ED Now

Stanley Black & Decker has announced its Empower Makers Global Impact Challenge, a $25-million commitment to fund vocational skills training and reskilling programs for 3 million workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors. This year the Impact Challenge will award up to $5 million in grants to nonprofit organizations that support trade workforce development initiatives. Grant submissions will be evaluated on multiple criteria, including number of people served, outcomes projected, sustainable impact, depth of programs, and diversity. Nonprofits can apply for grants beginning October 1, through October 31. The Impact Challenge aims to fuel the growth of trade careers as millions of jobs go unfilled, a situation exacerbated ...

IEDC’s recent webinar in the Take Action Against Racism in Economic Development series emphasized the value immigrant entrepreneurs bring to the United States and detailed the unique struggles they face. The panelists highlighted that immigrants are risk-takers and uniquely brave which often translates into entrepreneurship. Immigrants are twice as likely to start a business than native-born Americans. One in five Fortune 500 companies are either immigrant-owned or have at least one immigrant cofounder, and immigrant-owned businesses generate more than $700 billion a year. But while immigrant entrepreneurship is valuable to the U.S. economy, the current legislature is lacking in support for immigrants who want to become ...

As part of IEDC’s Equitable Economic Development Playbook Initiative, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, IEDC and panelists explored the importance of promoting diversity in economic development, the role played by economic developers in achieving this goal, and real-world examples of successful diversity-promoting initiatives. Dell Gines, senior community development advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, noted that the dominant economic development model of industrial attraction, while successful in certain ways, fails to uplift America’s most vulnerable communities. Gines attributed this failure to promote equitable growth in BIPOC communities to the model's inability to remedy structural unemployment, ...

Rideshare and food delivery apps have taken a hit in their efforts to continue classifying their workers as independent contractors. With the potential strike down of California Proposition 22 looming, Uber and companies like it may lose their chance to pursue similar measures in other states. On August 20, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled Prop. 22 unenforceable by the State of California because it is unconstitutional on two grounds. First, the proposition requires a seven-eighths majority in the California legislature to amend, which Roesch claims violates the state legislature’s right to provide workers with workers’ compensation. Second, the proposition effectively prevents drivers from unionizing, ...

IEDC is asking members what they are working on to help with economic recovery. Send your responses to ED Now editor Melanie Hwang at [email protected] to be featured in an upcoming issue. Door County, Wisconsin, has a diverse economy based on tourism, manufacturing, and agriculture. Although the pandemic did impact the economy, our businesses pivoted and adapted well. In fact, many of our tourist-oriented businesses had the best year ever in 2020, and this year we are 40 percent above the best year in our history. With that being said, many small businesses have struggled. Door County Economic Development Corporation has provided direct support to these businesses to secure grants and loans. From April to June of 2020, we worked ...

Despite high expectations from economists for job growth, with estimates forecasting more than 700,000 new jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ August report shocked and disappointed. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by only 235,000 jobs, with unemployment falling by 0.2 percentage points to 5.2 percent. Losses were largest in services industries, with restaurants and bars cutting 42,000 jobs, while retailers cut 29,000 jobs. Notable growth was seen in professional and business services (+74,000), transportation and warehousing (+53,000), private education (+40,000), and manufacturing (+37,000). A large consensus points to the new surge in Covid-19 cases, brought on by the more infectious delta variant, which has sparked fear ...

New EDA head Alejandra Castillo has promised increased outreach as the agency distributes billions of dollars in grant funding. EDA plans to ramp up engagement with new partners and stakeholders and communities that have been disenfranchised. In her first month Castillo has met with university presidents, the National Governors Association, and community leaders in West Virginia’s coal country. “What you’re going to see is much more intentionality in making sure that we’re reaching the urban, the suburban, the rural areas,” she said in an interview with Route Fifty. Informational webinars detailing the agency’s $3 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding and its six funding programs have attracted ...

We are proud to welcome these 79 organizations from across 34 states, the District of Columbia, and two Canadian provinces that became IEDC members this summer: Alabama City of Pelham Sabre Finance, Birmingham California Accelerator for America, Covina Law & Associates Community and Economic Development Group, Murrieta Colorado Adaapta, Denver Adams County Regional Economic Partnership, Selma Blane, Canada Ltd., Colorado Springs Colorado Workforce Development Council, Denver Longmont Economic Development Partnership THRIVE Partners, Denver Delaware City of Wilmington Office of Economic Development District of Columbia The Branchlet Group LLC Florida Charlotte County Economic Development, Port Charlotte City of Miami ...