Press Release

U.S. Department of Commerce to Invest $2.2 Million to Support the Growth of Meat Processors Near Cody, Wyoming, Opportunity Zone

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $2.2 million grant to Forward Cody Wyoming, Inc., Cody, Wyoming, to expand a facility in the North Cody Industrial Park that serves meat processors. The EDA grant, to be located near a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Opportunity Zone, will be matched with $553,108 in local funds and is expected to help create 50 jobs and generate $400,000 in private investment.

“President Trump is committed to supporting business growth and economic development across the country,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “This project will fund the construction of a new building as well as access roads, and parking facilities that will grow Northwest Wyoming’s beef production capacity and support the area’s livestock producers.”

“The Economic Development Administration is pleased to support this locally-developed strategy to strengthen the capacity of one of Wyoming’s core industries,” said Dana Gartzke, Performing the Delegated Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “The project will also safeguard the nation’s food supply by mitigating the potential of shortages caused by large plant closures, and the project’s location near an Opportunity Zone will attract further investment to diversify and grow the local economy.”

The funding announced today will catalyze private investment in a nearby Opportunity Zone. 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.