Stakeholder Engagement

The 2025 Regional Economic Framework serves as a living document, and reflects the perspectives of a wide range of regional economic stakeholders. The 2025 update was guided by a collaborative process that engaged stakeholders through three key avenues: a CEDS Committee, expert interviews, and a public hearing.

A key component of the 2025 Regional Economic Framework process was the formation of a CEDS Committee, which informed the development and ongoing updates of the regional economic strategy. This Committee played a vital role in ensuring the strategy addressed current economic needs and opportunities while identifying a collaborative approach to implementation. To fulfill this role effectively, the Committee should reflected the region’s diversity by including representatives from a wide range of sectors and partners.

As a regional public agency, the Met Council played a convening role in the 2025 Regional Economic Framework update, bringing together stakeholders to discuss economic development priorities and strategies shaped by their experiences, commitments, and ongoing work with other regional economic development partners.

CEDS Committee:

  • Center for Economic Inclusion
  • City of Bloomington
  • City of Minneapolis 
  • City of Saint Paul
  • Dakota County
  • DEED
  • Great Plains Institute
  • Great River Energy
  • Greater MSP
  • HealthPartners
  • Hennepin County
  • Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated
  • Medical Alley
  • Metro Economic Development Association
  • Minneapolis Downtown Council
  • Minnesota Business Coalition for Racial Equity
  • Minnesota Freight Advisory Committee
  • MN CDFI Coalition
  • MN Technology Association
  • Project for Pride and Living
  • Ramsey County
  • Saint Paul Chamber
  • Saint Paul Port Authority
  • Scott County
  • TC LISC
  • University of Minnesota

In addition to the 26-member CEDS Committee, in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 to 20 regional experts, who played a vital role in understanding and addressing important aspects of the economy. The experience and expertise of the interviewees included job growth; workforce development and skills; racial inclusion; regional brand and image; talent migration and retention; startups and innovation; transportation and mobility; affordability; and the new climate economy. Information from the interviews were shared with the CEDS committee and incorporated into the 2025 update.

The 2025 Regional Economic Framework is a report both about and for the Twin Cities region. In addition to stakeholder input gathered during the update process, the public was invited to review and comment on the draft 2025 Regional Economic Framework report before its formal adoption by the Metropolitan Council in early 2026. Read the public comment report.