Staff working under SRPC's Economic Development Administration (EDA) programming have continued to hold the weekly Seacoast Economic Development Stakeholder calls to support area economic development professionals, municipal staff, and business owners.

Recently those on the calls have been strategizing an application for the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. As explained on the EDA website, this program, "...is designed to assist communities nationwide in their efforts to build back better by accelerating the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and building local economies that will be resilient to future economic shocks."

There is over $1 billion dollars in funding to support two phases,

  • Phase 1: 50-60 regional coalitions of partnering entities will be awarded ~$500,000 in technical assistance funds to develop and support three to eight projects to grow a regional growth cluster.
  • Phase 2: EDA will award 20-30 regional coalitions $25 million to $75 million, and up to $100 million, to implement those projects

SRPC staff will continue providing technical assistance and coordination with partner entities to discuss the best ways to leverage this funding through its weekly calls.