“The goal of GreenME is to transition 9,000 residential units and 20 commercial facilities to wood biomass fuel within four years and create more than 400 jobs across the two counties. ‘The whole motivation is to create a market for biomass, because it creates demand in the pellet industry, which creates demand for forest products.’”

Read more here: http://www.mainebiz.biz/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120514/CURRENTEDITION/305109991

This EDA Know Your Region webinar featured two regional development organizations that exemplify the Peer Standards of Excellence through their work to encourage private sector engagement, multi-regional development strategies, and leveraging regional assets to better compete on a global stage.

Tim Brennan, Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (MA) presented on how his organization has utilized partnerships and economic development strategies to increase communication, spur innovation and target regional collaboration through the PVPC CEDS.

Chris Endresen- Scott, Director of Economic Development for the Puget Sound Regional Council (PVRC) presented on how engaging public, private, nonprofit and educational leaders has enabled the Partnership for Prosperity to facilitate the  use of teamwork and constructive approaches to support clusters and  innovation based economic development in their region.

Click Here to Access Presentation Slides

Click Here to Access a Video of the Presentation

CEDS Peer Standards of Excellence

In January 2011, NADO brought together approximately 25 EDA-funded Economic Development Districts to share ideas with Federal partners and discuss innovative approaches to developing Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS). The CEDS Forum allowed economic development stakeholders to set a pathway for transforming the CEDS  into living documents that frame regional visioning and strategy development, effectively leverage regional partnerships, and promote regional innovation.

The EDA Economic Development District “Peer Standards of Excellence” are meant to be guiding principles that will ensure that the 380 Economic Development Districts  share a common vision and mission of promoting economic prosperity, regional competitiveness, and quality of life through regional innovation, collaboration and strategic investments across America.

Click Here for to access the Peer Standards of Excellence

Christine Frei, Executive Director of the Clearwater Economic Development Association (CEDA) in Lewiston, Idaho presented on four of the partnerships that have been used to increase small manufacturing in her region.  CEDA has leveraged a partnership with the Northwest Intermountain Manufacturers Association on a number of projects including:

• Solidworks in the High School – exposes local students to manufacturing related occupations to encourage a rural workforce of manufacturers
• Snake River Boat Builders Export Program – which has provided viable foreign markets for the welded-aluminum jet boat manufacturing cluster in the region
• Ende Machine and Foundry/Craigmont Business Park – worked with a local manufacturer and helped establish the first lost foam foundry in the Inland Northwest; and
• American Manufacturer Network – helps increase military preparedness and create manufacturing business opportunities resulting in job creation in the Pacific Northwest.

Michael Eisensmith and Alain Ouellette from the Northern Maine Development Commission spoke about how their region has utilized partnerships with local businesses to create a network that led to increased investments and opportunities for their region. The Aroostook Partnership for Prosperity was essential in establishing goals and inventorying the indigenous assets that would offer northern Maine the best opportunities to meet regional economic development goals. Through Mobilize Northen Maine and their Jobs Accellerator Initiative, NMDC worked with APP to foster innovation in manufacturing natural resources and expand the renewable energy industry cluster found in their region.

To access the video recording of the webinar: Click Here!

To access the presentations slides click the following link:

Asset-Based Strategies and Partnerships

View the reports: Growing Rural Innovation-Based Economies: Kansas Opportunity Innovation Network

Part 1: Case Study Overview (PDF)

Part 2: Special Report (PDF)

This project started as a unique partnership between the North Central Kansas Regional Planning Commission and AMI. The two groups wanted to explore how lower density states and rural regions could build effective economic cluster ecosystems.

The NADO Research Foundation is pleased to announce the release of a new special report, Regional Resilience. The issue brief summarizes recent research and practice on economic and community resiliency, including a potential framework for regional development organizations to use in preparing and responding to economic shocks.

Disasters, whether natural or man-made disasters, often know no boundaries and a community’s ability to recover is mostly determined by its capacity to respond to the magnitude and severity of the event. A resilient region anticipates threats, develops resources to reduce their impact, responds appropriately, and recovers. A resilient approach extends beyond emergency responsiveness by utilizing advanced planning and leadership to address vulnerabilities and support vibrant, healthy communities.

In partnership with Rupri and the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), NADO is working to assist regions in taking a more pro-active approach to pre-disaster preparedness and post-disaster economic recovery. Through partnerships and training, NADO is working with regional development organizations (RDOs) and other partners to explore methods to hasten post-disaster economic recovery and reduce the long-term financial burden of disasters (natural disasters as well as economic disasters) on impacted communities, businesses, and individuals.

View the New Rupri-NADO Report on Regional Resilience (pdf)

The NADO Research Foundation, the nonprofit research affiliate of the National Association of Development Organizations, identifies, studies, and promotes regional solutions and approaches to improving local prosperity and services through the nationwide network of RDOs. For more information or to access these and other reports online, visit www.NADO.org or contact Program Manager Matt Black at 202.624.7809 or mblack@nado.org.

This report was produced under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) under cooperative agreement 08-79-04379. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations do not necessarily reflect the views of EDA.

NADO staff presented information on statewide CEDS initiatives, examples of innovative projects at Economic Development Districts (EDDs), and snapshots of how EDA-funded data tools can be used for identifying and evaluating clusters. Key takeaways from the presentation were:

Several states are engaged in efforts to “roll up” regional CEDS into new statewide economic development strategies in partnership with governors’ offices, state agencies, and other business and economic development organizations. Each statewide CEDS initiative underway is unique in terms of how it came together, which partners are involved, how EDDs are leading and providing technical assistance, etc. Yet, the common denominator appears to be that a window has opened for greater EDD involvement in state strategies because of budget cuts, recognition of existing EDD networks and partnerships with federal agencies, and several other factors. While it’s too early to identify best practices—only Alabama among the states we know about has completed its statewide CEDS—NADO will be monitoring and reporting on lessons learned for other states that may be interested in pursuing similar initiatives. EDA has provided funding for several of these statewide CEDS initiatives and has been generally supportive of leveraging regional EDD CEDS as a foundation for larger statewide CEDS efforts.

Many EDDs are leading innovative projects that would rival anything coming out of larger and better-funded economic development organizations, but EDD innovations are not marketed as success stories as well as they could be. EDDs should focus more on showcasing and sharing their accomplishments, and thinking about how successful projects can be expanded through new funding opportunities such as the Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge.

Partnerships have always been at the core of successful EDDs and it now appears those EDDs focused on broadening and committing to more forward-thinking public-private alliances, including with universities, are remaining relevant in today’s economic development field.

Take advantage of EDA-funded data tools, including STATS America and the now free-of-charge U.S. Cluster Mapping website. These are excellent tools for CEDS data analysis, demonstrating the existence of clusters and distress criteria for grant applications, and even doing revenue generating projects for other regional and local organizations.

If EDDs in your state are engaged in a statewide CEDS initiative that we don’t know about, please let us know. And send us links to innovative projects, revenue generating initiatives, and anything else we can use to tell the story of how EDDs are accelerating innovation and job creation around the U.S. You can send your information to Brian Kelsey at bkelsey@nado.org.

You can download a copy of the presentation on the EDA Seattle conference website or view below via Slideshare.

Click here for the Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge:
Federal Funding Opportunity Prospective Applicant Webinar

The Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge offers a combination of $15 million in funding from 4 agencies, including the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Delta Regional Authority. Funding will be awarded in approximately 20 regions through a competitive inter-agency grant process. In addition, the Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge leverages existing technical assistance resources from 9 federal agencies and bureaus to promote economic growth in rural regions and accelerate innovation-fueled job creation and global competitiveness. This opportunity will support customized solutions targeted to address the gaps and opportunities specific for individual regions by strengthening linkages to self-identified, high-potential industry clusters such as renewable energy, natural resources, food production, rural tourism, and advanced manufacturing.

Current Closing Date for Applications: May 09, 2012

Click here to go to the announcement.

Webinar Description: Featuring Dr. Timothy Slaper from the Indiana Business Research Center and Rich Bryden from the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Harvard Business School, this webinar shows participants how they can utilize EDA supported data tools developed by the University of Indiana and Harvard University. STATS America and Clustermapping.us give economic development practitioners a cost-effective way to measure regional assets and build comprehensive development strategies that build upon those assets to create more competitive regions.

To access the presentations slides click the following link

EDA Data Tools Presentation Slides