote Speakers

2:15pm - 3:15pm: Session Block 1

Panel 1: Community Wealth and Real Estate

Panelists will share their work building real estate projects and portfolios that navigate tensions arising from ownership, finance, scale, and community context. Participants will learn about mixed use real estate projects and models from Oakland, Philadelphia, and New York City.

Panel 2: Broad Based Employee Ownership

Panelists will outline the current landscape, opportunities, and challenges facing broad-based ownership and workplace democracy across the United States. They will connect these dynamics and the benefits of broad-based ownership to challenges facing economic development and business landscapes in cities across the country as well as New York City specifically.

Panel 3: “Ownership Lens” Impact Investing

Panelists will share perspectives of investors in projects where diverse ownership structures are part of the array of impact metrics that are evaluated in addition to financial return. They will discuss opportunities and tensions around risk assessment and integrated capital that arise in financing and investment in projects with shared ownership that seek to build community wealth.

3:15pm - 3:45pm: Break

3:45pm - 4:45pm: Session Block 2

Panel  1: Local Government Leadership for Shared Ownership

Panelists with experience in local government will share their perspectives developing, promoting, and advancing economic development initiatives, projects, and programs that seek to address aspects of community wealth building.

Panel 2: Anchor Institution Roles and Strategies

Panelists will share their experiences stewarding and advancing “the anchor mission” to serve communities through investment, procurement, and workforce development approaches.

5pm - 5:45pm: Closing Remarks and Reflections

Keynote speakers will return to respond to comments and questions raised from the lunch session, reflect on themes from the day, and transition to preparing for the Saturday agenda.

6pm - 7:30pm: Networking Reception (Andrew Freedman Home)

Saturday June 6th, 2026

On Saturday, our programming will focus more specifically on our beloved Bronx. Rather than panelists and moderators, we will have facilitators and discussants. Sessions will contextualize the history and trajectory that brought us to this boroughwide process and vision, and connect current economic conditions to pressing challenges and opportunities for the borough and the city in the current moment. The sessions will draw on content from the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) draft and invite Bronx community members and practitioners into implementation-focused dialogue about how the CEDS can guide and coordinate our work into the future. And of course, at the end of the day, we’ll celebrate, eat, drink, and dance, and toast to the brighter Bronx future we will build together.

9am - 10am: Breakfast, Check-In, and Registration

10am - 11am: Opening Remarks - Ecosystem Building Across Sectors for Economic Development

11:15am - 12:15pm: Session Block 3

Workshop 1: Energy Resilience Initiatives in the Bronx

Participants will engage in a facilitated discussion on the current status of energy resilience projects in the Bronx and how these efforts can continue to be advanced with greater partnership and collaboration across the borough.

Workshop 2: Housing Affordability and Ownership

Participants will engage in a facilitated discussion about one of the most urgent and pressing issues highlighted from across the Bronx: housing affordability and quality. Discussants will outline the current conditions and opportunities and challenges identified in the CEDS draft report, and engage participants in a collaborative, action-oriented discussion.

Workshop 3: Small Business Resilience

Discussants in this session will outline the main challenges facing small businesses and commercial corridors in the Bronx, and name existing efforts to address them. Participants will be engaged in a collaborative discussion on how to advance efforts to support existing small businesses in the Bronx.

12:30pm - 1pm: Keynote Speaker

1pm - 2pm: Lunch, Tabling, and Networking 

2pm - 3pm: Session Block 4

Workshop 1: Bronx Worker Ownership Strategy Session

This session will be structured as a strategy session to respond to proposed initiatives to increase pathways to shared ownership in the Bronx. Discussants outline existing challenges and efforts supporting worker ownership in the Bronx, and participants will be engaged in responding to proposed directions for expanding ecosystem elements that need further support in the borough. 

Workshop 2: Bronx Community and Local Finance

Discussants will outline the existing landscape of efforts and challenges to supporting local consumer and business lending in the Bronx. Participants and discussants will collaboratively discuss a proposal aligned to the CEDS process to strengthen boroughwide coordination for investing in local economic development in the Bronx.

Workshop 3: Bronx Manufacturing and Industry

With a grounding in the existing industrial business landscape in the Bronx and the city’s recently released industrial plan, discussants will articulate their experiences and challenges as manufacturing and industrial businesses and cooperatives in the Bronx. Participants will discuss opportunities for advancing boroughwide coordination and implementation of a coherent industrial strategy in the borough in the years ahead.

3:15pm - 4pm: Closing Reflections and Next Steps

4pm - 6:30pm: Celebration and Networking Reception (Andrew Freedman Home)

Register