White House Introduces Community Economic Development Pilot Program

This week, President Barack Obama announced a new interagency pilot initiative to bolster regional economic strategies in select towns and cities. The Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative will offer federal resources to support ongoing efforts in six pilot communities, including Chester, PA; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; Fresno, CA; Memphis, TN; and New Orleans, LA. Cross-agency teams will assist with mayoral initiatives in the participating cities, while a fellowship program will recruit and train local policy specialists. In addition, a national grant competition will support economic strategy development in six other cities.

Federal advisors from various agencies, picked based on the type of projects undertaken by the city, will help the participating communities leverage existing federal funding and programs. The initiative will involve four cross-agency components:

• SC2 Community Solutions Teams — Teams of federal employees will assist cities with issues that mayors have identified as vital to their economic strategies.
• SC2 Fellowship Program — A fellowship program will select, train and place early- to mid-career professionals to serve multi-year terms in local government positions to increase capacity.
• SC2 Economic Planning Challenge — A grant competition will enable six additional cities to adopt and implement innovative economic development strategies through grants of approximately $1 million.
• National Resource Network — Cities, towns and regions will be able to apply for access to a an online portal of experts who can offer on-site training and staff development.

The six communities were chosen based on economic need, potential for economic growth, local leadership and collaboration and geographic diversity. All six have provided some details about the initiatives they plan to pursue with federal assistance. Chester, the smallest city receiving assistance, plans to use the program to maintain and attract more small businesses. New Orleans will use the assistance to help expand and attract businesses to its new BioDistrict, an area in the city set aside for biotech-related development. Read the announcement...