Category: News

Southeast Crescent Regional Commission Awards Two Enterprise Innovation Institute Programs With $700K in Grants

The awards will advance the work of the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation and the Center for Economic Development Research.

(Originally produced on the Enterprise Innovation Institute news website, located here).

ATLANTA — The Southeast Crescent Regional Commission (SCRC) handed out 17 State Economic Infrastructure Development (SEID) grants in Georgia.

Two of those awards went to Georgia Tech programs: the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation (Partnership) and the Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR), both housed within the Enterprise Innovation Institute.

Cody Cocchi, the Partnership
for Inclusive Innovation’s
student engagement manager

A public-private collaborative, the Partnership supports access, growth, entrepreneurship, and innovation in Georgia and the Southeast via economic opportunity, community research, student engagement, and workforce development.

The Partnership’s Summer Internship program received $350,000 to serve 15 Georgia counties that the SCRC has identified as distressed.

“We want to be a catalyst for innovation not only across the state but across the Southeast as well. We do that by combining grantmaking with active programming across our four pillars,” said Cody M. Cocchi, the Partnership’s student engagement manager.

“During the 12-week summer internship, we partner with public-impact organizations that identify a challenge in their community and propose an innovative way to address it, with the help of interns from all over the nation who apply to work on those specific projects.”

Elaborating on the type of initiatives the SEID grant will fund in 2025, Cocchi cited a past project in Portal, Georgia, that focused on digital equity. Summer interns helped rural youth develop the technological knowledge and skill sets that would help prepare them for the digital economy. “That’s a pretty good example of empowering individuals within this community,” he said.

Betsy McGriff, a project manager
at CEDR and the lead on the
CEDRC™ project

CEDR was awarded $349,952 to assist Bulloch, Candler, Evans, Tattnall, Liberty, and Long counties in implementing its Certified Economic Development Ready Communities (CEDRC™) program, which helps communities plan for the regional impacts of a major economic development location.

CEDR provides local governments and economic development organizations with research, planning, and technical assistance.

The six counties specified in the SEID grant are within an hour’s drive of the $7.6 billion Hyundai Metaplant in Ellabell, which is expected to bring more than 14,000 jobs to Southeast Georgia.

“This grant will provide those counties with the full CEDRC™ program,” said Betsy McGriff, a project manager with CEDR and the lead on the CEDRC™ project. “The process entails forecast-based planning, including data-driven population projections, job counts, and potential housing needs, as well as model code and creative planning for community development.”

She noted that the communities are largely rural, with little significant residential or industrial development. “This grant offers them an excellent opportunity to identify the unique characteristics of their communities and engage in municipal planning that will harness new investment from increased population and business growth while preserving local character.”

The SCRC is a federal-state partnership created by the 2008 Farm Bill to promote economic development in the Southeast. This year, the agency awarded SEID grants totaling $19 million to fund 57 community projects in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. SEID grant criteria encompass equality, total regional population, total distressed population, and the square mileage of each state’s distressed area.

Of those funds, $5 million came from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). As part of the Investing in America agenda, the BIL supports bottom-up economic growth to improve the quality of life for workers, families, and small businesses.

“We’ve been economic developers for six decades, but recently we’ve increased our focus on supporting Georgia’s communities through socioeconomic development, which provides resources and skills to people on a foundational level so they are better equipped to participate in the economy,” said Enterprise Innovation Institute Vice President David Bridges.

“Because these two SEID grants allow us to implement even more bottom-up, community-based solutions, they serve that important mission. We’re grateful that the amazing work of CEDR and the Partnership has been recognized with this support from the SCRC.”

EI2 Asks: A Primer on Placemaking

The Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR), a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, provides communities with the data and guidance they need to make smart economic development decisions. Alan Durham is a senior research faculty manager and the International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) economic development course director at CEDR, and below he outlines some basics of a crucial – and often overlooked – element of economic development: placemaking.

A photograph of a man, Alan Durham
Alan Durham, a senior research faculty manager and the International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) economic development course director at CEDR.

What is placemaking?
I’m going to start by giving an example of what placemaking isn’t. So, after World War II and the birth of suburbia, development in the United States became very generic, very homogenized, very cookie-cutter, and that has continued through today. If you drive I-75 to Florida, every exit ramp looks exactly the same, with the same fast-food chains, drug stores, grocery stores, and it’s the same in Georgia or Florida, Mississippi or Colorado.

Think about the old Dixie Highway before the Interstate system was built. That was a four-lane divided highway that everyone took to get to Florida, and there was a lot of character – you’d see, for example, local restaurants shaped like coffee pots. We call that roadside architecture. Think about Route 66 and all the crazy motels that looked like teepees. Some of the old Arby’s chain restaurants used to be shaped like cowboy hats. These things were interesting. They were unlike anywhere else. Our Interstate exits could be anywhere, and placemaking is about creating someplace unique.

What characteristics make a particular place appealing?
The heart of their history, and the heart of their character, is usually their historic downtown area, most of which were built in the 1890s through about 1920. That’s where you can find your local mom-and-pop restaurants, your local coffee shop, your pizza parlor that is not a chain. These places are unique, the architecture’s regionally unique – often tied to locally available materials – and your communities differ depending on who the local rich person was and what kind of buildings they wanted to build. You can look at different downtowns and feel like you’re actually somewhere, not just anywhere.

How is placemaking different from the common conception of economic development?
The traditional idea of economic development is business recruitment, retention, and expansion, and communities have been doing economic development through that lens for decades. But we have found that younger generations, especially millennials and Generation Z, don’t move to an area for a job. They move to an area because it’s where they want to live, and once they’re there, they look for a job.

We still do business recruitment, retention, and expansion, but we’re also starting to pay a lot more attention to placemaking to try to attract the younger generation of workers, and the key to attracting them is building a place where people want to live and businesses want to be. That’s my economic development focus: How can I help communities become extraordinary places that stand out from every other place in America? What unique assets make your community a special place that people want to live in?

What are some of the elements that younger generations prioritize?Number one is the built environment. Historic buildings have a lot more character than a strip mall, so I help communities redevelop their historic downtowns. A lot of those areas are sitting there vacant and boarded up, and people really want that unique coffee shop with wood floors and huge windows. It’s not the same as a Starbucks drive-through.

Number two, it has to be walkable. People are tired of sitting in traffic and filling up their tank with expensive gas. They want to be able to walk somewhere, to bike somewhere – to walk downtown and have dinner at a pizza parlor, walk next door to an ice cream shop, and then afterward have a beer and see a live band.

To facilitate this, town centers need to introduce more residential buildings in walking distance to commercial offerings. The idea of keeping restaurants and retail on the ground floor but converting some of the vacant upper space to residential lofts is coming back in favor, because if you live in downtown, you’re likely to patronize those businesses. Retail follows rooftops.

Do you ever encounter pushback to the principles of placemaking?
You sometimes run into opposition against apartments and rental units. In all fairness, a lot of communities already have too much rental and they need to explore ways to encourage home ownership, and that could be addressed with new development, but rental is always going to be a part of a community. You want to make sure it’s kept in balance.

The second concern tends to be traffic. The worry is, “You can’t put all these residents in your downtown because you’re going to clog up the street with traffic.” But that’s not the case, because if you live downtown, you’re going to walk a block away to get your lunch. So you’re actually reducing traffic by increasing density in and around your historic downtown and central business district.

The best way that I have found to counter some of these false narratives is to show people what other communities have done. “Look – this community is successful and thriving and exciting. They’re attracting young people. This is the workforce of tomorrow. They want to live in this location – and, look, traffic isn’t a problem here.” If you build a place for cars, you’re going to get cars. If you build a place for pedestrians, you’re going to get people on foot.

What types of questions should communities who want to increase their desirability be asking themselves?
Whenever you do new construction in a historic neighborhood, you have to have design guidelines in place to make sure that the new construction is compatible with and complements the existing historic buildings. I’ve seen communities build an apartment complex that looks nothing like any of their historic brick buildings. Instead of becoming a part of their downtown, it’s now an eyesore. They might have gotten the location correct, but instead of creating a place by picking up some of the elements of the historic buildings, they end up missing the mark and destroying the character of their downtown.

So design guidelines are extremely important, and communities need to ensure that developers are building an asset to their community that will continue to contribute to its character for the next 50 years.

What kind of guidance can CEDR offer those communities?
If half your downtown is vacant and boarded up, it’s hard to know where to start. CEDR can go into these historic central business districts and give a community a road map. We show them what they could be versus what they are today, and we can give them step-by-step instructions to help them get from point A to point B.

That involves everything from architectural design to financing building restoration, identifying parking needs, helping them activate festivals, and creating downtown park space to hold small concerts. Every historic downtown is unique, so we go in and work with the community to help them make sure their historic downtown is an asset that attracts people and businesses.

What trends is CEDR noticing in Georgia?
One of the things that we have seen post COVID-19 is people who can work remotely are moving out of inner cities, and they’re not stopping at the suburbs. They’re going to exurbs and small towns, where property is cheaper and crime is less – and the communities that have already done an excellent job bringing back life into their historic downtowns are going to be the winners here. Placemaking helps set these communities aside as somewhere special with unique characteristics that are going to draw residents.

CEDR is hosting its annual Basic Economic Development Course (BEDC) August 26-29 in Atlanta. Can you give us a brief overview of that program?The BEDC is the longest running basic economic development course in the nation; this is the 57th year that it’s been offered by Georgia Tech. They partner with IEDC, the International Economic Development Council, to put on this four-day course, which covers a wide variety of economic development subjects, from real estate redevelopment to business recruitment. We do marketing and promotion. We do ethics in finance. The people who take the course are usually new to the economic development industry, and the BEDC gives them a very deep and thorough overview of what to expect in their economic development careers.

Every year I’ve taught it, the BEDC has been about placemaking, creating a place where people want to live and businesses want to be. Right now, too many people live where they do because they have to, not because they want to. Smaller communities should look around and figure out what makes them special, because they need to capitalize on their unique assets if they’re going to be a population winner in the future.

Register for the 57th annual BEDC here.

Georgia Tech EDA University Center Funds Redevelopment and Housing Studies for Two Georgia Towns

Analyses to help community leaders create long-term
residential home development growth strategies

FITZGERALD, Ga. — In many ways, this South Georgia town boasts the best of small rural communities. Just 23 miles east of Interstate 75, Fitzgerald has a busy downtown thoroughfare with shops, antique stores, and eateries. It has a modern airport with a 5,000-foot runway, an active mainline railroad, and industrial parks. It’s also home to a museum with a nod to its 1895 beginnings as a community and haven for veterans who fought on both sides of the Civil War.

Fitzgerald also has a successful history of industrial recruitment that has provided the community with a significant manufacturing base. Recent capital investments in wood products, food and beverage processing, plastics, and manufacturing have increased employment, personal income growth, and the community’s GDP.

With its local economy steadily improving, this community of 9,000 is also looking to boost its new home development construction activity. Now, city leaders and officials from surrounding Ben Hill County are working with the Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR) and EDA University Center at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute to produce a study to figure out a viable strategy.

The study is funded in part through an Economic Development Research Program (EDRP) grant, which is administered by the EDA University Center. These grants are targeted toward economically distressed communities that can’t afford the cost of this type of comprehensive economic development research. EDA University Center grants offset some expenses that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive to rural communities.

CEDR is conducting the six-month research and analysis project in Fitzgerald, which entails looking at housing that’s for sale, determining what the rental rates are, and developing housing development strategy recommendations for the entire city, said Betsy McGriff, a CEDR associate project manager and lead researcher on the study. It will also include ways to maximize cost effective development strategies, such as new home construction in historic neighborhoods to help revitalize them.

“Our objective is to get a much better understanding of the factors that are deterring new home development,” said Jason Dunn, executive director of the Fitzgerald and Ben Hill County Development Authority. “We want to create more homeownership and have the data needed to influence new residential development in Ben Hill County.

The need for the Fitzgerald study comes as the community has seen increased demand for more housing with options in both single family, owner-occupied homes, as well as rentals. But the city’s existing inventory isn’t enough to meet the demand, nor is it energy efficient, comprised of buildings that are at least 100 years old.

“We believe the study will give us the market data needed to pursue a public-private partnership to meet the community needs and lead to residential development that will provide housing solutions in one of Georgia’s most rural areas,” Dunn said.

CEDR is also doing a nine-month study for the City of Jefferson Downtown Development Authority, located in North Georgia’s Jackson County, about 22 miles northwest of Athens. That multifaceted project, which is also partly funded by an EDRP grant, includes a housing market analysis to create a strategy to get more residential housing units built closer to its downtown.

It also includes a retail market analysis to determine what goods and services are needed in the area. It also includes visioning sessions to advise the Downtown Development Authority and help its leaders prioritize strategies and future steps needed for maximum community impact.

The Missing Middle

The two projects reflect the growing housing challenge that scores of communities face across the country said Alan Durham, a CEDR researcher and director of the Basic Economic Development Course.

“Across the U.S., right now we’re short about 4 million housing units. And a lot of those missing units are entry level affordable housing, and workforce housing for police, fire fighters, nurses, and teachers. That’s what’s called the missing middle,” said Durham, who has been researching the national trends and leads the Jefferson project research.

As costs rise, developers are trending toward building very high-end homes. While the high-end housing market is doing well, not enough at the other end — entry-level housing — is being built, squeezing out a market segment communities need to attract.

“Millennials and Gen Z, they can’t even get their foot in the door in the housing market anymore,” Durham said. “The ideal range on housing expenditures is 25% to 30% of gross income. In reality, many are spending over 50% of their wages on housing, leaving them cash-poor to deal with basic necessities and unforeseen expenses.”

Part of the research CEDR will do includes data analyses of both communities. The research will break both communities into their respective income tiers to see how many people make a set amount of money per year, Durham said.

Based on the different income tiers, the CEDR analyses in Fitzgerald and Jefferson will guide the types of housing price points leaders in both communities should pursue.

Detailed Analysis

 In addition to the income tiers and bands major employers in each community pay, the CEDR studies will analyze employee commuting patterns, where residents shop for staple goods and services, and other factors that shape where people decide to live.

“These are very rural markets so our work to pull meaningful and actionable data will be different than in a metro area where it’s a little clearer or there’s just more data to be had,” McGriff said. “Our focus and approach will be a lot more granular to assess the demands of a rural market and pull out really meaningful data.”

Armed with that data, both communities will be positioned to develop strategies for targeted engagement with the right mix of investors and developers, McGriff said.

“They’re going to have to sell their communities to investors using the data we produce and the recommendations that we develop together for development strategies,” McGriff said. “These EDA University Center grants are really an investment tool for economic development, and they can leverage that money to attract investments to their communities, which could lead to more jobs and increased tax base, which just then cycles into helping these communities thrive.”

About the Georgia Tech EDA University Center

The Georgia Tech EDA University Center is a program funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) through its EDA University Center program. Led by the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, the Georgia Tech EDA University Center supports outreach activities that seek to promote job creation, development of high-skilled regional talent pools, business expansion in innovation clusters, and create and nurture regional economic ecosystems in the state of Georgia and other states within the EDA Atlanta region (Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee). The Center’s primary focus areas are innovation-led ecosystem support for universities and communities and strategic economic development support for distressed communities. To learn more, please visit grow.gatech.edu/eda-university-center.

About the Center for Economic Development Research

The Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR) is a collaborative team of economists, city planners, and economic development practitioners. Our talented economic development professionals have the research and implementation experience needed to help economic developers, community leaders, and industries alike understand the opportunities and challenges in fostering local economic development. CEDR is a unit of the Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech’s chief business outreach and economic development organization. To learn more, please visit cedr.gatech.edu.

Grant Opportunity Available: Fund Your Research with EDRP

 

The Center for Economic Development Research at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute will be funding a new round of Economic Development Research Program (EDRP) projects and is looking for communities to submit their applications for research.

 

EDRP’s goal is to provide communities with much-needed economic development research that they may not otherwise be able to afford. If your community has a need for economic development research, is willing to be an active partner, and is willing to provide some level of cost match, Georgia Tech and EDA want to partner with you to conduct the research.

Visit https://cedr.gatech.edu/edrp/ for more details about the program, or contact Candice McKie at ude.hcetagnull@eikcmc or 404-385-2053.

There are limited funds available and projects will be chosen based on local commitment, likelihood of implementation, level of cost match, and a match with the capabilities of the research team at Georgia Tech. We look forward to getting your applications and partnering with you to meet your community’s research needs.

Science Square District Moves Forward

Biosciences innovation district to attract redevelopment
dollars to Atlanta and the Westside community.

ATLANTA (September 9, 2022) — The biosciences innovation district known as “Science Square” is ready to break ground. This latest development is an important step in Georgia Tech’s role in strengthening the region’s innovation ecosystem, through development of a biotechnology-focused innovation district on the southwest portion of the university’s campus.

Science Square (formerly known as Technology Enterprise Park, or “TEP”) is located at the southeast corner of Northside Drive and North Avenue, adjacent to the Vine City/English Avenue neighborhoods on Atlanta’s westside.

Georgia Tech’s newest inclusive innovation district will focus on biomedical innovation, digital health, advanced manufacturing, and medical device development. As a hub, Science Square will be a natural location for startups in the health and bioscience sectors spinning out from area schools, including Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Emory University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Spelman, and Clark Atlanta University.

“We want this project to be a resource for residents of the surrounding communities,” said Chris Burke, Georgia Tech’s executive director of community relations. “We’re looking at this project as potentially providing residents the opportunity to go from cradle to career in one place.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded Georgia Tech a Science and Research Park Development Grant in 2014. The $460,707 grant was used to study the feasibility of expanding Science Square into a mixed-use innovation and research campus.

Breaking ground on the first two buildings are just the initial steps in the creation of Science Square.  At full build-out in 2030, Science Square is projected to support more than 5,000 jobs across 2.2 million square feet of new lab and research facilities, office space, and apartments.  Currently, one building is located on the site. The “TEP 1” building, which opened in 2007, includes 120,000 square feet of wet labs, clean rooms, and office space. The Northyards (office lofts and event space) and T3 Labs bound the east side of the Science Square site.

“We wanted to research, analyze, and envision what Science Square could be and create a collaborative and shared vision with the community,” said Tony Zivalich, executive director of the Georgia Tech Real Estate Office. “The EDA grant was critical in facilitating our ability to do this foundational work and move forward to where we are today.”

Now the Build to Scale (B2S) Program, the Science and Research Park Development Grants were part of the Regional Innovation Strategies program, which was run by the EDA Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and designed to advance innovation and capacity-building activities in regions across the country. Located in the Westside tax allocation district (TAD) and part of a federal Opportunity Zone (OZ), the study was supported by Invest Atlanta and The University Financing Foundation (TUFF), which served as partners on the study.

“The EDA grant provided us with an exceptional opportunity for Georgia Tech and the city of Atlanta to help create jobs in fast-growing sectors like bio and life sciences, and build economic opportunity for the city’s Westside,” said Leigh Hopkins, a senior project manager with the Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech’s chief economic development arm and state EDA University Center. Hopkins co-led the feasibility study.

“The EDA grant allowed us to a conduct comprehensive analysis of the area, work with the communities around it, assess our strengths and focus on our best opportunities and potential for creating Atlanta’s next innovation neighborhood,” Hopkins said.

About Science Square (formerly Technology Enterprise Park)
Home to a cluster of emerging and established technology concerns, entrepreneurs, and researchers focused on accelerating biomedical innovation, digital health, advanced manufacturing and medical devices, Science Square offers a unique setting on Atlanta’s west side, adjacent to the Georgia Tech campus. This inclusive innovation district represents a unique research and innovative platform in a dynamic urban setting. To learn more about Science Square, visit: https://technologyenterprisepark.gatech.edu/home.

About the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2)
The Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2), the Georgia Institute of Technology’s economic development unit, serves all of Georgia through a variety of services and programs that create, accelerate, and grow Georgia’s tech-based economy. It is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive university-based economic development organization. EI2’s expertise and reach is global; its innovation, entrepreneurship, and ecosystem development programs serve governments, universities, nonprofits, and other organizations worldwide. In 2019, EI2served more than 9,599 businesses, communities and entrepreneurs who reported startup investment capital exceeding $456 million and created or saved 16,304 jobs. EI2’s total 2019 financial impact exceeded $2.96 billion. For more information, visit innovate.gatech.edu.

Griffin-Spalding Continues to Build on CEDR’s Work

The Lakes at Green Valley is a 570-acre site-ready industrial park development located in unincorporated Spalding County, approximately three miles from the eastern city limits of Griffin, and seven miles west of Interstate 75.  The Griffin-Spalding Development Authority (GSDA) worked with the Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR) to differentiate industrial development in the area by capitalizing on the park’s natural assets, incorporating mixed-uses, and minimizing its impact on the environment. The GSDA intended for The Lakes at Green Valley to be the State of Georgia’s first “eco-industrial park.”

Although various degrees exist – from the less-structured “green industrial park” to the synergy of a complete system in an “integrated eco-industrial park”- the overall concept aimed to create an environment where industrial systems imitate natural ecosystems through the reuse and sharing of energy, materials, and waste. CEDR provided the GSDA with recommendations to develop The Lakes at Green Valley as an eco-industrial park over several years, including the development of a mission statement and guiding principles for the park, tools for industry attraction and retention, and the creation of a nonprofit and advisory board to manage the park’s sustainability initiatives.

Nine years later, the park continues to be a huge success and has become a home for several Japanese firms.

How Georgia’s First Eco-Industrial Park Became a Magnet for Japanese Investment

 

Southwest Georgia Strategic Planning

Since the Great Recession, rural downtowns across the country have undergone a renaissance. While larger communities typically have physical amenities that draw talent, the overall cost of living to be “close to everything” can be burdensome. Now during the COVID-19 pandemic, rural communities are beginning to realize the certain advantages and potential for attracting talent that can work just about anywhere with the right infrastructure. Recognizing the opportunity to capitalize on their assets, the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission (SWGRC) contracted with the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR) to conduct a strategic plan to use as a roadmap to pursue the region’s economic development goals.

The Southwest Georgia region has been hit hard because of natural disasters, and more recently, sustained a significant community impact during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. During October 2018, Hurricane Michael impacted more than 20,000 businesses in Georgia. According to FEMA, southern Georgia sustained approximately $3 billion in damages in the agriculture industry alone (according to estimates from the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service and Georgia Forestry Commission). Most recently, several Southwest Georgia counties reported the highest COVID-19 case count per 100,000 people in the state, while unemployment claims had risen over 4,000 percent during April 2020. Under the CARES Act, the SWGRC is conducting this strategic plan to prioritize the region’s most pressing economic needs, and to help inform their short and long-term economic resilience strategies. These strategies will assist the SWGRC in developing public-private partnerships, as it strives to revitalize key industry sectors and attract people and investment.

As an EDA University Center, Georgia Tech is uniquely positioned to assist communities throughout the Southeast on various economic development initiatives. The Economic Development Research Program (EDRP) is Georgia Tech’s signature program for providing affordable economic development research and analysis capacity for communities that need it the most. CARES Act Recovery Assistance and EDRP are funded through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s University Center grant program and administered by Georgia Tech. These funds are available to eligible communities across eight southeastern U.S. states.

Call For Applications: Fund Your Research With EDRP

The Center for Economic Development Research at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute will be funding a new round of Economic Development Research Program (EDRP) projects and is looking for communities to submit their applications for research.

The mission of EDRP is to assist local communities by providing affordable economic development and policy research to enhance their competitive positions. The types of research include strategic planning and visioning, economic forecasting, fiscal and economic impact analysis, community assessments, downtown development planning, and workforce analysis and planning to name a few.

There are limited funds available and projects will be chosen based on local commitment, likelihood of implementation, level of cost match, and obviously a match with the capabilities of the research team at Georgia Tech. We look forward to getting your applications and partnering with you to meet your community’s research needs.

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Questions about the program? Please contact:

Candice McKie

Project Manager

Enterprise Innovation Institute

Georgia Institute of Technology

404-385-2053

ude.hcetag.etavonninull@eikcm.ecidnac

 

Call for Applications: Fund Your Research with EDRP

CEDR will be funding a new round of Economic Development Research Program (EDRP) projects and is looking for communities to submit their applications for research.

The mission of EDRP is to assist local communities by providing affordable economic development and policy research to enhance their competitive positions. The types of research include strategic planning and visioning, economic forecasting, community readiness assessments, economic impact analysis, downtown development planning, and workforce analysis and planning to name a few.

If your community has a need for economic development research, is willing to become actively involved in the project during the study phase and follow-up implementation, and is willing to provide some level of cost match, Georgia Tech and EDA want to partner with you to conduct the research.

Click here to start your application.

Have questions? Contact:

Candice McKie

Project Manager

Enterprise Innovation Institute

Georgia Institute of Technology

404-385-2053

ude.hcetag.etavonninull@eikcm.ecidnac

EDRP Launch: City of Rossville

In August 2018, the City of Rossville, GA submitted a proposal for a grant through the Economic Development Research Program (EDRP). The proposal presented a case for the development of a “Strategic Priorities Assessment” to prioritize projects that will bring greater investment into the city based on its evident strength in location, real and tourism estate assets, and proximity to a regional economic hub. The Strategic Priorities Assessment will be directed towards providing recommendations for building the capacity of the citizen-run Rossville Redevelopment Workshop to take advantage of the new federal Opportunity Zone designation, and undertake community redevelopment initiatives in the city.

The City of Rossville, GA is located in the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, situated in a valley between Missionary Ridge to the east and the Lookout Mountain to the west. With a population of 4,105 and a median household income of $32,182 (FY2015), Rossville has experienced an increase in its poverty rate and decrease in job growth over the years. Downtown Rossville is ripe for improvement – the 27-acre, 1 million square foot abandoned Peerless Woolen Mill is situated in the heart of the city. However, the City’s access to highways and interstates and proximity to the Chattanooga area and other tourism assets provide an opportunity for leveraging and supplementing the City’s capacity to undertake economic development programs.

The City of Rossville’s proposal was selected for its innovativeness, magnitude of project impact, level of engagement displayed by the city government and local populace, and finally its probability for success given available resources and funding. To develop a plan that builds on the strengths and provides the capacity to overcome extant challenges, this EDRP project will utilize the skills and energies of Georgia Tech researchers, state and local officials, and build on the expertise of resource development specialists to complement previous and current efforts in the City of Rossville to foster a healthier economy and to better the quality of life for its residents. The project with Rossville began in November 2018 and will be complete in May 2019. The plan will include research, community engagement, support the development of public-private partnerships, and provide data-driven recommendations that will facilitate their decision-making process for community redevelopment.

About EDRP: In 2017, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) a five-year EDA University Center designation to leverage the university’s assets to build regional economic ecosystems that support high-growth entrepreneurship, and improve community capacity to achieve and sustain economic growth. EI2 uses the EDA University Center grant funds awarded through their designation to administer EDRP. Through strategic planning studies, forecasting, feasibility studies, readiness assessments, economic impact analysis, and labor market studies, the program strives to inform policy decisionmaking, and to help governments and economic development organizations carry out their mission.

For project-related questions, contact:

Leigh Hopkins

Phone: 404-894-0933 | Fax: 404-410-6910

Email: ude.hcetag.etavonninull@snikpoh.hgiel