Grant

October 21 - 25, 2013

  • $2 million in Make it in America Challenge funds to Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, to provide an addition and partial renovation to Freeman Hall to provide a home to the Clemson University Center for Workforce Development (CUCWD). Through this investment, Clemson University will foster strong public-private partnerships with key partners, including Work Link, Greenville Technical College, Northeastern Technical College, Tri-County College, and the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The project will create stronger connections between industry and workforce programs, accelerate opportunities for business expansion by implementing strategies to increase efficiency of manufacturing supply chains, and develop strategic partnerships that will open doors to increased exporting of regional products and the attraction of foreign direct investment. This investment is part of a $4 million project.
  • $750,000 in Make it in America Challenge funds to the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, Brunswick, Maine, to support infrastructure improvements and renovation of Building 250, a former Navy maintenance facility at the closed Naval Air Station Brunswick, to establish the TechPlace advanced manufacturing accelerator. When complete, TechPlace will provide office, shop, laboratory, and workspace for aerospace, aviation, advanced materials, renewable energy and biotechnology manufacturing. This investment is part of a $1.5 million project that the grantee estimates will create 295 jobs.
  • $500,000 in Make it in America Challenge funds to the Innovate Washington foundation, Spokane, Washington, to implement a technical assistance program to develop the capacity of small and medium-sized business enterprises to become more competitive in the global marketplace and encourage foreign direct investment in economically distressed rural areas of Washington state. This investment is part of a $1,231,118 project.
  • $500,000 in Make it in America Challenge funds to the SEDA-Council of Governments, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to support the PA Made Again, an initiative focused on promoting job growth, retention, and creation in manufacturing industries by building networks of industrial clusters, fostering a collaborative environment among manufacturers, colleges, and research institutions, and building a pipeline of middle- and high-skilled manufacturing workers. The project will impact a 52-county target region to enhance visibility to foreign and domestic investors and ultimately spur job creation, retention, and renewed investment in Pennsylvania's manufacturing economy. This investment is part of a $1,008,400 project.
  • $499,954 in Make it in America Challenge funds to Team Northeast Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, to identify up to twenty-five firms from the bio-medical, automotive, and advanced energy sectors in the cities of Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Lorain, and Youngstown with potential for growth and attraction of foreign investment and provides specialized and individualized technical assistance to those firms. This investment is part of a $999,954 project.
  • $463,518 in Make it in America Challenge funds to the Curators of the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, to support planning, research, and technical assistance for Missouri manufacturers entering the clean energy industry. The initiative will focus on the manufacture of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), assisting Missouri manufacturers become part of a supply chain for SMR production and assessing the education, training, and certification needed to assure a workforce to support this industry. This investment is part of a $928,435 project.
  • $414,440 in Make it in America Challenge funds to the Willamette Valley Council of Governments and Strategic Economic Development Corporation, Salem, Oregon, to support the implementation of a plan to develop industries that utilize advanced manufacturing processes to accelerate, grow, and maintain industrial activity within Marion, Polk and Yamhill Counties in western Oregon. Project activities will include the performance of supply chain market research, development of a manufacturing sector support team, performance of outreach to target industries, delivery of technical assistance services, and development of a culture to facilitate collaborative and innovative manufacturing sector. This investment is part of an $828,880 project.
  • $400,888 in Make it in America Challenge funds to the Buckeye Hills-Hocking Valley Regional Development District/Ohio Appalachian Business Council-Nelsonville, Reno, Ohio, to identify, research and document attributes for up to 1,000 development sites in the region, make the findings available online, create a GIS database and maps of characteristics of those sites and of economic and workforce development assets in the region to bring the sites to the attention of developers and site selectors. This investment is part of an $802,188 project.
  • $400,000 in Make it in America Challenge funds to Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, to help MSU and its partners develop and implement specific strategies and initiatives to strengthen the existing automotive and furniture manufacturing clusters in the region to drive job creation, business formation, export promotion, and the attraction of foreign direct investment. Other members of the Make It in Mississippi team include the Franklin Furniture Institute, the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems Extension Center, the National Strategic Planning and Research Center, Mississippi Development Authority, and the Innovate Mississippi/Innovate MEP-Manufacturing Extension Partnership. This investment is part of an $800,014 project.
  • $400,000 in Make it in America Challenge funds to the Center for Automotive Research/National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, Ann Arbor, Michigan, to support research into the bio-based product manufacturing cluster and its existing and potential relationship to the automotive manufacturing sector and provides specific and specialized technical assistance to firms within the sector. The project is expected to undertake at least 10 supplier scouting initiatives, provide access to high performance computing tools for modeling and simulating bio-based materials specifically targeting supply chain and small and medium sized manufacturers, and provide technical assistance to at least 10 cluster companies. The project area encompasses a contiguous 22-county project area in southeast Michigan. This project is part of an $800,000 project.
  • $250,000 in Make it in America Challenge funds to Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, to implement the 12-county region “Select SC: Improving Manufacturing Competitiveness in the Palmetto State” program that will focus on encouraging in-sourcing, expansion, and foreign investment. To meet its goals, the project will create a statewide workforce Virtual Innovation Hub that will utilize distance learning and innovation engineering training. Through this investment, Clemson University will foster strong public – private partnerships with key partners, including Work Link, Greenville Technical College, Northeastern Technical College, Tri- County College, and the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership. This investment is part of a $500,000 project.