CEDS Plan

What is a CEDS Plan?

The Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Plan is a summary of the economic conditions of the region. It also contains a list of projects identified and prioritized by each ECIRPD county.

As a regional planning district, ECIRPD is required to complete a CEDS Plan for the four county region every five years. This plan is then updated annually to reflect project process and the changing needs of the region.

>>Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, (CEDS) Plan 2018-2022

Submit Comments/Projects/Additions to the 2018-2022 CEDS Plan by emailing [email protected] or use the form below.

EDA Funding Priorities

The focus of the CEDS process is to identify projects that would qualify for funding from the Economic Development Administration (EDA). Having such projects in our CEDS Plan gives the region the potential to attract millions of dollars from the EDA that would otherwise be invested in other regions and/or states.

Therefor, when considering what projects to include in the CEDS Plan, it is important to understand the EDA’s funding priorities.

Funding Priorities from the EDA’s Perspective

When considering funding for CEDS Plans, the EDA may allocate more funds to the region when one or more of the following proposals are included (or packaged together) within the plan.

CEDS Presentation

During the ECI Regional Planning District meeting on Tuesday, February 13th, 2024, Geoff Schomacker— Associate Director for Strategic Development at Ball State, Annie Cruz-Porter—a community and regional development specialist at the Purdue Center for Regional Development, and Brian Long—Executive Director of the Indiana Association of Regional Councils, focused on filing for ECIRPD to become an economic development district (EDD), aiming to facilitate locally-driven economic planning and collaboration. The proposed plan seeks to address economic distress criteria, including low per capita income and above-average unemployment rates. In order to become an EDD, ECIRPD has to have an EDA-approved CEDS plan.

You can find the presentation that they lead here: ECIRPD Feb 13 2024 – CEDS Presentation

• Proposals that enhance regional competitiveness and support long-term development of the regional economy, for example:
  • Upgrade core business infrastructure
    • Transportation infrastructure
    • Communications infrastructure
    • Specialized training program infrastructure
  • Reflect and implement a regional strategy that involves all stakeholders
    • Support regional benchmarking initiatives
    • Encourage a common vision and collaboration among firms, universities, and training centers to implement a regional strategy
    • Reflect strong leadership committed to regional economic development
    • Encourage a formal organization structure and process for working on economic issues and maintaining a consensus
  • Encourage Cluster Development
    • Establish research and industrial parks that encourage innovation-based competition
    • Implement cluster-focused and innovation-focused business development efforts
• Proposals to help communities plan and implement economic adjustment strategies in response to sudden and severe economic dislocations (e.g., major lay-offs and/or plant closures, trade impacts, defense restructuring, or disasters).
• Proposals that support technology economic development; for example, proposals that:
  • Reflect the important role of research and development capacity of universities in regional economic development; and
  • Create and support technology transfer.
• Proposals that advance community-based and faith-based social entrepreneurship in redevelopment strategies for areas of chronic economic distress. Brownfield sites and eco-industrial development.

Get Involved!

ECIRPD greatly values the opinions of the communities it serves. In order to identify the key issues and projects important to the communities of East Central Indiana, we rely on citizen and local government input. We want to know what issues affect your society and any projects you believe it could benefit from.

If you believe you have an idea for a project that could improve your community or have an issue you would like to inform us of, please use the form below to share your ideas.