Welcome

Sandy K. Baruah, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development

The economy of the 21st century presents important challenges and significant opportunities for America’s communities and regions. At the national level, President Bush’s economic policies have created an environment of job creation and economic growth in which all American regions can participate, provided that they build the right strategies to succeed.

As economic development professionals pursue their strategies, there are many resources and “tools” available to help them along the way. This issue of Economic Development America provides an overview of some of these resources in an “Economic Developer’s Toolkit,” featuring helpful articles on business retention, the Balanced Scorecard, tapping into community colleges, developing a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and more. I would like to thank the authors for sharing their knowledge with us in the following articles, which I trust you will find as insightful as I have.

This issue also pays tribute to two longtime members of the EDA family – Paul Hildebrandt and Bill Garfield.We will miss both of these dedicated professionals whose careers were devoted to the service of their country.

Sincerely,

Sandy K. Baruah
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development