EDA awards $27.9M for eight Communities of Practice to bolster economic development, including two SSTI are involved in

This week the Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced it had completed awarding $27.9 million in cooperative agreements to establish eight economic development Communities of Practice, including the Technology-Based Economic Development (TBED) Community of Practice led by SSTI to help build the capacity and disseminate effective technology-based economic development practices across the innovation industry and the Building Better Regions Community of Practice where SSTI has partnered with RTI. Each EDA award will build a Community of Practice designed to connect participants to capture and disseminate practical knowledge and bring together thematically related groups of economic development practitioners who are working to develop economic ecosystems conducive to the creation of quality jobs for American workers.

Activities across the eight communities are planned to include tailored technical assistance, strategic networking, and topical programming opportunities to help identify, amplify and scale best practices in economic development.

The EDA-funded communities include SSTI’s Technology-Based Economic Development (TBED) Community of Practice ($3.5 million), which builds the capacity of EDA grantees to achieve greater impacts for their regional innovation economies. The other communities are focused on:

• Economic Development District Community of Practice for capacity building. $5.4 million was awarded to the National Association of Development Organizations Research Foundation (NADO RF)
• Good Jobs Challenge Community of Practice for workforce development. $4.8 million was awarded to Jobs for the Future (JFF)
• Building Better Regions Community of Practice for stronger regional economies. $4 million was awarded to RTI International (in partnership with SSTI)
• Building Resilient Economies in Coal Communities Community of Practice for energy transition. $2.6 million was awarded to the National Association of Counties Research Foundation (NACo RF)
• Revolving Loan Fund Community of Practice for small business support. $1.6 million was awarded to the National Development Council (NDC)
• Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice to provide support for indigenous communities. $1.5 million was awarded to the Urban Institute
• Manufacturing Communities National Expansion (MCNE) Project: A Manufacturing Community of Practice for industrial competitiveness. $1.5 million was awarded to the American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative and the Northeast-Midwest Institute

These projects are funded under EDA’s $100 million American Rescue Plan Statewide Planning, Research and Networks program, which was part of EDA’s multi-phase effort to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally there is a Nuclear Communities TA Program Community of Practice, which is powered by EDA’s Research and National Technical Assistance Program (RNTA). 

For more information on EDA’s new Communities of Practice portfolio, visit https://www.eda.gov/strategic-initiatives/communities-of-practice. Stay up-to-date with SSTI’s activities and learn more at https://ssti.org/tbedcop.