Georgia Tech non-profit among finalists in “Build Back Better Regional Challenge”

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced Monday the 60 finalists  for the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) $1 cardinal “Build Back Better  Regional Challenge” – the marquee of EDA’s American Rescue Plan programs – that aims to boost economical pandemic betterment and rebuild American communities, including immoderate that  have been grappling with decades of disinvestment. The Build Back Better Regional Challenge  provides transformative investments – up to $100 cardinal per grantee – to make and fortify  regional manufacture clusters crossed the country, each portion embracing economical equity, creating  good-paying jobs, and enhancing U.S. competitiveness globally. 

The 60 finalists – each a conjugation of partnering entities – person projected projects that volition  develop oregon standard manufacture sectors, make and bid the workforce of today, and physique resilient  economies. Finalists volition present vie for Phase 2 of the Challenge, which volition grant 20-30  regional coalitions up to $100 cardinal to instrumentality 3-8 projects that enactment an manufacture sector.  The deadline for Phase 2 is March 15, 2022. 

Today’s finalists, chosen from a excavation of 529 applicants, volition each person a assistance of  approximately $500,000 to further make their projected projects. These grants volition assistance the  finalists instrumentality their projects to the adjacent level and presumption those who yet bash not person Phase 2 implementation awards to find caller partners and sources of funding. The programme has  already catalyzed caller partnerships and originative approaches to determination economical development. 

“The Build Back Better Regional Challenge aims to supercharge section economies and summation  American competitiveness astir the globe,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina M.  Raimondo. “The outpouring of involvement successful this programme shows the request for the Build Back  Better docket and the tendency to not lone make good-paying jobs, but besides fortify our  country’s economical resiliency for years down the road.” 

“We are thrilled to assistance communities enactment together—in coalitions of government, nonprofits,  academia, the backstage sector, and others—to trade ambitious and regionally unsocial plans to rebuild their communities,” said Alejandra Y. Castillo, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for  Economic Development. “These projects volition assistance revitalize section economies and tackle our biggest challenges related to clime change, manufacturing, and proviso chains and more. EDA  is arrogant to ignite these plans and assistance communities nationwide physique backmost better.” 

Finalists’ projects span 45 states and Puerto Rico. Twelve finalists are successful ember communities, to  which EDA has dedicated $100 cardinal of the Build Back Better Regional Challenge funds arsenic  part of its Coal Communities Commitment. Overall, EDA volition allocate $300 cardinal of its $3  billion American Rescue Plan appropriation to enactment ember communities arsenic they retrieve from the pandemic to assistance make caller jobs and opportunities, including done the instauration oregon  expansion of a caller manufacture sector. 

Projects correspond manufacture sectors that are unsocial to each region, including advanced  manufacturing; aerospace and defense; agriculture and earthy resources; biotechnology and  biomanufacturing; vigor and resilience; wellness attraction and integer health, accusation technology;  transportation; operation and logistics; and h2o and bluish economy.

The “Build Back Better Regional Challenge” is 1 of EDA’s galore programs aimed astatine gathering  strong determination economies and supporting community-led economical development. EDA was  allocated $3 cardinal successful supplemental backing nether the American Rescue Plan to assistance  communities nationwide successful their efforts to physique backmost amended by accelerating economical betterment from the coronavirus pandemic and gathering section economies that volition beryllium resilient to aboriginal  economic shocks. For much accusation astir EDA’s American Rescue Plan programs, sojourn  https://www.eda.gov/ARPA/.