WASHINGTON – Today (Wednesday), U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding $4.2 million in CARES Act Recovery Assistance grants to 11 EDA Economic Development District organizations across Iowa to update economic development plans and fortify programs to assist communities in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

The EDA investments announced today (Wednesday) include, in this area:

•  Region XII Council of Governments, Carroll, Iowa, will receive a $400,000 EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to respond to the coronavirus pandemic by implementing response strategies and fostering community and business recovery and resiliency efforts.
• Southwest Iowa Planning Council, Atlantic, Iowa, will receive a $400,000 EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to respond to the coronavirus pandemic by providing technical assistance to communities and businesses.
• Southern Iowa Council of Governments (SICOG), Creston, Iowa, will receive a $390,945 EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to respond to the coronavirus pandemic by taking a multi-level approach towards the recovery of their eight-county service area. SICOG will use this EDA grant to coordinate with local development corporations and chambers of commerce to diversify and expand the region’s manufacturing sector; hire additional staff; and help restore the retail and service sectors.

Those entities, all EDA-designated Economic Development Districts (EDD), are some of the more than 850 existing, high-performing EDA EDD, University Center, Tribal, and Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) grant recipients invited to apply for supplemental funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The CARES Act, signed into law by President Donald J. Trump, provides EDA with $1.5 billion for economic development assistance programs to help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic.