Technical Assistance

Our technical assistance aids policymakers and workforce development staff to better implement innovation and job-creation strategies by:

• Understanding the economic forces affecting regions and states
• Helping local leaders formulate knowledge-based strategies
• Developing transformational models that support knowledge-driven economic prosperity

Building On the Knowledge Economy

The Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) uses information and data to create resources and toolkits so that state and national policymakers can evaluate, shape, and implement effective and state- and region-specific programs that promote economic development efforts.

Many of our technical-assistance efforts are aimed at: federal agencies, regional and state offices, private nonprofits, educational institutions, and sub-state regional coalitions.

While our primary area of policy expertise relates to economic development, workforce development, and education, our network extends beyond these policy areas through the Association of Public Data Users (APDU) into a variety of fields ranging from health care, criminal justice and housing, and demographics to transportation.

Related Projects

Community Capacity Building for Using Treasury State and Local Fiscal Relief Funds
Appalachia Regional Commission and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Start Date: Jan 2022 — End Date: Dec 2023

CREC, working with the National Association of Counties and Entreworks Consulting is providing training and technical assistance to communities identifying catalytic projects that use ARPA Local Fiscal Recovery Fund dollars. The project is developing and delivering five virtual training sessions designed for LDDs, local elected officials and their key staff on the ARPA Local Fiscal […]

Program Support for Treasury’s SSBCI Initiative
U.S. Department of Treasury, State Small Business Credit Initiative
Start Date: Sep 2021 — End Date: Sep 2023

CREC is providing advisory and programmatic support to assist the successful implementation and operation of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Activities will include formulating SSBCI eligibility and approval criteria, creating of standards and requirements for participation of lenders and investors, and aligning the SSBCI program with the requirements for […]

Administrative Datasets on Non-degree Credentials: Creating and Analyzing a Repository National Science Foundation/George Washington University
National Science Foundation
Start Date: Sep 2021 — End Date: Jul 2023

CREC is collaborating with George Washington University Institute of Public Policy (GWIPP) to support the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics’ (NCSES) use of administrative data to analyze training and education of the nation’s skilled technical workforce (STW). The limitations of survey data in this field necessitates the utilization of […]

Increasing Public Labor Market Information Capacity to Provide Sub-State and Skills Projections Data
Lumina Foundation
Start Date: Dec 2021 — End Date: Mar 2023

CREC is collaborating with the Projections Managing Partnership (PMP) to increase the capacity of the public Labor Market Information (LMI) system to provide relevant substate and skills data for education and training providers. The project will inventory substate projections availability among states, review and document methods for developing substate projections, add new substate projections content […]

Counting U.S. Secondary and Postsecondary Credentials 2022-23
Credential Engine
Start Date: Jan 2022 — End Date: Mar 2023

CREC continues its work in generating 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 will provide a national report on the status […]