Press Release

U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $1.49 Million in CARES Act Recovery Assistance to Expand Healthcare Delivery Capacity on Coquille Indian Tribe’s Kilkich Reservation

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $1.49 million CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to the Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, Oregon, to purchase equipment and supplies needed to expand patient capacity and respond to the coronavirus pandemic through the Ko-Kwel Wellness Center, currently under construction on the tribe’s Kilkich Reservation. The EDA grant, to be located in a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Opportunity Zone, will be matched with $75,000 in local funds and is expected to create 18 jobs and generate $11.8 million in private investment.

“President Trump is working diligently every day to support our nation’s economy following the impacts of COVID-19 through the CARES Act,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “This investment will provide the resources that the Coquille Indian Tribe needs to enhance its community’s resilience to COVID-19 and, in tandem with the Opportunity Zone designation, will enhance the tribal economy for the future.”

“This investment comes at a crucial time to help the Coquille Tribe and our nation’s economy come roaring back and provide hard-working Americans with new opportunities,” said Dana Gartzke, Performing the Delegated Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “This project will support the incorporation of state-of-the-art additions to the Ko-Kwel Wellness Center — including touchless sinks, telemedicine equipment and modern X-ray machines — and the region’s Opportunity Zone designation will help further diversify the local economy.”

The CARES Act, signed into law by President Donald J. Trump, provides EDA with $1.5 billion for economic development assistance programs to help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

On May 7, Secretary Ross announced that EDA is accepting applications for CARES Act Recovery Assistance funding opportunities.

EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance, which is being administered under the authority of the bureau’s flexible Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) (PDF) program, provides a wide-range of financial assistance to eligible communities and regions as they respond to and recover from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. For complete information, please visit our recently updated EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance page.

The funding announced today goes to one of Oregon’s 86 Opportunity Zones. Created by President Donald J. Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Opportunity Zones are spurring economic development in economically-distressed communities nationwide. In June 2019, EDA added Opportunity Zones as an Investment Priority, which increases the number of catalytic Opportunity Zone-related projects that EDA can fund to fuel greater public investment in these areas. To learn more about the Commerce Department’s work in Opportunity Zones, please visit EDA’s Opportunity Zones webpage. To learn more about the Opportunity Zone program, see the Opportunity Now resources webpage. To learn more about Opportunity Zone best practices, see the recently released White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council Report (PDF) to President Trump.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.