Economic Development Integration
A Brief History of Economic Development Integration
A 2011 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (GAO-11-477R) “fragmentation and overlap” between economic development programs at the U.S. Departments of Commerce (DOC), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Agriculture (USDA), and the Small Business Administration (SBA). GAO further reported that these agencies had not yet implemented full-scale strategies and policies “to leverage physical and administrative resources with their federal partners.”
GAO recommended that the four agencies should “further utilize promising practices for enhanced collaboration,” and “collect accurate and complete data on program outcomes and use the information to assess each program’s effectiveness.”
Based upon these recommendations, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) initiated a search for the federal agency best suited to serve as lead integrator of federal economic development resources. After evaluating a proposal submitted by EDA leadership, OMB selected EDA to serve in this capacity on the basis of the agency’s core, historic strengths, including:
- The inclusive, adaptive nature of EDA’s locally-based, regionally-driven Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) planning process;
- EDA’s nationwide network of Economic Development Districts (EDDs);
- EDA’s prior experience (both formal and informal) leveraging and integrating other federal program resources in support of various competitive interagency funding initiatives and other federal government priorities; and
- The flexible nature of EDA’s primary grant programs, including Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance.
WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE DO
EDA’s Economic Development Integration (EDI) practice aims to improve interagency collaboration and facilitate the strategic and effective investment of federal economic development resources. This approach complements EDA’s investments by helping stakeholders build regional capacity and maintain robust economic ecosystems that contributes to the success of individuals, firms and sectors, and the broader community.
Through EDI, EDA optimizes the investments of multiple federal economic development resources (along with those from state and local sources), supporting multifaceted projects and generating diverse, innovative economies, sustained economic growth, and broad prosperity for communities across America.
EDA partners with other federal agencies to implement policies and procedures that:
Increase Access
Support local and regional capacity to successfully identify and apply for any relevant economic development resources -- federal and non-federal, public and private -- that best support their economic development priorities and objectives.
Enhance Collaboration
Facilitate coordination among interagency, inter-governmental, and cross-sector partners to promote strategic investments that support local priorities and contribute to sustainable and equitable economic growth.
Reduce Administrative Burdens
EDA’s EDI team regularly works with federal interagency partners to help identify and leverage opportunities to align administrative requirements commonly triggered through the provision of federal program assistance (e.g., strategic planning, environmental reviews, grant reporting).
PURPOSE & BENEFITS
EDI leverages and aligns federal resources to support projects that benefit:
Job Creation: The creation of new employment opportunities in competitive sectors that offer family-supporting wages and benefits.
Critical Skills: The creation of workforce development resources that directly align with relevant employment opportunities in competitive sectors that offer family-supporting wages and benefits.
Capital Investment: Supporting local and regional capacity to leverage critical capital investments from all relevant and available sources, both federal and non-federal, public sector and private.
Regional Economic Diversification: Supporting local and regional capacity to cultivate healthy economic ecosystems which generate sustainable economic growth, resilience, and prosperity.
Contact EDA headquarters with questions about Economic Development Integration at the following email address: [email protected].
For information about how your community or region can request Economic Development Integration assistance from EDA, contact your Regional Economic Development Integrator.