Analyzing return on investment, the Center for American Progress (CAP) has just released an issue brief about the Obama Administration’s $37 million Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge which notes that the competition “is providing a compelling answer to the issue of unemployment.”
According to the Center for American Progress, “With unemployment stubbornly stuck at around 9 percent, and with the global economic picture threatening more difficult times ahead, the biggest question is what we can do in the public and private sectors to spur job creation. The Economic Development Administration’s Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge is one federal program providing its own compelling answer. This new program is a great example of doing what works—leveraging existing resources to do more with less. The program brings together three previously unrelated programs in separate agencies to make available approximately $37 million in joint grants for coordinated economic development, small business, and workforce-training investments in 20 regions around the country.”
CAP also notes, “This approach offers a uniquely American way to develop bottom-up economic growth strategies that are in sync with the business and economic realities in local communities nationwide.” Thecompetition to support the development of 20 high-growth industry regional innovation clusters leverages funding from three federal agencies and technical assistance from 13 additional agencies to support the development of 20 high-growth industry clusters across the country. Funding for workforce training and technical assistance is provided by the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, and the Small Business Administration.
Download this issue brief
