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The U.S. Economic Development Administration is accepting applications for its FY24 $50 million Build to Scale program to support organizations that strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems to support entrepreneurs as they build and scale technology-driven businesses—and the employees in the new, good jobs they create—to make and deliver new technology products and services. 

In August 2024, EDA announced $184 million in grants for six awardees of the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program (Recompete). This announcement marked the culmination of the two-phase competition, which saw unprecedented interest in this much-anticipated jobs program.

Of the six Recompete Phase 2 implementation funding awardees, half are rural communities. This post outlines how the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program (Recompete) is designed to address barriers to economic growth and prosperity in rural America.

For the first time since EDA designated 31 Tech Hubs as places with the capacity and potential to become globally competitive in critical technologies in October 2023, leadership from the Hubs came from all across the country to gather in Washington, D.C., for the Innovative Capital Summit on July 22-23, 2024. 

EDA commissioned the Urban Institute to conduct an independent analysis on how EDA investments contribute to economic growth. Their newest report, “Local Impacts of Economic Development Administration Construction Investments,” examines economic development outcomes in areas that received EDA grant awards since 2010. It finds that, during the five-year period ending in 2015, EDA construction projects represent remarkable return-on-investment for American taxpayers.

In April 2024, the 22 Recompete Pilot Program Finalists submitted their Phase 2 applications, sharing bold, targeted visions for combating long-term economic distress in each of their communities. Selected from an initial pool of 565 applications, these Finalists represent the top 10% of applicants from across the nation. 

Through the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC), President Biden’s American Rescue Plan invested $1 billion in 21 coalitions to advance economic strategies across 24 states. These once-in-a-generation awards facilitated a new approach to place-based economic development, helping rebuild the economic infrastructures of underserved American communities grappling with decades of disinvestment.

This month, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) allies with economic development leaders across the United States who have joined together to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Pride. The Biden-Harris Administration is the most pro-LGBTQ+ in America’s history, with the greatest number of out and proud public servants ever. 

EDA’s long history of connecting both FDI and domestic private investment to federal projects has resulted in a 10-to-1 return, with over $80 billion in private funds supercharging over $7 billion in EDA funding just since 2018.

This month, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) joins economic development leaders across the United States in observing Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month.