Helping Communities Shine

Whether researching and implementing ways to shape a community's economic development plan or partnering to create ways to put people to work, CREC connects researchers and policymakers with:

     • Data training
     • Custom portfolios that aid regional competitiveness

What We Do

Project Catalogue

Outreach to State Policymakers
National Institute of Standards & Technology – Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Start Date: Feb 2008 — End Date: Oct 2009

The Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness collaborated with the State Science & Technology Institute (SSTI) to facilitate a series of focus group sessions with key state policy leaders. The focus groups provided an opportunity for NIST officials to provide an overview of their program priorities and to gain critical insights from state technology officials about how those […]

Developing A Workforce Strategy for the Cedar Valley Region
Cedar Valley Regional Partnership
Start Date: Jan 2008 — End Date: Mar 2009

In partnership with the Institute for Decision Making at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, C2ER/CREC helped to facilitate a workforce strategy designed to bring together partners from the economic development, workforce development, higher education, and K-12 systems. Key partners involved in the process included the Cedar Valley Regional [Economic Development] Alliance, the […]

Siouxland Tri-State Regional Innovation Project
Western Iowa Tech Community College
Start Date: Jan 2009 — End Date: Jan 2009

CREC, in collaboration with the Institute for Decision Making, Iowa Workforce Development and Network Weavers, worked to develop a strategic regional workforce plan for an 11 county, tri-state region around Sioux City, Iowa. This work was funded by a Regional Innovation Grant from the US Department of Labor. The project sought to craft a unique […]

Conducting an Impact Analysis of the Defense Intelligence Agency Move to Charlottesville
Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission
Start Date: Feb 2007 — End Date: Oct 2008

The Council for Community & Economic Research (C2ER) and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) conducted a survey of US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) personnel scheduled to move from Washington, D.C., to Charlottesville, Va., as a result of the 2005 Base Reuse and Alignment Commission (BRAC) recommendations. The project included an analysis of the direct and indirect […]

Assessing Economic & Workforce Trends in the Fort Bragg BRAC Region
Fort Bragg Regional Task Force
Start Date: Feb 2008 — End Date: Oct 2008

The Council for Community & Economic Research (C2ER) and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC), working in collaboration with Trade Development Associates, conducted a industry targeting analysis that involve mapping value chains in the defense and homeland security-related industries. Using definitions provided in previous studies, the team organized the industries into groupings that represented all of […]