Escanaba City Council October 7th, 2021 Regional Cluster Development-Good News! Good News!

Escanaba will be sending a letter of support and request for participation in the American Rescue Plan for Regional Collaboration. If you don't know much about the plan you can read more about it HERE. There is some additional information at Grants.Gov. The plan basically helps Escanaba (and other places) connect back up to the global economy through developing industries that improve not only their own town but also other towns within a supply chain network. 

Escanaba is located in Delta County Michigan and is ripe for investment in key industry development and outdoor recreation. Understanding how to connect the local economy to the global economy by creating high value locations that best the market (and our competitors) is important. That requires us to think about the linkages between different aspects of the economy. Regional Cluster Development, Region Lightning Strike, Development Network, Supply Chain Dev. Delta County Shipping, Infrastructure Synergy, Delta County Start Up Model, Industry University Research Pooling and my unfinished Transactional Cluster Theory.

Other beneficial information includes (nice bullet points👍)

-Seeking funding to expand marina.

-Marina work to be done.

-Streetscaping on Ludington (Good idea.)

-Redeveloping formal jail (Prime real estate. It should have strong market interest)

-Monte Morrison reappointed Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and Historical Commission for one more term.

-Celebrating our retirees and all of their contributions.

You can sort of get a picture of what is going on in terms of revamping Escanaba as a destination place. If Escanaba does well in developing its market appeal Gladstone could consider its own complementary development process that works in tandem with Escanaba's and the county to enhance each other.

What is the Build Back Better Regional Challenge?

"Through the American Rescue Plan, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) created a $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge that seeks to transform regional economies through groups of complementary, aligned projects that will help regions recover from the coronavirus pandemic and increase resilience. These regions will have the opportunity to supercharge their local economies by growing new regional industry clusters or scaling existing ones" (American Rescue Plan, Sept. 29th 2021, para 1). You can read more in the FAQ.

The Two Phases

"This program is designed as a two-phase competition. In Phase 1, interested regions form coalitions of eligible entities and collaborate to develop a Concept Proposal that outlines a vision for the development or expansion of a new or existing regional industry or industries, as well a collection of 3-8 potential projects that support that vision. EDA will select 50-60 Phase 1 coalition finalists and award technical assistance grants of up to $500,000 each, through a lead institution, to further develop the coalition’s concept and collection of projects for their regional growth cluster".

"In Phase 2, coalition finalists will compete for significant implementation assistance. EDA will award 20-30 coalitions each a total of $25-75 million, and up to $100 million. These awards will assist communities in executing ambitious plans to supercharge their regional economies across a variety of strategic growth sectors."

 

Economic Development Administration (EDA or the Agency), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). by Dr. Murad Abel on Scribd