Last updated 5 days ago. Our resources are updated regularly but please keep in mind that links, programs, policies, and contact information do change.
A Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy serves as a strategic blueprint for a region’s economic future.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, a CEDS brings together public and private sector stakeholders to forge a common economic roadmap designed to diversify local economies, build on regional strengths, and foster long-term prosperity.
The CEDS process is a continuous planning effort that goes far beyond creating a static document. By engaging community leaders, businesses, educational institutions, and nonprofits, the process builds regional capacity and unlocks eligibility for a wide range of federal funding opportunities that can turn strategic plans into tangible projects.
What Makes a CEDS Work
Strategic Blueprint for Regional Growth
A CEDS results from a regionally-owned planning process meticulously designed to build local capacity and steer the economic prosperity and resilience of a specific geographic area. As a cornerstone of EDA programs, the CEDS serves as a vehicle for stakeholders to engage in meaningful, ongoing conversation about their region’s economic direction.
The process is explicitly “place-based” and “regionally driven,” meaning it’s fundamentally tailored to the unique assets, challenges, and opportunities of a specific region. This regional focus is critical, as research indicates that the vast majority of U.S. economic activity occurs across a limited number of major economic regions rather than within isolated cities.
An effective CEDS is not a simple inventory of existing programs or a wish list of potential projects. It’s a coherent strategic approach built upon a regional vision, prioritized goals, and measurable objectives that flow logically from deep, data-driven analysis of the region’s economy.
The process emphasizes “capacity building”—the public sector’s role in creating a stable and supportive environment where the private sector can flourish. It aims for broad-based wealth creation that benefits the entire community, rather than focusing narrowly on isolated metrics.
Funding and Partnership Benefits
Engaging in the CEDS process offers regions strategic advantages that extend far beyond fulfilling a federal requirement. It’s a powerful tool for unlocking funding, building partnerships, and strengthening overall economic competitiveness.
A current, EDA-approved CEDS is a direct prerequisite for regions to qualify for investment assistance under the EDA’s Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance programs. It’s also required for designation as an Economic Development District, which provides communities within the district priority consideration for EDA funding and grants from other federal agencies focused on transportation, labor, and health.
The CEDS process fosters robust public-private partnerships by bringing together leaders from public and private sectors, along with nonprofits, educational institutions, and community groups, into a structured, collaborative environment. This inclusive approach ensures all stakeholders have a voice in shaping the region’s economic future, leading to more informed and durable decision-making.
This collaborative planning strengthens a region’s overall competitiveness. By creating a shared economic roadmap, a CEDS helps interdependent jurisdictions overcome their natural tendency to operate in silos and instead plan regionally to attract and retain people and businesses.
The process encourages alignment and integration of various local and regional plans—such as those for land use, transportation, housing, and workforce development. This helps leverage limited resources, avoid duplication of effort, and increase the collective impact of public and private investments.
A well-crafted, data-driven CEDS is a powerful tool for attracting outside investment. By clearly articulating a region’s strategic vision, competitive advantages, and prioritized projects, it demonstrates high-level readiness and strategic thinking to external funders, making the region more competitive in securing grants, loans, and private investment.
Economic Development Districts Lead the Way
Economic Development Districts are the primary entities responsible for leading the CEDS process across the United States. They serve as designated regional conveners and the official link between local communities and the EDA.
EDDs are multi-jurisdictional organizations, typically composed of multiple counties, that are officially designated by the EDA to lead regional economic development planning and implementation. Nearly 400 federally-designated EDDs serve a diverse mix of urban, suburban, and rural regions throughout the country.
The core mandate of an EDD is to develop and maintain its region’s CEDS. In this capacity, EDDs serve as primary conveners for region-wide initiatives, providing essential administrative, technical, and capacity-building support to local communities within their service area.
They act as the official liaison between the region and the EDA, assisting local governments with grant applications, providing technical assistance, and helping to troubleshoot the complexities of federal programs.
To be formally designated as an EDD by the EDA, an organization must have a current, EDA-approved CEDS and serve a geographic area that meets the EDA’s specific criteria for regional distress. This designation structure ensures that federal resources and planning support are directed toward coordinated, regional strategies in areas that can most benefit from targeted economic development efforts.
Building Your Strategy Team
Assembling the Right Committee
The first and most critical step in the CEDS process is formation of a strong CEDS Strategy Committee. This committee acts as the principal facilitator of the process and is ultimately responsible for developing and updating the CEDS document.
The composition of this committee is not arbitrary—it’s a core requirement for a credible and effective process. The committee must broadly represent the main economic interests of the region. The composition serves as a leading indicator of the CEDS’s future success.
A committee that includes only traditional economic development players, like developers and large employers, will produce a plan reflecting a narrow set of interests. By including diverse voices from the outset, the committee is forced to grapple with the interconnectedness of the economy with other critical areas like housing, healthcare, and the environment, leading to a more holistic and resilient plan.
Including individuals with “funding capacity” and “political will” from the start transforms them from future targets of lobbying into co-owners of the plan, dramatically increasing the odds of implementation.
Potential partners and committee members should be drawn from a wide cross-section of the community:
Public Sector: Local and state elected officials, representatives from government agencies focused on planning, transportation, and workforce development.
Private Sector: Key employers from the region’s top industries, small business owners, representatives from chambers of commerce, industrial development boards, and financial institutions.
Education and Workforce: Leaders from institutions of higher education, community colleges, K-12 school systems, and local workforce development boards.
Community and Nonprofit: Community leaders, representatives from nonprofit organizations including social service, environmental, and housing groups, labor groups, minority and tribal representatives, and engaged private individuals.
When recruiting for the committee, EDDs should seek individuals who possess a collaborative mindset, a degree of data literacy, and the political will or funding capacity to help implement the final plan.
A practical approach is to first identify the region’s most pressing issues—such as broadband access, housing shortages, or workforce gaps—and then actively recruit the organizations and leaders who are already working to address those challenges.
Driving Public Engagement
A CEDS must result from a process that includes “broad-based and diverse public and private sector participation.” This is not merely a procedural hurdle but a fundamental requirement for success. The ultimate quality of a CEDS is judged by its usefulness as a tool for regional decision-making, which is impossible to achieve without widespread community buy-in.
Authentic public engagement builds trust, ensures the final plan accurately reflects the community’s diverse needs and values, uncovers new perspectives, and creates a sense of shared ownership that is essential for successful implementation.
It provides decision-makers with more complete information, leading to more sustainable and implementable outcomes because the needs and interests of all stakeholders, including marginalized populations, have been considered from the beginning.
A common pitfall in planning is developing a strategy in isolation and then attempting to “sell” it to the public, which often leads to backlash and failure. The CEDS process inverts this model. By engaging the public early and continuously, planners can identify potential conflicts and hot-button issues upfront, allowing the plan to be shaped in a way that preemptively addresses concerns.
Best Practices for Robust Engagement:
Go to the Community: Rather than expecting stakeholders to always attend meetings in government buildings, planners should hold events in accessible locations, such as manufacturing facilities, vacant downtown storefronts, or local community centers.
Use Diverse Methods: A comprehensive outreach strategy should employ various tools to gather input, including formal public meetings, stakeholder focus groups, one-on-one interviews with key leaders, and both paper and online surveys.
Be Clear and Transparent: The primary purpose of engagement must be to help shape the strategy, not to persuade residents to accept a pre-formulated plan. Planners should be clear about the purpose of public participation and be careful to promise only what they can realistically deliver.
Ensure Accessibility: All materials should be written in clear, easy-to-understand language, avoiding technical jargon whenever possible. Materials should be translated when necessary to reach non-English speaking populations. Outreach should utilize multiple channels, including official websites, social media, local newsletters, and partnerships with ethnic media outlets.
The CEDS document itself should describe in detail how and to what extent stakeholder and public input was solicited and incorporated into the final plan. This documentation is crucial for legitimizing the CEDS as a product that truly represents the region as a whole.
Formal Development Process
For organizations that receive EDA planning grants, such as EDDs and designated Tribal planning organizations, there is a formal, multi-step process for development and submission of the CEDS. This cycle ensures accountability and maintains the region’s eligibility for EDA investment assistance.
The process builds upon the foundational steps of committee formation and public engagement:
Establish and Define Committee Role: The committee is established to oversee and guide the entire CEDS process. Its roles and relationships with the lead planning organization and other stakeholders are clearly defined.
Leverage Staff Resources: The planning organization dedicates staff resources to support the committee and adopts a formal program of work that outlines tasks, timeline, and milestones for developing the CEDS.
Seek Input and Draft: This is the core development phase where the planning organization, guided by the Strategy Committee, actively seeks stakeholder input. This input is used to craft the initial CEDS document. Following creation of a draft, the organization must formally solicit public comments and address them, as required by federal regulation.
Finalize Document: After incorporating feedback from the public comment period, the CEDS document is finalized and formally adopted by the planning organization.
Submit Annual Reports: The CEDS is a living document, and progress must be tracked. Each year, the organization must submit an annual performance report to the EDA, detailing progress made toward the goals and objectives outlined in the CEDS.
Update Every Five Years: To remain eligible for EDA assistance, the entire CEDS must be comprehensively revised and updated at least every five years. This involves repeating the entire planning process to ensure the strategy remains relevant to the region’s evolving economic conditions.
Throughout this cycle, planning organizations are strongly encouraged to maintain open communication with their respective EDA regional office for ongoing technical assistance and guidance.
Four Essential Components
Every CEDS document must contain four core components as mandated by the EDA. These sections provide logical structure for the plan, moving from data-driven assessment of the current situation to a strategic vision for the future and a framework for measuring success.
These components are not independent—they form a logical cascade where the quality of each section depends on the rigor of the one preceding it. A weakness in one section will inevitably undermine the entire strategy.
Summary Background: Your Region’s Foundation
The Summary Background serves as the factual foundation of the entire CEDS. Its purpose is to provide a clear, concise, and data-driven overview of the region’s economic conditions, historical context, and key characteristics. This section comprehensively answers the question, “Where are we now?”
The content should include thorough analysis of several key areas:
Demographics and Socioeconomics: Current and historical data on population trends (growth or decline), age distribution, racial and ethnic composition (disaggregated where possible to show diversity), income levels, poverty rates, educational attainment, and other key labor force characteristics.
Geography, Environment, and Culture: A profile of the region’s physical landscape, climate, natural resources, and cultural amenities. This should identify key environmental assets that support the economy (like tourism resources) as well as any potential constraints (like vulnerability to natural disasters).
Infrastructure Assets: A detailed inventory of the region’s critical infrastructure that supports economic activity. This includes transportation networks (roads, rail, ports, airports), water and sewer systems, energy generation and distribution, and telecommunications and broadband infrastructure.
Economic Structure: An analysis of the region’s core economic drivers. This should identify key industry sectors and clusters (both emerging and declining), list major employers, and analyze the region’s economic relationship to the larger state, national, and global economies.
A credible CEDS must be grounded in reliable and current data. Planners should utilize a variety of sources:
U.S. Census Bureau: The primary source for demographic and economic data. The American Community Survey provides updated data every year on social, economic, and housing characteristics for geographies as small as census tracts. The Economic Census, conducted every five years, is the official measure of U.S. businesses and industries.
Bureau of Economic Analysis: Provides essential regional economic data, including statistics on Gross Domestic Product and personal income at the state, metropolitan area, and county levels.
StatsAmerica: Hosted by the Indiana Business Research Center, this resource is specifically designed to support EDDs and other regional partners in developing their CEDS. It offers data tools, including the “Anywhere USA Profile,” which allows regions to benchmark their economic indicators against peer regions.
Other key sources include the Bureau of Labor Statistics, various state and local government agencies, local universities, and any EDA-funded University Centers operating in the region.
SWOT Analysis: Strategic Positioning
The SWOT analysis is the critical analytical bridge between the data-heavy Summary Background and the forward-looking Action Plan. Building directly on the facts and figures previously presented, it’s an in-depth analysis that identifies the region’s internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and the external Opportunities and Threats it faces.
This strategic exercise is essential for identifying a region’s unique competitive advantages—the indigenous assets that make it special—and understanding the factors that could prevent it from realizing its full potential.
To be effective, a SWOT analysis must be conducted with rigor and broad participation:
Be Specific and Data-Driven: The points listed in each quadrant should be directly linked to the data presented in the Summary Background. Vague generalities should be avoided in favor of specific, evidence-based statements.
For example, instead of a weakness like “poor education system,” a more effective statement would be, “Only 35% of the adult population holds a post-secondary credential, lagging the national average of 45% and creating a documented skills gap in the region’s growing healthcare technology sector.”
Facilitate Broad Input: The analysis should be a collaborative exercise that gathers ideas from the CEDS Strategy Committee and the wider public. Facilitation techniques, such as using large whiteboards or flip charts and assigning different colored Post-it notes for each quadrant, can improve visualization and encourage participation.
Focus on Action: The analysis should not be a purely academic exercise. It must be framed in a way that leads directly to creation of the strategic plan. The key questions to answer are how the region can leverage its strengths, mitigate its weaknesses, seize its opportunities, and defend against its threats.
| SWOT Component | Guiding Questions for Economic Development |
|---|---|
| Strengths (Internal, Positive) | What are our region’s anchor institutions (e.g., universities, hospitals, military bases)? What unique cultural, historical, or natural assets give us a competitive edge in areas like tourism or quality of life? What specific infrastructure (e.g., port, interstate highway, fiber optic network) is a key advantage for business? What existing industry clusters are globally competitive? |
| Weaknesses (Internal, Negative) | Where are our most significant infrastructure deficits (e.g., deferred maintenance, last-mile broadband gaps)? What specific skills gaps exist in our current workforce that are hindering business growth? Are there systemic barriers like lack of affordable housing or childcare that are preventing full workforce participation? Is our regional tax base overly reliant on a single industry or a few large employers? |
| Opportunities (External, Positive) | What new state or federal policy changes or funding streams (e.g., Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS Act) can our region leverage? Are there global supply chain shifts or re-shoring trends that create opportunities for local production? Can the rise of remote work be leveraged to attract skilled talent and new residents? Is there an emerging technology or industry that aligns with our existing assets? |
| Threats (External, Negative) | What are the primary climate-related risks (e.g., flooding, wildfire, drought) to our key industries and infrastructure? Is automation or artificial intelligence a significant threat to our major employment sectors? How do national economic downturns, interest rate changes, or inflation uniquely affect our regional economy? What actions are competitor regions taking that could threaten our economic position? |
Strategic Direction and Action Plan
If the Summary Background and SWOT analysis answer “Where are we now?”, the Strategic Direction and Action Plan answer the crucial follow-up questions: “Where do we want to go?” and “How, exactly, are we going to get there?”
This component is the “heart and soul” of the CEDS, as it translates rigorous analysis into a clear, prioritized, and actionable plan for the future.
The section begins with the Strategic Direction, which sets the overall vision and goals for the region:
Vision Statement: A brief, compelling, and aspirational statement that paints a picture of the region’s desired future, often looking 10 to 20 years ahead. It should be developed through broad community participation to ensure it reflects a shared ambition.
Goals: The vision is broken down into a manageable number of broad Goals. These are the general outcomes the region aims to achieve (e.g., “Foster a more diverse and resilient economy” or “Improve workforce readiness for 21st-century jobs”).
Objectives: Each goal is further defined by a set of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) Objectives. These are the concrete, trackable milestones that demonstrate progress toward a goal (e.g., “Increase the number of technology-based startups by 15% within the next five years” or “Increase the number of residents with industry-recognized credentials by 1,000 annually”).
Following the Strategic Direction is the Action Plan, which details the concrete steps that will be taken to achieve the stated goals and objectives. A strong action plan is not a simple laundry list of projects—it’s a prioritized set of strategies.
For each key action, the plan must clearly identify:
Responsible Parties: It must name the specific organization, agency, or group that will take the lead in implementing each action. This creates clear accountability.
Timetables: It must provide a realistic timeline for implementation of each activity, including key benchmarks.
Funding Sources: It must identify potential and committed funding sources from a mix of public (local, state, federal), private, and nonprofit partners. This demonstrates how the CEDS will leverage integrated funds to achieve its aims.
Evaluation Framework: Measuring Progress
The final core component of the CEDS is the Evaluation Framework. This section establishes the specific metrics and performance measures that will be used to track progress on implementation of the Action Plan and evaluate the CEDS’s overall impact on the regional economy.
It provides the mechanism to answer the question, “How are we doing?” and forms the basis for the required CEDS Annual Performance Report.
While traditional economic development metrics like “jobs created or retained” and “private investment leveraged” remain important, the EDA strongly encourages regions to adopt a broader and more sophisticated view of success.
This reflects a more nuanced understanding of economic development, recognizing that true prosperity is about more than just job numbers. A region can create thousands of low-wage jobs without fundamentally improving the quality of life or financial security of its residents.
The shift toward “wealth creation” metrics pushes regions to focus on the quality of economic growth, not just the quantity. This requires a more complex, multi-faceted strategy that deeply integrates economic development with community development.
Planners should consider incorporating non-traditional measures that reflect overall regional wealth, prosperity, and well-being, such as:
- Growth in per capita income
- Growth in median household income and wages
- Reductions in the poverty rate
- Increases in educational attainment levels
- Other quality-of-life indicators related to housing affordability, healthcare access, and environmental quality
The performance measures selected must be logically and directly linked back to the goals and objectives outlined in the Action Plan. For instance, if a primary goal is to improve workforce quality, a relevant performance measure would be the number of residents who earn new, industry-recognized credentials each year.
This direct linkage ensures that the evaluation process is meaningful and provides genuine insight into the effectiveness of the region’s strategy.
Modern Priorities for Resilient Growth
In recent years, the EDA has updated its CEDS Content Guidelines to emphasize four critical thematic priorities: Economic Resilience, Equity, Workforce Development, and Broadband.
These are not meant to be treated as separate, add-on sections or a simple checklist. Instead, they are interconnected lenses that must be woven throughout the entire CEDS document, informing the analysis, goals, and actions.
A truly strategic CEDS uses these as an integrated framework to analyze every proposed action. An initiative that addresses all four simultaneously—for example, a program to train residents from low-income neighborhoods for jobs in resilient broadband infrastructure installation—is far more powerful and aligned with the EDA’s modern vision than four separate, siloed projects.
Economic Resilience
Economic resilience is defined as a region’s ability to anticipate, withstand, and bounce back from any type of shock or stress to its economic base. These shocks can be sudden, acute events like a natural disaster or the closure of a major employer, or they can be long-term, chronic stresses like the slow decline of a key industry or the impacts of climate change.
The concept of resilience should be infused throughout the CEDS—in the SWOT analysis, the goals, and the action plan. Practical ways to integrate resilience include:
Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation: A key best practice is to integrate the CEDS with the region’s official Hazard Mitigation Plan. This alignment helps ensure that economic development strategies do not inadvertently increase vulnerability to known hazards like floods, wildfires, or hurricanes.
It also involves proactively planning for the future impacts of climate change, such as sea-level rise or increased storm intensity, by leveraging tools and resources from federal agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Economic Diversification: The action plan should contain specific strategies to diversify the regional economy. This reduces over-reliance on a single industry, making the region less vulnerable to sector-specific downturns and more adaptable to long-term economic shifts.
Building Responsive Capacity: Resilience is also about being prepared to act after a shock occurs. The CEDS can outline the creation of information networks, pre-disaster recovery plans, and coordination mechanisms (like a Business Emergency Operations Center) to ensure the region can respond quickly and effectively to get its economy back on its feet.
Equity and Inclusion
Equity has been formally established as a key EDA investment priority, reflecting the understanding that a region can only be truly prosperous and resilient when economic growth is inclusive.
An equitable CEDS process is one that actively works to include underrepresented voices and designs specific strategies to address systemic barriers to wealth creation and quality of life for all residents, especially those from traditionally underserved communities.
Integrating equity requires intentional effort in both the process and the content of the CEDS:
In the Process: An equitable process begins with formation of a diverse and representative CEDS Strategy Committee. It involves conducting targeted outreach to underserved communities, translating materials into relevant languages, and providing accessible meeting options (e.g., virtual options, childcare, locations on public transit lines) to remove barriers to participation.
In the Content: Equity should be woven into every section of the CEDS document. In the Summary Background, planners should use disaggregated data to highlight existing disparities in outcomes like income, health, and educational attainment across different racial, ethnic, and geographic groups.
These disparities should be framed not as weaknesses of a particular community but as systemic challenges for the entire region to address. The Action Plan should then include specific, measurable goals and strategies aimed at closing these identified gaps.
Workforce Development
A skilled workforce is not a byproduct of a healthy economy—it’s an essential prerequisite for one. Recognizing this, the EDA requires that the CEDS highlight and integrate employer-driven, place-based workforce development efforts as a fundamental component of the broader economic development strategy.
Integrating workforce development effectively involves:
Analysis: The Summary Background and SWOT analysis sections should include detailed examination of the region’s workforce, including its demographic composition, current skill sets, and any identified skills gaps. It should also assess the capacity and alignment of the region’s education and training infrastructure, from K-12 schools to community colleges and universities.
Strategy: The Action Plan must be developed in close coordination with the local Workforce Investment Board and other key partners. It should focus on strategies that promote the creation of “good jobs”—those with family-sustaining wages, benefits, and opportunities for advancement.
The plan should support development of sectoral partnerships, where employers from a key industry collaborate with educational institutions to build robust talent pipelines. It should also promote proven earn-and-learn models like Registered Apprenticeships that allow residents to gain skills while earning a wage.
Broadband and Digital Infrastructure
In the 21st-century economy, access to reliable, high-speed internet is no longer an amenity—it’s essential infrastructure. It’s central to modern economic development, business operations, education, healthcare, and civic life.
By one estimate, more than 30 million Americans still lack access to broadband at minimally sufficient speeds, creating a significant barrier to economic participation.
An effective CEDS must be attentive to these capacity gaps in the region’s digital infrastructure. This involves:
Analysis: The SWOT analysis should include thorough assessment of broadband in the region, examining not just its physical availability but also its affordability and adoption rates across different communities.
Strategy: The Action Plan should identify concrete strategies to close the digital divide. This goes beyond simply laying fiber optic cable—it involves ensuring that the region can fully leverage connectivity for economic growth, workforce development, and enhanced equity.
Strategies should be designed to take advantage of the significant state and federal resources available for broadband deployment, such as the funds allocated through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Implementation and Learning
From Plan to Action
The approval of the CEDS document by the EDA is not the end of the process—it’s the beginning of the implementation phase. The CEDS is intended to be a “living document,” not a report that gathers dust on a shelf.
The EDD and the CEDS Strategy Committee are responsible for driving implementation of the action plan. This is an ongoing role that involves convening partners, actively seeking funding for prioritized projects, providing technical assistance to local communities, and continuously tracking progress toward the stated goals.
Accountability is maintained through a required reporting cycle:
Annual Performance Reports: Each year, the planning organization must prepare and submit a CEDS Annual Performance Report to the EDA. This report evaluates the region’s progress toward achieving the goals and objectives laid out in the CEDS, using the metrics defined in the Evaluation Framework.
This annual check-in is a critical opportunity for the Strategy Committee and stakeholders to assess what is working, identify what is not, and make strategic adjustments as needed.
The Five-Year Update: To maintain its status as an EDD and its eligibility for EDA funding, a region must conduct a comprehensive update of its CEDS at least every five years. This is not a minor refresh—it’s a full-scale re-engagement with the community and a new, deep-dive analysis of the region’s evolving economic landscape, starting the entire planning process anew.
Real-World Examples
One of the best ways to understand what makes a CEDS effective is to examine real-world examples from different types of regions. The StatsAmerica CEDS Resource Library and NADO’s CEDS Central website are excellent repositories for finding and reviewing CEDS documents from across the country.
Urban Focus (Brooklyn, NY): The Brooklyn CEDS provides a powerful model for addressing the complex challenges of a major urban area. It tackles issues like housing affordability, the need for massive infrastructure investments (such as the proposed BQX light rail), and strategies for leveraging public assets to spur commercial development.
It demonstrates how a CEDS can be used to plan for inclusive growth in a high-cost, high-density environment, with specific strategies for strengthening retail corridors, fostering cultural innovation, and creating new open space.
Tribal Focus (Karuk Tribe, CA): This CEDS is an outstanding example of how the framework can be adapted to be deeply rooted in a tribal context. It skillfully integrates the Tribe’s goals of cultural preservation, land stewardship, and self-governance with modern economic development priorities like broadband deployment, sustainable tourism, and entrepreneurship.
The document effectively tells the Karuk Tribe’s unique historical and economic story, acknowledging past hardships while laying out a clear, asset-based vision for a resilient future.
Rural/Regional Focus (South Central Tennessee Development District): The SCTDD’s CEDS demonstrates a strong, data-driven approach for a multi-county rural region. It effectively uses a combination of narrative and data tables to analyze regional demographics, unemployment, poverty, and educational attainment.
This analysis is then directly and logically linked to its SWOT analysis and a prioritized action plan. It highlights strategies that are highly relevant to many rural areas, such as addressing the needs of an aging workforce, closing infrastructure gaps, and promoting non-traditional economic development like agritourism and local artisan development.
Resilience Focus (Southeast Alaska): The “Southeast Alaska 2020” CEDS is a masterclass in conciseness and effective communication. At only 44 pages, it uses compelling infographics, high-quality images, and clear, accessible language to create an engaging and highly useful resource.
Its success is demonstrated by the fact that it has been fully embraced by regional stakeholders, who use its language directly in their own grant proposals. The document skillfully infuses the concept of resilience throughout the plan, making it a go-to example for other regions looking to address economic shocks and long-term stresses.
Innovation in Format and Function
The most innovative CEDS are evolving in their format. Many EDDs are moving beyond static PDF documents to create interactive, online CEDS portals. These platforms often feature live data dashboards, interactive maps, and other tools that make the CEDS a dynamic resource for local leaders.
This shift represents more than a technological upgrade—it’s a fundamental change in the document’s purpose. A static PDF is a report to be filed, while an interactive data portal is a utility to be used.
By making regional data accessible and easy to visualize, EDDs are empowering local leaders, businesses, and citizens to make their own data-informed decisions. The use of tools like Esri’s Story Maps shows that the CEDS is becoming a primary vehicle for crafting and communicating a region’s economic narrative—its history, its identity, and its aspirations.
This transforms the CEDS from a mere planning document into a powerful tool for marketing and investment attraction. The most effective CEDS strategies are intentionally aligned and integrated with other major regional and state plans, such as those for transportation, housing, and hazard mitigation.
Our articles make government information more accessible. Please consult a qualified professional for financial, legal, or health advice specific to your circumstances.