Category: Uncategorized
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Building Globally Ready Communities: Tools to Attract Investment and Exports
International Engagement Ready Communities Initiative From 2017–2018, CREC collaborated with SRI International’s Center for Innovation Strategy and Policy (CISP) and Stone & Associates to equip regions with tools to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and foster export promotion. Building a Best Practices Toolkit The International Engagement Ready Communities (IERC) Initiative began with qualitative and quantitative
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Strengthening Pennsylvania’s Local Development Districts
Pennsylvania Local Development District System Strategy In 2019, CREC and EntreWorks Consulting partnered to help Pennsylvania’s seven Local Development Districts (LDDs) strengthen coordination and effectiveness. Each LDD provides technical and programmatic assistance in business finance, export and international marketing, government procurement, and transportation planning—while also responding to unique regional needs. Evaluating Strengths and Limitations Through
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Building Resilience in the Kankakee-Iroquois Region
In May 2021, the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission (K-IRPC) launched an effort to strengthen its ability to withstand and recover from economic disruptions. Working with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) contributed expertise to create a regional Economic Resilience Strategythat ran through February 2022. Project Purpose The project’s goal was clear: enhance
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Strengthening State-Regional Alignment Through a National Learning Cohort
Economic resilience requires more than good ideas—it requires alignment. State economic development agencies and regional Economic Development Districts (EDDs) often work in parallel, but not always in sync. CREC’s designed a nine-month national learning cohort (known internally as the Policy Academy), which is funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) and designed to close
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Modernizing State Data Systems to Power Better Decisions
At a time when regions rely on accurate, timely, and actionable labor market information, CREC has been at the forefront of modernizing state data infrastructure. Through our leadership of the Labor Market Information (LMI) Institute and partnerships with states across the country, CREC has worked to strengthen how workforce and economic data are collected, shared, and used.
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Helping Workforce Leaders See the Big Picture — and Take Action
Data is only powerful when it’s actionable. That’s why CREC developed the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce interactive dashboard that allows regional workforce boards and economic developers to track, compare, and improve local outcomes. Developed in collaboration with national partners, the dashboard supports evidence-based planning around key workforce indicators, offering peer comparisons and intuitive visualizations
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Strengthening Defense Communities Through Local Economic Resilience
CREC plays a pivotal role in helping communities that host U.S. military installations access the funding and planning tools they need to thrive. Through partnerships with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC), CREC supports regions in designing and implementing projects that enhance infrastructure, workforce readiness, and long-term economic sustainability.
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Implementing the WIAC’s Recommendations Would Transform Workforce Data for State and Regional Action
In late November, the Workforce Information Advisory Commission (WIAC) released their recommendations to improve the Workforce and Labor Market Information System for data users. These recommendations represent a pivotal opportunity to reshape the way we understand and respond to the complexities of our workforce and labor markets. For years, workforce development practitioners, economic developers, and
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Expanding Access to LMI Data for Labor Market Practitioners Through Interstate Collaboration
In the Spring of 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) funded the Labor Market Information (LMI) Institute and Projections Managing Partnership (PMP) to develop a project aimed at enhancing the ability of LMI data users to access, collect, analyze, and communicate high-quality labor market information to their stakeholders. As a
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Facilitating the Alignment of State and Regional Strategies
CREC recently completed a three-year work program under a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to develop and support best practices in how states and regions can work more collaborative to align and integrate their economic efforts. CREC worked closely with the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Research Foundation, the State International