CREC Project News and Updates

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]