Nathan Ohle, CEO of IEDC (full disclosure: IEDC is a PPR client), recently wrote about the concept of systems stewardship in Area Development Magazine, and the findings are worth sitting with. In 2025, IEDC launched its first-ever State of the Field survey, which examined how economic developers are working in and thinking about their profession.
Informed by more than 150,000 data points, the results reveal a consistent pattern across community types, organization sizes, and regions: economic developers are engaging in systems stewardship, which is a fundamental shift to facilitate stronger relationships, align incentives, and coordinate regional strategies. In short, this isn’t the side hustle; it’s the job.
What Does Systems Stewardship Actually Look Like?
Here’s the thing about systems stewardship: it’s not a new strategy. It’s a recognition of what the most effective practitioners have quietly been doing all along. It means asking not just “what program can we launch?” but “who needs to be in the room, and how do we keep them there?” It means understanding that a workforce gap isn’t solved by a single training program; it’s solved by aligning employers, educators, capital sources, and community institutions around a shared goal.
We’re seeing this show up in the work of some of our clients. Here’s a look at a few who are getting it right:
Maryland Center for Public-Private Partnerships @ MEDCO: Building the Infrastructure for Collaboration
If systems stewardship has an organizational home in Maryland, it might just be the newly established Maryland Center for Public-Private Partnerships @ MEDCO. Born from the recognition that the most persistent economic challenges require multi-sector solutions, MEDCO has long understood that no single entity, public or private, can go it alone.
The Center is designed to serve as a connective tissue for partners across sectors, forging meaningful engagement between private enterprise, universities, nonprofit organizations, and government entities. By bridging public sector policy with private-sector innovation and executing at market speed, MEDCO hopes to accelerate community outcomes that would have once taken decades to materialize.
FSC First: Making the Network the Resource
One of the best expressions of systems stewardship is when an organization becomes the connector to everything. That’s the FSC First model in a nutshell.
Through workshops and trainings offered in partnership with regional powerhouses like the Bowie BIC, PGEDC, TEDCO, and the Maryland Black Chamber of Commerce, FSC First’s Level Up program delivers free or low-cost training for entrepreneurs who need resources and networks to start, grow, and thrive. The magic isn’t in any single workshop; it’s in the web of relationships that gets activated when an entrepreneur walks through the door (or Zoom room). Need access to capital? There’s a partner for that. Need technical assistance? There’s a partner for that, too. This kind of coordinated, no-cost support isn’t just helpful; it’s transformative.
Charles County’s Circle of Services: Seats at the Table for Everyone
There’s something refreshing about Charles County’s approach to economic development. Rather than creating a siloed set of programs that businesses have to navigate on their own, the county developed its Circle of Services, a model that connects the full landscape of support available to anyone looking to start or grow a business in the region.
The Circle of Services framework reflects a deep understanding of how real businesses actually operate: not in a straight line from Point A to Point B, but in a dynamic (and often nonlinear) journey that requires different types of support at different stages. By mapping the interconnected resources available, from financing and site selection to workforce development and networking, Charles County has made the pathway to business success more and more accessible.
Allegany County’s Makerspace: Where Relationships Meet Resources
If you want a ground-level example of systems stewardship in action, check out the Makerspace at Allegany College of Maryland. In a region that has navigated many rural economic challenges and turned them into triumphs, this space represents something more than a collection of 3D printers. It’s a deliberate way to connect people, residents, students, entrepreneurs, and industry around the shared currency of skills.
What makes the Allegany model noteworthy is its commitment to accessibility. By housing the makerspace at the college and intentionally opening it to the broader community, Allegany Works has created a space where the walls between workforce development, entrepreneurship, and education blur in the best possible way.
The Takeaway: Stewardship Isn’t Soft; It’s Savvy
It would be easy to hear “systems stewardship” and think it sounds like the cotton candy cousin of “real” economic development. Don’t be fooled. IEDC’s data and the on-the-ground evidence from organizations like yours tell a different story. The communities making the most meaningful progress are the ones prioritizing relationships and coordinating alongside the traditional metrics of jobs and investment.
Are you practicing systems stewardship in novel ways? We’d love to hear about it (and maybe feature you in a future blog)! Tell me all about it!
