PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

North Central Planning and Development District (NCPDD) is designated as an Economic Development District (EDD) through the Economic Development Administration (EDA).

As an EDD, NCPDD is responsible for developing a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS).

A CEDS is designed to coordinate public and private sector planning and investments into an evolving “roadmap” to guide initiatives for diversifying and strengthening a regional economy.

The CEDS also serves as a vehicle through which EDA evaluates grant requests. Without an EDA approved CEDS, applicants in our seven-county region are ineligible to receive EDA grants.

Having a CEDS also enables us to demonstrate to other funders how a particular project is connected to a regional plan.

The CEDS process is the result of a twenty-four month planning process of conducting research and gathering input from people who live and work in NCPDD’s seven-county region.

One final note about the CEDS: NCPDD applied the Community Capitals Framework to the CEDS process.

A capital is “any type of resource capable of producing additional resources…When those resources or assets are invested to create new resources, they become capital” (Flora and Flora, 2008 – Community Capitals Framework). 

This framework shows how various capitals within a community interact with one another to aid in the development of healthy, resilient, sustainable community and economic development.

This framework also focuses on how investments in one capital can build assets in others. In addition, it provides an invaluable tool for evaluating not only how communities function but also the strategic interventions and projects resulting from the CEDS.

Capitals within the NCPDD region range from tangible ones, such as industrial parks, businesses, and nature trails, to intangible ones, such as community norms related to helping one another, pride or heritage, and political influence.