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IEDC is now accepting submissions for the 2023 Excellence and Leadership in Economic Development Awards. Take advantage of early-bird pricing and submit your entry by April 14. Dennis Alvord received the Federal Leadership in Economic Development Programs Award in 2022. The award recognizes a federal program director who has gone above and beyond in administering a federal economic development program. Alvord serves as EDA’s deputy assistant secretary for economic development and chief operating officer, and is responsible for enterprise-wide operations and program execution. He also serves as co-chair of the Department Management Council, comprised of senior executives from all of the Department of Commerce’s principal ...

This month IEDC President and CEO Nathan Ohle hosted U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Castillo for IEDC’s first Economic Development Session. The sessions will be a series of fireside chats between Ohle and leading economic development officials, thought leaders, and experts. The conversation with Castillo centered around how EDA is focusing on long-term and equitable growth, and how unique this approach is in the agency’s history. The emphasis on long-term development is a departure from previous administrations’ focus on episodic projects and funding, and possible due to the CARES Act and ARPA which provided EDA with more than $4 billion to work with. Castillo talked about how ...

The U.S. Department of Transportation will offer the sponsors of rural infrastructure projects greater support to overcome historical resource challenges, under a new initiative designed to improve safety and economic competitiveness across the country. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao introduced the Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative in October and since then the agency has gathered comments as to how it could best identify unmet needs in rural transportation and address those requirements through its discretionary grant programs. Area Development reports that respondents recommended DOT: make the grants process easier; provide local agencies with technical assistance to fill out ...