Congressman Carter Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Improve EDA Support for Underserved Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-La.) and Congressman Garret Graves (R-La.), members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, along with Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced the bipartisan Economic Empowerment Through Predevelopment Act. This bill would authorize the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to make grants or cooperative agreements available for planning and predevelopment of infrastructure projects to support communities across the country.

"The Public Works and Economic Development Act has been a significant catalyst in aiding communities to enhance their economic development and support struggling businesses during challenging periods,” said Rep. Carter. “Many good ideas never move forward because they face barriers in the pre-development stage. To address this, the Economic Empowerment Through Predevelopment Act aims to help communities kickstart their projects by covering essential pre-development expenses, like inclusive community engagement and feasibility studies. This bill will speed up the implementation of more economic development projects, moving them efficiently from the drawing board to reality.”

Predevelopment activities are projects that must be completed prior to construction to advance infrastructure and development projects from concept to reality. This includes tasks such as planning and design, community asset mapping, training, technical assistance, feasibility and environmental studies, demonstration projects, and organizational capacity building. This legislation would create a predevelopment grant program at EDA to support local communities that otherwise may not have the ability to complete early-stage project development activities, which are often prerequisites to being eligible for larger state and federal grants.

“Despite having the greatest need, underserved, low-income, and rural communities continue to face financial and technical barriers in accessing federal grants,” said Sen. Padilla. “This disparity unnecessarily delays and often prevents critical infrastructure development projects from moving forward. We must focus on inclusive economic growth by ensuring that all of our communities are equipped to sustain and grow investments and participate in today’s economy.”

“When the federal government sets aside money to help local communities, it should be simple to access,” said Dr. Cassidy. “We have to give local officials the resources to bring in experts to help them get that funding as quickly as possible.”

“In some cases, our small cities and towns in the greatest need of economic development investment find themselves in the Catch-22 of not having the resources to develop grant proposals. Our bill attempts to address this impediment and help improve access to economic development opportunities. I appreciate the opportunity to work with Congressman Carter on this legislation again this Congress,” said Rep. Graves.

Background

The bill amends the Public Works and Economic Development Act to create predevelopment grants for eligible recipients for:

• planning and community asset mapping;
• training;
• technical assistance and organizational development;
• feasibility and market studies;
• demonstration projects;
• organizational capacity building;
• organizing and facilitating convenings; and
• other predevelopment activities determined by the Secretary to be appropriate.

The Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 established the Economic Development Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce to provide grants to economically distressed communities to support employment and industrial and commercial growth and requires reauthorization by Congress.

Full bill text is available here.

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