Volume 1; Issue 11 

EDA Update – December Feature 

Year-in-Review 

Throughout 2008, EDA rigorously identified best practices and ideas in 21st 

century economic development and shared them with practitioners across the 

nation through the EDA Update e-newsletter, Economic Development Today 

broadcast and EDA America quarterly publication. We hope that you found these 

products valuable in your efforts to build smart strategies for economic growth in 

your region. If you missed any of them, they are archived at www.eda.gov. 

In addition to these information products, EDA and its regional offices also hosted 

regional economic development conferences to convene economic development 

practitioners, experts and researchers to discuss economic development trends 

and best practices. 

This edition of EDA Update serves as a “year-in-review” report on these activities, 

which focused on promoting: 

z Long-term coordinated and collaborative regional economic development 

approaches by examining industry clusters; 

z Innovation, competiveness, and entrepreneurship in the area of “green” 

development initiatives and corporate community investment; 

z Strategies and investments that connect regional economies with the 

worldwide marketplace; and 

z Assisting regions that have been affected by natural disasters through the 

development and implementation of economic redevelopment strategies. 

Long-term, coordinated and collaborative regional economic 

development approaches 

EDA provided audiences with a series of information on industry clusters – 

geographic concentrations of competing, complementary or interdependent firms 

and industries that do business with each other and have common needs for 

talent, technology and infrastructure. 

EDA America’s features portrayed how employing multi-jurisdictional strategies 

can strengthen local and regional economies. Industry Cluster Programs detailed 

how clusters of economic activity bolster America’s competitiveness. Likewise, the 

broadcast “C2C: From Clusters to Competitiveness – Propelling Regional 

Strategies for Success in the Worldwide Economy,” highlighted how industry 

cluster programs can significantly benefit the regions in which they are located. 

Innovation and competiveness 

EDA explored the economic benefits of “going green,” and focused on how going 

green can enhance not just the environment but also the bottom line for business. 

We highlighted how a green incubator stimulated job creation and growth in 

northwest Ohio. EDA America articles revisited these basic principles in the 

Economic Benefits of Green Building, which underscored how green infrastructure 

investment can vastly promote higher-skill, higher-wage, long-term jobs. The 

broadcast “Seeing the Green: Bolstering Economic Development Strategies 

with Environmental Responsibility,” demonstrated that regions and 

communities will benefit from well-designed and thoughtful planning. Creating 

“green collar jobs” and providing higher-skill, higher-wage employment 

opportunities directly respond to the nature of America’s transitioning economy. 

Click SUBSCRIBE to Learn 

about other Exciting EDA 

News 

APA’s Economic Development 

Toolbox Part Ten: Integrating 

Community Indicators with 

Planning 

As we have learned in recent Toolbox 

segments, a successful community 

and regional indicator system lies in 

the involvement of economic 

development practitioners and the 

public. In APA’s Toolbox, 

stakeholders can learn how to 

identify, develop, and integrate a set 

of indicators that is right for their 

region and industries. From forming a 

working group with local economic 

experts to reviewing existing models 

in the community to researching 

indicator data, business owners, 

residents and policy makers can draft 

a successful design for sustainable 

regional growth and competiveness. 

Coming Soon! 

February 4–5, 2009 

Reinventing Retail and Mixed-Use: 

Surviving, Thriving, and Positioning 

for the Future Beverly Hills, CA 

[Website] 

March 24 –27 2009 

Nado’s Economic Development 

Finance Service Conference New 

Orleans, LA, 70112 [Website] 

April 25 –29 2009 

APA’s 101st National Planning 

Conference Minneapolis, MN 

[Website] 

New Streamlined Application 

is now available! 

The Economic Development 

Administration is pleased to 

announce that it introduced a new, 

streamlined single application form, 

the Application for Investment 

Assistance (Form ED–900), on 

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Our Corporate Community Investment series featured how local investments by 

forward-thinking corporations can spur regional economic growth and give back to 

their localities. Specifically, EDA focused on how one internationally competitive

company has given tremendous educational opportunities to hundreds of high 

school seniors in rural Arkansas. In the broadcast “Corporate Community 

Investment: From the Bottom Line to the Front Line of Economic 

Development,” we highlighted how community investment significantly benefits 

the economic growth and stability of a community and how these investments 

provide vital economic and shareholder returns for a corporation. 

Encouraging entrepreneurship 

February’s EDA Update highlighted the development and promotion of a 

Midwestern business incubator, while the August issue underscored the 

importance of encouraging entrepreneurial efforts among historically 

underserved areas, and how economic development initiatives must be fostered in 

urban and rural regions alike. 

Strategies and investments that connect regional economies with the 

worldwide marketplace 

Preparing America’s regions and communities to compete in the 21st century 

marketplace is an essential economic development strategy. A focus on Fostering 

Worldwide Connections was highlighted in EDA America, including global outreach 

efforts and enhancing local prosperity from an international corporation’s 

perspective. 

The year’s first Economic Development Today broadcast, “Connecting Regional 

Economies with the Worldwide Marketplace”, brought home to viewers the 

necessity of fostering economic connections between regions, communities and 

international markets. 

Reports from the Field: EDA Events 2008 

In May, the Department of Commerce held its annual National Summit on 

American Competitiveness in Chicago. Many of the nation's leaders in business, 

academia and government convened to discuss what steps the public and private 

sectors can take to ensure America’s position as the most competitive economy in 

the 21st century and beyond. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez led the day’s 

discussions and convened a town hall session providing attendees a chance to 

interact with some of America’s top economic and business leaders. 

In April, EDA’s Austin and Atlanta Regional Offices teamed to produce the “Greater 

South Economic Development Conference” in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 

conference theme was Sustaining American Prosperity: The 21st Century 

Challenge, and featured three principal tracks: 1) the American Worker; 2) 

Entrepreneurship; 3) Competitiveness. Participants had the opportunity to discuss 

the changing American workplace, best practices for rebuilding New Orleans, and 

how to redefine the American manufacturing sector in the 21st century. 

The Chicago and Philadelphia Regional Offices also held a joint conference in May 

in Cleveland, Ohio, entitled “Beyond Innovation: Partnerships and Comprehensive 

Strategies for Transforming our Regional Economies.” The event offered economic 

development lessons from economic developers from 19 states, the District of 

Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Breakout sessions focused on 

forging successful public-private partnerships and capturing opportunities through 

innovation and entrepreneurship. 

EDA's Denver and Seattle Regional Offices hosted a conference in September in 

Denver, Colorado. With nearly 400 attendees from 25 states, the District of 

Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Barcelona, the 

two-day conference’s opening session set the theme of “Looking Beyond the 

Horizon” in formulating and implementing regional economic development 

strategies. 

October 1, 2008. The new Form ED–

900 is available for download at 

www.grants.gov and is ready for use 

by all eligible applicants. The new 

Form ED–900 consolidates all EDAspecific requirements into a single

application form and replaces EDA’s 

previous suite of application 

materials. As of November 1, 2008, 

only the Form ED–900, along with 

specific forms and attachments from 

the Standard Form 424 family, are 

accepted for consideration. Additional 

information about the new single 

application and EDA’s application 

process is available at www.eda.gov 

under the heading ‘Top News’. 

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EDA is proud of a successful year in information dissemination in 2008, in which 

economic development practitioners and local policymakers throughout the nation 

were provided valuable insight on 21st century economic development. We look 

forward to continuing to serve you, the economic development practitioner, 

through these vehicles and others in 2009. 

Report on the State of Corporate Community Investment 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Business and Civic Leadership Center (BCLC), 

with the assistance of a grant from the EDA, has released the Report on the State 

of Corporate Community Investment. The report begins to explore and map out 

the process associated with how and why companies invest in communities across 

the United States. 

Over the past year, the BCLC has conducted this research on two fronts: (1) by 

convening community-level, information-sharing, and partnership-building forums 

in eight regions across the country, and (2) by partnering with the Center on 

Philanthropy at Indiana University to survey officials in companies of all sizes to 

analyze how they engage in their local communities. 

The report indicates that corporate community investment is motivated by a desire

to improve local competitive conditions and quality of life, "give back," and recruit 

and retain employees and customers. 

For more information on the report visit: 

http://www.uschamber.com/bclc/programs/investment/stateof_intro.htm 

 

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