If your community is interested in receiving funding assistance from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) now is the time to initiate the process. Forward your project descriptions to the West Michigan Regional Planning Commission (WMRPC) for inclusion in the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). Your community should have received an invitation to participate in this annual process in early February of this year – but contact us if you need another form or additional information.

While listing your community’s economic development projects is a very simple process (one page) it is only the beginning of the process. After a project is listed, it is up to the community to follow through by contacting the WMRPC, which will work to develop a more complete description of the project and forward the project to EDA. The WMRPC will also set up meetings between the community and EDA to move the process along the necessary path.

Currently grant rates for EDA vary from between 50 percent and 70 percent for qualified communities (they can go higher) and are based on an area’s distress level (unemployment, per capita income, or other special circumstances such as a plant closure). Most communities in West Michigan qualify based on at least one of these three categories – especially if the project is a good project that meets EDA’s goals of creating high-skill jobs, providing strong community support, and planning for long-term impacts.

EDA typically focuses on projects related to the physical infrastructure required for economic development. Typical EDA projects include industrial parks, expanded water and wastewater capacity, improved or new roads, and other such projects. Of course, the projects have to be tied to job creation. The improvements should be publicly owned, but benefit private sector employers seeking to locate or expand in your community.

Related to this process is the revision of the CEDS document. The CEDS Committee, which is comprised of economic developers from across the seven-county area served by the WMRPC, is currently in the process of the first major overhaul of the document and process in five years. The process will include developing new goals and community descriptions for each of the seven counties in Region 8. Additionally, the WMRPC received a three-year grant from EDA to undertake this process – with the current year intended for developing the document and the following two years geared towards implementation and progress.

Contact Dave Bee at the WMPRC if your community has any questions about EDA or the CEDS process.

When the WMRPC receives information from the applicant, a letter is sent to the local governments and other agencies that might be impacted by the proposed project. That letter includes a brief summary of the project, along with the name and telephone number of the responsible person for them to contact if they would like more information. The agencies that receive this letter are given thirty (30) days to respond. They have the option to forward a comment about the proposed project, or to request a conference, or to request a copy of the complete application for their review. They are not required to respond unless they have a comment. After the 30-day comment period, the WMRPC sends a letter to the applicant to inform them that the review process is complete and forwards any comments received.