Rick Rennie, I3 Table Member and Asset Manager for the Historic District Improvement Co., is no stranger to economic development and revitalization in Albuquerque. In addition to his work with Albuquerque’s Integration Initiative, Rick works with HDIC, managing lofts and business spaces downtown and using real estate as a tool in revitalizing Albuquerque’s economic sector. Rick is also involved with Albuquerque Heading Home and helped to create miABQ, a young professionals group dedicated to a thriving downtown. And although he wears many hats and has seen many techniques at work, Rick says there’s one strategy that consistently demonstrates results. It’s something akin to “teaching to fish.”

“Hopefully the work that Albuquerque’s Integration Initiative is doing will ensure that everybody has a chance to participate in the system,” says Rick. “I believe that every person has their own unique capabilities, and I want to live in a community where people believe the same and help others to grow. Our work through Living Cities is definitely aligned with that, but I’m hoping to see us go a step further. There’s teaching to fish and then there’s teaching people which kind of fish to catch and which kind of protein they need. We don’t want to just teach to fish – we want to teach people to become master fishers.”

Rick says that in a world of constant technological advancement and change, we’ll need everybody’s input and individual abilities to “stay ahead of the game.” It’s one reason he was an early proponent for the Entrepreneurial Mindset program in Albuquerque, which has trained more than 6,000 City employees from firefighters to sanitation workers, and has reached the business community and APS through Central New Mexico Community College (CNM).

“It’s all about the mindset,” he says. “My approach is to change people’s mindsets first and the policy will follow. Mindsets can be changed in one hour. That’s when the outcomes start to change. I believe that the mindset is the tipping point.” And while he makes it clear that being “unique” is not as high on his list as being “authentic and effective,” he notes that the program is one of the few truly unique things in Albuquerque’s push to build a more inclusive and welcoming city for entrepreneurs.

In the future, he says, he’d like to see Albuquerque become recognized as a city that “got real” by using proven solutions to fight big problems faced by our residents. And if you ask Rick, changing mindsets and teaching people to use their individual strengths is the first step to making that happen.

“In five years,” says Rick, “I’d love to see big companies come here for the value of our employees. I’d love to see everyone in the private sector and city training in the entrepreneurial mindset and using those skills to solve problems. The Integration Initiative has the potential to be a huge player, not just here but everywhere. I think our greatest resource is humans and wasting that resource would just be wrong.”