
Tools of the Trade: Regional Brownfields RLFs for EDDs
This resource will address some key points in establishing a regional Brownfields RLF and provide helpful tips for getting a regional or local-specific program off the ground.

This resource will address some key points in establishing a regional Brownfields RLF and provide helpful tips for getting a regional or local-specific program off the ground.

This 15-minute video tutorial and accompanying brief shares ideas for how EDDs can best incorporate workforce development and upskilling strategies into the CEDS process and document. Topics include: Workforce Development as Infrastructure; Data-Driven and Targeted Upskilling; and Holistic and Inclusive Economic Strategies

View this report to learn how some EDDs are using wealth creation to frame their work in sector-based economic development, helping to develop and encourage partnerships to overcome mutual challenges, including barriers to resilience and workforce development.

Key lessons can be learned from how Economic Development Districts (EDDs) have convened, adapted, and reacted to BRAC closure actions in their communities and local military installations. This case study will feature South Plains Association of Governments (SPAG) in west Texas and their valuable work redeveloping Reese Air Force Base outside of Lubbock, TX.

Economic Development Districts (EDDs) working together across regional boundaries can use federal and state investments to drive transformative economic impact across their regions. Rural regional organizations may have limited staff capacity on their own, but when partnered with other EDDs, these coalitions can have an outsized economic impact on their regions.

The value of forging meaningful partnerships between EDDs and universities to promote economic resilience and equitable growth is on display in southwestern Virginia’s Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid work and work-from-home have become permanent fixtures. With proper programing and infrastructure support, EDDs can leverage this trend to maintain current residency figures and attract new residents. In this EDD CoP tip sheet, NADO looks at the research done by the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Services in partnership with the Buckeye Hills Regional Council to identify tips for EDDs across the country.

This second webinar in the wealth creation series showcases how EDDs can use the eight capitals as a framework for identifying and building on assets in economic development. Kade Jones talks about how Acadiana Planning Commission in Louisiana is using wealth creation in its community prospectuses (through its Opportunity Zone initiative) and its CEDS, through its SWOT analysis, its strategies and its metrics. Eric Smith, of Great Lakes Urban and USDA Extension, speaks through storytelling about how wealth creation has figured into his work in Appalachian Ohio, Uganda and Michigan. This session also provided space for participants to network and discuss ways that they might consider assets in their work.

In this first webinar of a series, NADO Research Foundation’s Melissa Levy interviews Region Five Development Commission Executive Director Cheryal Hills about how she got started with WealthWorks, how she began to integrate it into her work, and how she uses it now. Following the guided discussion, participants engaged in a conversation of the greater wealth creation community and what would be most useful to that community moving forward. Aspen Community Strategies Group also shared online tools and resources for practitioners as part of the discussion.

Economic Development Districts (EDDs) can use in-house community and economic development planning experience to provide localized recommendations and strategies for their member communities as these communities take on affordable housing challenges. View this case study to learn more.