The Obama Administration today announced the winners of the multi-agency Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge to spur job creation and economic growth in rural regions across the country.
Economic development partnerships and initiatives in Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia will receive awards ranging from nearly $200,000 to over $1 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). The winning projects will promote job creation, accelerate innovation and provide assistance to entrepreneurs and businesses in a wide range of industrial sectors, including advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, energy and natural resources, technology and tourism.
The Rural Jobs Accelerator Challenge is a national initiative to support rural partnerships that are critical components of the Obama Administration’s efforts to support small businesses. By leveraging local assets, the selected industry clusters and partnerships can do even more to help entrepreneurs and small businesses foster innovation, increase competitiveness and employ highly skilled workers, all of which are critical to long-term economic growth in their regions. Based on grantee estimates, it is expected that in the short-term a total of 2,990 jobs will be created or retained, and $35.5 million in private investment will be leveraged. In the long-term, grantees estimate that a total of 6,460 jobs will be created or retained and $69.6 miillion in private investment will be leveraged.
Last year, 20 winners of a similar challenge, the 2011 Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, generated millions in matching funds and their projects are expected to help create hundreds of new businesses and thousands of new jobs.
This competition, which is being funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Appalachian Regional Commission, and Delta Regional Authority, was designed by the Taskforce for the Advancement of Regional Innovation Clusters and the White House Rural Council. The initiative is also supported by nine other federal agencies: Commerce’s U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership; Denali Commission; U.S. Department of Education; U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration; U.S. Department of Energy; Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and the Small Business Administration.
• Alaska: Bristol Bay Jobs Accelerator Project, $405,023
• Connecticut: New England Food Hub Cluster Initiative, $568,150
• Illinois: Henry-Rural Rock Island-Mercer County Economic Development Consortium, $193,500
• Kansas: Advanced Manufacturing Institute at Kansas State University, $715,000
• Louisiana-Arkansas: I-20 Corridor Regional Accelerator, $964,134
• Mississippi: Mississippi State University, $1,065,000
• New Hampshire: Northern Tier Farm and Forest Jobs Accelerator, $708,750
• North Carolina: WNC AgriVentures -- Cultivating Jobs and Innovation Project , $815,000
• North Carolina: Northern Carolina Eastern Region Aerospace and Automotive Cluster
Project, $715,000
• South Carolina: Southern Carolina Alliance Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, $650,000
• Virginia: Appalachian Spring — Using Asset-Based and Creative Economy Methods to Catalyze
Rural Job Acceleration, $815,000
• West Virginia: Southern West Virginia Rural Jobs Accelerator Partnership, $717,985
• West Virginia: Value Chain Cluster Initiative, $815,000
More information on the winners is available here.
