Participants from NADO and NACo having a small group discussion on public-private-partnerships

On September 19, the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) hosted a White House forum, “Building Blocks for Economic Development and Job Growth.” Representatives from NADO and NACo traveled to Washington, D.C. from across the country to meet with key members of the Administration including officials from the White House, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Economic Development Administration, and others to discuss how federal, state, and local coordination can be improved. 

Participants also tackled issues like lessons learned from public-private partnerships to support infrastructure-led economic development, building resilient regions, connecting local communities and regions with global markets, and how to attract and retain a talented workforce.

Randy Kelley, Executive Director of the Three Rivers Planning and Development District (MS) and Kelley Deutmeyer, Executive Director of the East Central Intergovernmental Association (IA) represented NADO on the local panel and provided key insights and examples on the critical role regional development organizations play in economic development and job creation in local communities across the nation. Visit NADO’s Facebook page to see additional photos from this special event.

Read the full NADO written statement.

This was the first of eight hearings by the committee as it prepares to draft its version of the 2012 Farm Bill, which covers commodity, nutrition, conservation, energy, forestry, research, and rural development programs across USDA.

At the hearing, Mazer discussed the importance of USDA Rural Development programs and how they are critical to our nation’s rural and most distressed areas as they work to further develop the fundamental building blocks necessary to be economically viable and competitive.  She also explained how the programs can be improved to increase their effectiveness.

“With rural regions now facing intense global competition, we need to ensure USDA Rural Development has the policies, program tools, and flexibility to assist rural communities with cutting-edge, asset-based regional development strategies and investments.  This will take a new level of sophistication and capacity within our rural regions and at USDA Rural Development,” said Mazer.

“USDA Rural Development applications, policies, and reporting requirements should be streamlined and broadened to reflect the scale of rural investments, emerging needs and opportunities of rural regions, and capacity of local organizations,” Mazer said.  “While retaining necessary financial and performance accountability standards, Congress should ensure USDA Rural Development has a modern set of policies, programs, and incentives to help rural communities pursue regionally-based, locally-driven community and economic development strategies.”

• Read the full NADO written statement.
• Witness statements for House Ag hearing on Rural Development
• House process for 2012 Farm Bill

Representing NADO and the National Association of Counties (NACo), McCauley focused his remarks on three key rural development areas:

• The mission area of USDA Rural Development is a critical piece to the overall competitiveness of rural regions as we work to foster job growth, regional innovation, and economic prosperity.  This includes basic yet essential investments for infrastructure and utilities, housing and community facilities, and access to capital and entrepreneurial development.  In today’s era of intense budget pressures and growing local needs, it is important that we make more strategic investments that strengthen regional and local competitive advantages and coordinate our public sector resources.

• With rural regions facing increasingly global competition and opportunities, we need to ensure USDA Rural Development has the tools, resources and flexibility to assist rural communities and regions with cutting-edge, asset-based regional innovation strategies and investments.  To be successful in the modern economy, rural entrepreneurs and communities must be connected to global and domestic markets—digitally, institutionally, and physically.  This will take a new level of sophistication and capacity within our rural regions and at USDA Rural Development.  It will also mean improving federal interagency collaboration, fostering stronger public-private-nonprofit partnerships, and leveraging existing strategy processes, such as the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) framework.

• USDA Rural Development applications, policies, and reporting requirements should be streamlined and broadened to reflect the scale of rural investments, emerging needs and opportunities of rural regions, and capacity of local organizations.  While retaining necessary financial and performance accountability standards, Congress should ensure USDA Rural Development has a modern set of policies, programs, and incentives to help all rural communities pursue community and economic development growth.

View the full NADO-NACo rural development statement.

View the hearing video and hearing statements.

The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), held the oversight hearing, “The Economic Development Administration: How to Improve Effectiveness through Reforms and Consolidations,” to examine ways to improve federal economic development programs, including EDA collaboration and potential consolidation with other federal programs.  This was the first EDA oversight hearing by the subcommittee in the 112^th Congress.

In his testimony, Etcher discussed how EDA is unique among the federal portfolio of economic development programs and how EDA is positioned to be the lead federal economic development agency.  “As GAO noted earlier, there are currently more than 80 federal programs related to domestic community and economic development,” he said.  “While many of these line-item programs are housed within larger departments and agencies, EDA is the only federal agency with the sole mission of creating high quality jobs in the United States.”

Etcher also identified opportunities for reforms and improvements across the full spectrum of federal community and economic development programs. “Rather than focus solely on opportunities across the four major departments of Commerce, HUD, USDA and SBA as outlined in GAO’s May 2011 report, we see greater opportunities for agencies and programs within each of the departments to be streamlined, better coordinated and reformed.”  He also stressed the importance of “coordinating and prioritizing federal community and economic development investments based upon regionally-based, locally-driven comprehensive economic development strategies or CEDS.”

Also testifying at the hearing was David Baker, Senior Vice President of FutureFuel Corporation from Independence County, Arkansas.  Baker testified that in order to grow, the company needed to expand its infrastructure, particularly their rail system.  By working with their region’s Economic Development District, the White River Planning and Development District, and with the financial support of a small grant from EDA, FutureFuel was able to leverage other funding sources to make improvements to the rail system.  This company has since created over 100 new jobs and has significantly expanded its capacity to ship biodiesel and other products.

More information on the hearing, including testimony and a recording of the hearing, can be found here.