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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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Economic Development Administration

The purpose of the program is to provide investment awards to economically distressed communities to generate new employment, help retain existing jobs, and stimulate industrial and commercial growth. These grants are awarded on a competitive basis to communities experiencing high unemployment or low per capita income.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Moderately Effective

In general, a program rated Moderately Effective has set ambitious goals and is well-managed. Moderately Effective programs likely need to improve their efficiency or address other problems in the programs' design or management in order to achieve better results.
  • The program makes grants to revitalize, expand, and upgrade physical infrastructure to attract new industry, encourage business expansion, and generate or retain jobs and private sector investment. The program requires its grants be targeted to communities experiencing long-term chronic economic distress or impacted by sudden and severe economic dislocation.
  • The program has long-term outcome-based measures that meaningfully reflect the mission of the program. These measures track the number of jobs created and private-sector investment generated by EDA investments 3, 6, and 9 years after grant award.
  • The program's grant-making is duplicative of other Federal economic development efforts.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Increasing the program's focus on promoting regional economic development solutions for distressed communities that foster innovation and entrepreneurship to achieve global competitiveness.
  • Streamlining the grant application process and working with its regional offices and partners to utilize the grants.gov initiative that will allow applications for programs to be received online.
  • Continuing to measure private sector investment and jobs created 3, 6 and 9 years after the program's investment in a project.

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