CREC Project News and Updates

CREC Joins U.S. Treasury Department in Little Rock, Arkansas

January 27, 2015

CREC’s Ron Kelly joined George Surgeon and partners from the U.S. Treasury Department and Cromwell & Scmisseur in visiting the Arkansas Development Finance Authority in Little Rock, Arkansas. The team discussed the state’s capital programs obtaining funding through the U.S. Treasury State’s Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI).

On September 27, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (the “Act”). The Act created the State Small Business Credit Initiative, which was funded with $1.5 billion to strengthen state programs that support lending to small businesses and small manufacturers. The State Small Business Credit Initiative is expected to help spur up to $15 billion in lending to small businesses.

About This Project

Missouri Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)
Start Date: Sep 2024 — End Date: Mar 2025

The goal of this project is to assist in the development of Missouri’s statewide comprehensive economic development strategy (CEDS). Focused on four key areas—business development, community infrastructure, innovation, and talent — the strategy aims to attract federal funding to Missouri and strengthen the state’s programs and policies. CREC is partnering with Lightcast, who is conducting […]

Missouri Industry Clusters Study
Start Date: Jan 2024 — End Date: Oct 2024

CREC assisted the state of Missouri in identifying and bolstering the state’s mature, emerging, and potential industry clusters. Specifically, CREC conducted economic base and value chain analyses to understand Missouri’s competitive advantages and identify sets of industries that demonstrate strong current or projected employment growth, worker earnings, concentration, and economic value. CREC supplemented these findings […]

ARC Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
Start Date: Oct 2024 — End Date: Dec 2025

CREC is partnering with SE Group and the Virginia Tech Center for Economic and Community Engagement to deliver a comprehensive evaluation of the Appalachian Regional Commission’s outdoor recreation and tourism grant portfolio. The research effort will feature a mixed methods evaluation. Qualitative grantee and beneficiary interviews serve to identify exploratory items, leading to a quantitative […]

Credential Engine – Counting U.S. Secondary and Postsecondary Credentials
Start Date: Oct 2024 — End Date: Dec 2025

CREC is working to generate a national count of unique credentials available for American workers. The count provides the number of credentials by type and by state. CREC is conducting research on certain credential segments to better understand patterns of credentialing in certain key industries. CREC is providing a national report on the status of […]

Reimagining the EDA University Center Program
Start Date: Jan 2024 — End Date: Dec 2025

With EDA support, CREC, Virginia Tech University, and the University Economic Development Association (UEDA) are studying how the 70-plus EDA-designated University Centers (UCs) organize, operate, and implement their economic development programs.

JobSIDE
Start Date: Jun 2024 — End Date: Sep 2024

CREC conduced an evaluation of the JobSIDE tool developed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (USCCF). The JobSIDE tool is designed to help employers create skill profiles for in-demand jobs, enhancing skills-based hiring. It also supports educators and workforce development professionals in aligning educational and training programs with employer needs. The evaluation involved observing […]

Gates Foundation Project — 2.0
Start Date: Aug 2024 — End Date: Jul 2026

CREC will be working to increase the capabilities of data users and data providers to inform education and training investments that strengthen regional economies. CREC will work to create a pipeline of organizations – including economic development organizations, community colleges, and workforce boards – to improve their regional data systems by providing learning and assessment […]

Census StatVentures: Regional Insights for Emerging Supply Chain Threats
Start Date: May 2024 — End Date: Dec 2024

The goal of this project is to create a novel dataset by linking import/export details to products and suppliers nationwide, tracking end-to-end use of intermediary inputs and materials.

Facilitating LMI Data User Insights
Start Date: Aug 2023 — End Date: Dec 2024

In cooperation with the Labor Market Information (LMI) Institute, Projections Managing Partnership (PMP), and U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (ETA), CREC has initiated a new capacity building program for state LMI agency staff and their customers. The goal of this project is to provide technical assistance and training for workforce and labor […]

Advancing Manufacturing Momentum
Start Date: Apr 2024 — End Date: Apr 2025

The CREC team will undertake several key activities to help OSD ManTech improve its impact on the education and workforce development efforts to ensure they better serve the needs of advanced manufacturing companies creating and servicing defense technologies for the U.S. warfighter. As part of that effort, CREC will help OSD ManTech assess and evaluate […]

About the Client

ManTech

The vision of the program is a responsive world-class manufacturing capability to affordably and rapidly meet Warfighter needs throughout the defense system life cycle. Although DoD ManTech has a singular mission and shared strategic vision, all of the projects and initiatives are selected and executed through the Military Services and DoD Agencies. Each Component has […]