Greater Spokane Inc Receives Economic Development Administration Grant For Regional Strategy

Press release from Greater Spokane Inc.:

March 8, 2021

(SPOKANE, Wash.) – Greater Spokane Inc. (GSI) announced today that it received formal notice of a $200,000 grant award from the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) to update the region's Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). This grant was submitted by GSI and partners on behalf of and with support from local governments, businesses and non-profits.

"As our region and our country step into the 'next normal,' we are delighted to receive funding to develop a unifying, regional vision of prosperity for this community for the next decade," said GSI CEO Alisha Benson. "This economic development visioning endeavor will engage the broad community at a level not undertaken for the last two decades. This is a very exciting development for our region!" Lars Gilberts, CEO of the University District said "Regrowing our economy and making it more resilient is critical to businesses and families alike. This CEDS can help us be regionally unified around what makes all of us more competitive in global knowledge economy." GSI is in the RFP phase now to hire a consultant that meets EDA's selection criteria. The RFP runs through March 31, 2021. Once selected, GSI and the consultant expect to kick-off the planning for the CEDS by the end of May. The CEDS process will include a supply-chain analysis and create a regional economic dashboard to measure the economic health of the Spokane community as it works towards recovery. For more information about the CEDS process, the RFP, or to be involved in the discussion, please contact Gary Ballew or Joey Gunning.