Commerce Blog
By Jay Williams, Assistant Secretary for Economic Development
August 29, 2014
Since taking office, President Obama and his administration have worked to help communities and regions impacted by natural disasters and major economic challenges respond and rebuild stronger than before.
This week, on a visit to Colorado, I was pleased to have the opportunity to announce two Economic Development Administration investments that support those efforts in two communities.
In Estes Park, a picturesque town located at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, residents are working diligently to rebound from severe flooding that hit them hard as they were preparing for the busy snow season – and the economic tourism boon that comes with it - last fall.
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By Jay Williams, Assistant Secretary for Economic Development
August 8, 2014
Americans are intrepid by nature. From the first settlers, to the pioneers who tamed the Wild West, we are always looking to chart the uncharted. While there aren’t new lands to explore in our country – NOAA satellites have pretty much covered every inch – there are always new frontiers in business. Entrepreneurs drive the economy forward by pursuing new ideas and ventures or reinventing existing industry.
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August 2014 Newsletter
Large companies may seem to define American culture worldwide, but it is the small business that represents the American identity. Small business helped build this county and is still vitally important to the economy today.
The 2008 global economic crisis generated a major shock to regional and national economies, but the effects were particularly significant for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Even as the country begins to recover, SMEs continue to face serious challenges in obtaining financial support and loans. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published a preliminary report, Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2014, which outlines some of the difficulties facing SMEs, and suggests some key reforms to support these small businesses to strengthen national economies.
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August 2014 Newsletter
I have always wanted to make a difference in low-income communities.
I started my career as full-time as a legal aid attorney during the day and volunteered as a pro bono attorney at night and on weekends. I realized that my work needed to be part of a greater goal, focused on outcomes. While I am not an economic development practitioner, I have worked around the economic development edges for a long time. You cannot address homelessness, joblessness, educational deficits, and a myriad of other issues without addressing the opportunities for gainful employment. When I looked at the federal government as a potential employer, I saw that EDA’s work helps build communities from the bottom up, which made it a logical choice and a natural fit for me.
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August 2014 Newsletter
The $700 billion trade relationship between the United States and Canada represents the largest binational trade relationship in the world. The Blue Water Region of east Michigan and southwest Ontario is home to the Blue Water Bridge, the nation’s third most valuable border crossing, and the only double-stack rail tunnel crossing between Michigan and Ontario. Therefore, the region is immensely important to sustaining the world’s largest trade relationship. In addition to these transportation links, the region is home to a number of other binational economic assets in the automotive, agricultural, and bio-manufacturing sectors that can be mutually leveraged to diversify and drive the transitioning binational regional economy.
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August 2014 Newsletter
What drew you to EDA?
In my previous position with the US Department of Transportation, I worked on highway projects in urban metropolitan areas. There, I was asked to serve on national review teams for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grant Program. During that time, I was able to become involved with projects that I wasn’t typically able to provide oversight for, such as mobility and multimodal projects in rural economically distressed areas throughout the country. While working on USDOT’s program, I realized that I was motivated by projects that would improve economically distressed areas. The purposes of the projects struck a chord with me, so I was thrilled to see a civil engineer vacancy for EDA earlier this year that would allow me to use my engineering and environmental expertise to focus on economic development projects. I started working in the Austin Regional Office in early June and I am excited to join an agency with the mission to promote growth in the economy
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August 2014 Newsletter
August marks the one-year countdown to EDA’s 50th anniversary. Over the next year, we hope to find opportunities to highlight EDA’s exceptional history as we look toward its future. So, I hope you will forgive us as we use our August newsletter as an opportunity to look back and look inward. We wanted to share stories from our staff with you – our partners. We hope you will find their thoughts inspiring, interesting, and relevant to your own economic development work.
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Washington Post
August 7, 2014
Last year's “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” rankings listed the Economic Development Administration dead last in employee satisfaction. Since then the agency, which provides investments to help distressed communities spur economic growth, has taken on new leadership in the form of Jay Williams, the assistant secretary of commerce in charge of the EDA. Williams previously served as the executive director of the Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers, and was the mayor of Youngstown, Ohio.
Williams spoke about leadership and his efforts to turn around employee morale at the agency with Tom Fox, a guest writer for On Leadership. Fox is the vice president for leadership and innovation at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, and also heads up their Center for Government Leadership. Their conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
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