Grant

February 8 - 15, 2018

  • $733,609 in two Public Works projects as follows:
    • $486,000 to the InterBel Telephone Cooperative, Eureka, Montana, to fund the installation of fiber-optic cable to deliver high-speed Internet service to business customers located in the Town of Eureka. Completion of the project will stabilize the region’s labor market through job creation and business expansion in information technology infrastructure. The grantee estimates that this investment will help create 62 jobs and leverage $150,000 in private investment.
    • $247,609 to the City of Sterling, Kansas, to support the extension of a sewer system to provide infrastructure improvements in Sterling, Kansas. The completion of the project will lead to the building of a new manufacturing facility that supports new innovations in science and health care and business expansion that will help create new jobs for the region’s workforce. The grantee estimates that this investment will help create 20 jobs and leverage $2 million in private investment.
  • $580,000 in three Economic Adjustment Assistance projects as follows:
    • $350,000 to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas, to fund the Coastal Bend Economic Recovery and Resiliency Assistance Program to help accelerate the recovery process for the communities effected by Hurricane Harvey in the Coastal Bend Region of Texas. This project will help the region become more economically resilient in the face of future disasters and bring those local economies back to and potentially above their pre-disaster levels in the shortest time duration, which will spur business and social redevelopment in the region.
    • $200,000 to Monroe County, Key West, Florida, to support the hiring of a disaster recovery coordinator to support Monroe County’s economic recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. This investment will enable the county to enhance economic resilience efforts in support of faster recovery from future disasters which will result in less job lost, business closures, lost revenues, workforce and population. The project will help the region become more economically resilient in the face of future disasters and spur business and social redevelopment in the region.
    • $30,000 to the Tri-County Economic Development District, Colville, Washington, to fund a study on economic impacts and appropriate actions to take regarding closures of two major area businesses in northeast Washington, which have been slow to recover from the Great Recession. Phase one of the study will examine how the closures will affect commerce, poverty levels, educational attainment, and the ability to attract and retain new industries. Phase two will identify potential economic development activities to mitigate these effects. The final phase will research one of the suggested economic development activities. Once completed, this study will bring together the public and private sectors by building an economic development roadmap to strengthen the regional economy, support private capital investment and create jobs throughout the region.
  • $365,000 in three Partnership Planning projects to support the development and implementation of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) process. The CEDS process is designed to bring together the public and private sectors in the creation of an economic development roadmap to diversify and strengthen the regional economy.