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Edelman is providing PR support for New York City's beleaguered Economic Development Corp. in the aftermath of Amazon's high-profile abandonment of its massive Long Island City headquarters project.
Crain's New York Business reports today that Amazon was just the biggest of recent setbacks suffered by the EDC.
They include the multibillion-dollar Brooklyn-Queens Connector streetcar system that has gone nowhere, failure to develop a distribution center at the Brooklyn Army Terminal despite the need for warehouse space in the city and the inability to find a partner for a life-sciences campus.
James Patchett, president of the 500-member EDC, told the City Council in March that his group's initiative to create 100K "good paying jobs" by 2027, as so far resulted in 3K positions.
Critics fault New York mayor and presidential hopeful Bill de Blasio for failing to ride herd on the economic development agency.
"I think the mayor doesn't have much interest in the EDC," said Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York City told Crain's. "So there's not a lot of drive."
Edelman is providing a temporary shot in the arm for the EDC's short-staffed PR department.
Development Counsellors International is working with Economic Development Winnipeg to position that Canadian city as a premier location for business investment.
The Vogel Group is working with the Ukraine Future Business Council to promote an environment to support the growth of small businesses in the war-battered company.
Edelman and rapper Pharrell Williams have launched Mighty Dream as a creative advocacy shop to serve communities of color.
WPP plans to launch an investment promotion campaign to spur economic development in war-ravaged Ukraine.
WPP has partnered with the Black Equity Organisation, which launched May 24, to advance equal opportunity and justice for Black people in the UK.
