Residents, grassroots leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, educators, funders, and civic partners came together for the 2nd Annual Inclusive Growth Summit to answer an urgent question: What is the next step toward more inclusive growth in New Haven, and how will we take that step together? This year’s theme, The Power of the Next Step, captured both the urgency and the hope in the room.

Jameson Davis came to the Clean and Equitable Energy Development certificate program with a bold goal: transform his organization’s headquarters into a community resilience hub anchored by a solar microgrid and battery storage. The program, a collaboration between The Center for Inclusive Growth and the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), is planting seeds that could grow a clean and just energy future for New Haven and beyond.

Employee ownership can preserve companies, retain jobs, and broaden who benefits when businesses change hands. Business succession is often treated as a private decision between an owner and a buyer. But when a locally rooted business changes hands or closes, the impact reaches far beyond that transaction. Jobs, supplier relationships, local leadership, and decades of community knowledge can all be at risk. Business succession is an economic development issue as much as a bus