The Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) is an independent, 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization founded to provide U.S. public, nonprofit, and philanthropic leaders with the information and technical assistance they need to formulate and execute innovative, regional, job-creating economic strategies.
Our primary public service goal is to help regions compete. Through our network of partnerships, we continually work to further regional economic competitiveness in global, rural, and metropolitan communities. Our work emphasizes the importance of data in informing evidence-based public policy decision making. To this end, CREC conducts research, provides technical assistance, offers expert advice, provides training, and offers leadership to practitioners and policymakers in the economic development, workforce development, and higher education field. These activities are provided on a fee-for-service basis to an array of federal, state, local, and philanthropic clients. These projects represent the primary source of funding support for the organization, and they rely on our team’s technical expertise in the fields of economic and workforce development.
In addition to individual projects, CREC also manages membership networks, each with a mission that aligns with our overall, long-term goals, including:
CREC provides these organizations with highly-specialized staff, institutional capacity and networks, and organizational infrastructure that allow them to pursue their core missions and build on our technical expertise. Specific to our association-management services, CREC provides: