The Competitive Advantage Projects (CAP) program, a collaboration between the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) and One Columbus, aims to drive strategic innovation, infrastructure, housing, and workforce-related investments across Central Ohio. This initiative prioritizes and advances regional, transformational projects, by offering valuable insights into the benefits and challenges that other economic development districts may face when considering similar programs.

The CAP program benefits members by helping communities identify their priorities, offering targeted grant assistance, and advocating for the region at the state and federal levels. MORPC works with government and business leaders to assist regional partners in developing and maintaining a list of CAP projects on an ongoing basis. Project types considered as part of the CAP Program include multi-modal transportation, utilities, telecommunications and smart technology, energy systems, workforce development and housing. By bringing together a diverse set of partners, the program ensures that project priorities align with community needs and fosters a unified vision for development.

The other key advantage of the CAP program is that it creates a system for MORPC to understand the priorities of its member organizations. By understanding the scope of priority projects, MORPC can provide more targeted grant assistance to support project implementation. Additionally, MORPC presents CAP projects to elected officials to raise awareness of regional needs. MORPC routinely meets with elected officials in Washington, D.C., who consistently remark on how helpful the CAP program is in communicating the region’s priorities.

One of the most challenging aspects of the CAP program is helping communities reach a consensus on their priorities. Since the program can include projects with varying scopes— from transportation to workforce development—it can be difficult to identify a local group capable of determining the highest priority project. Because of this, MORPC often works with multiple stakeholders who recommend projects independently of other groups within their community. Some communities have found success by creating dedicated stakeholder groups to discuss their CAP program submissions.

Overall, the CAP program has proven to be a successful advocacy tool, helping to develop a regional pipeline of projects with well-defined scopes which is crucial for connecting projects to funding. MORPC continues to strengthen the reputation of the CAP program within the community and communicate its benefits to members. While building community consensus can be challenging, the awareness and financial resources generated by the program make the effort worthwhile.