CREC Updates

Small Manufacturing Enterprises (SMEs) fuel the U.S. economy. They compete through innovation, energy, and agility in response to rapidly changing global supply chain requirements and they take risks by introducing new processes and products. The vital role of SMEs, however, depends on a strong manufacturing workforce, and the challenges that SMEs face are particularly acute […]

Incentives Roundtable: Remote Workers Impact on Compliance Tuesday, March 16, 2021 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET Remote work became a more important part of the economic landscape in 2020. In response, many state economic development organizations are considering the impact of remote work on existing incentive performance agreements as companies endeavor to remain compliant […]

This workshop provides state agency staff with the skills and insights to implement best practices in incentives monitoring and management. The workshop reviews common operating procedures, identifies critical issues, and explores options and tradeoffs to help staff make intentional choices to protect taxpayer investments in business incentives. Agency staff will be able to review and redesign operating procedures, confident their approach will be effective, but not overly burdensome, in leveraging reliable data for monitoring business compliance and program performance.

This report describes veterans’ attainment of certifications and licenses, with an emphasis on post-9/11 veterans. Utilizing a new data set derived from the 2016-2018 Current Population Survey (CPS), the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) examined veterans’ attainment of certifications and licenses and associated earnings. CREC SOLID Veterans Certifications and License Report 09042019

As part of the OEA Industry Resilience Grants project (Formerly OEA – Defense Industry Adjustment), Cathy Katona and Mereb Hagos conducted a site visit to Fond de Lac and Oshkosh Wisconsin to meet with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (ECWRPC) to close out their OEA grant. They […]

As part of the OEA Industry Resilience Grants project (Formerly OEA – Defense Industry Adjustment), Mark Troppe and Lee Winkler traveled to Albany New York, to meet with the Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), who manages the state’s MEP centers. The group discussed NYSTAR’s efforts to work with the regional […]

CREC’s Ken Poole and Jaleel Reed worked with the University of Northern Iowa’s Institute for Decision Making (IDM) to facilitate a meeting of the Talent Forecast working group as part of a talent development strategy process for the 10 counties around Duluth MN-Superior WI on February 4th.  More than 60 regional leaders participated, including Brian […]

Last week Cathy Katona, Erik Pages, and Lee Winkler traveled to Bloomsburg Pennsylvania, where they met with staff and board members of three PA Local Development Districts: Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance (NEPA), SEDA-Council of Governments (SEDA-COG), and the Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission (Northern Tier). They also met with businesses whom were recipients of […]

The 2018 Cost of Living Index Annual Review is now available. C2ER annually publishes an unweighted average of prices accumulated from the previous three quarters. See the 10 most & least expensive urban areas in the U.S. See our full press release here. 

C2ER and LMI Institute staffers, Spencer Abrams and Jennie Allison, visited St. Louis Missouri January 16 – 17, 2019 to meet with local stakeholders to plan the 2019 Annual Conference. Stay tuned for the official launch and agenda release in the next two weeks.