ESD Distressed Communities

ESD provides capital grant funding from the Regional Council Capital Fund available for the State’s Regional Economic Development Council Initiative, which helps drive regional and local economic development across New York State in cooperation with ten Regional Economic Development Councils (“Regional Councils”). Capital grant funding is available for capital-based economic development projects intended to create or retain jobs; prevent, reduce or eliminate unemployment and underemployment; and/or increase business or economic activity in a community or Region. One of the program categories within the program will provide enhanced incentives for projects located in economically distressed areas (census tracts) where investments are needed to spur economic growth. The definition of economically distressed areas (census tracts) can be found below. For more information and full program guidelines, please see the full program guidelines within the 2026 Available Resources at: [https://regionalcouncils.ny.gov/] Economically distressed area shall mean the following based on the census tract for where the project is located: * Severely distressed census tracts shall have at least 25 households receiving public assistance income in the 2026 ACS 5-year estimate and meet at least five of the criteria listed below: * Moderately distressed census tracts shall have at least 25 households receiving public assistance income in the 2026 ACS 5-year estimate and meet at least three of the criteria listed below: * Slightly distressed census tracts shall have at least 100 households receiving public assistance income in the 2026 ACS 5-year estimate and meet at least two of the criteria listed below: * Population loss between the 2026 ACS 5-year estimate and the 2019 ACS 5-year estimate – an absolute loss in population. * Unemployment rate (2026 ACS 5-year estimate) higher than the State’s rate. * Private sector employment growth rate (2026 ACS 5-year estimate) over the preceding 5 years was lower than the State’s OR private sector employment (2026 ACS 5-year estimate) as a percentage of total employment was less than the State’s. * Percentage of households receiving public assistance (2026 ACS 5-year estimate) was greater than the statewide percentage. * Poverty rate (2026 ACS 5-year estimate) was greater than the State’s poverty rate. * Per Capita Income change (2026 ACS 5-year estimate) over the preceding five years was less than the growth in the consumer price index (CPI) for all urban consumers nationally OR per capita income was less than the State’s per capita income. Attributes: ────────────────────────┬─────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Field Name │Data Type│Description ────────────────────────┼─────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Census Tract │Number │The 11 digit geoid associated with each census tract in New York State. Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county that average about 4,000 inhabitants. ────────────────────────┼─────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Stress Level │Number │The stress level number (1-4) associated with the census tract. ────────────────────────┼─────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Stress Level Description│Text │The stress level description (Not Distressed, Slight Distress, Moderate Distress, Severe Distress) associated with the census tract. ────────────────────────┼─────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Stress Level Color │Text │The stress level color (Gray, Light Orange, Dark Orange, Red) associated with the census tract. ────────────────────────┴─────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────