Your Community May Benefit from the New Recompete Pilot Program

September 7, 2023

Residents in rural and economically distressed communities have been vocal about the need for federal funding that is flexible enough for local leaders to design solutions that match what is going on in their communities. Last year, a program was designed and passed to do this, and the first round of applications are now open. Unlike any other funding currently available from the federal government, the Recompete Pilot Program aims to get at the root causes of struggling communities and help them turn their economies around. 

What is the Recompete Pilot Program

The Recompete Pilot Program passed as a part of the CHIPS and Science Act. It’s a new program at the Economic Development Administration (EDA) that would provide planning grants to distressed local communities and labor markets. The funds would be targeted towards communities where the prime age (25-54 years) employment rates are significantly lower than the national average. This program is now being launched and the first round of applications are due on October 5th, 2023. A second round of funding will become available later to carry out these plans.

Potential for the Recompete Pilot Program in Appalachia

As shared in this ReImagine Appalachia blog post, the focus on prime-age employment rates is based on research by the Upjohn Institute’s Tim Bartik on placed-based economic development and persistently distressed communities. The prime-age employment rate is a key proxy for economic health. Investment in business assistance and economic development that raise the employment rate can stimulate revitalization. Economic development investments can include investing in root causes of under-employment like access to childcare and affordable housing, Based on Dr. Bartik’s estimates in a recent Brookings Institution report, a fully funded Recompete program could generate about $40 billion per year in revenue once fully in effect and increase the national employment rate by 1.1%. If you assume that this would increase GDP and tax revenue by the same 1.1%, the bill will pay for itself.

The benefits of the RECOMPETE Act to Appalachia are significant – check out the below chart that breaks down the jobs estimated from creation of the RECOMPETE pilot program.

Potential cuts to funding – take action!

Continued funding of $200 million to continue the program into FY 2024 is essential, but neither the House Commerce appropriations bill nor the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science include any funding for the program. It is important that new programs for under-resourced communities have consistent and stable funding – you can use this link below to quickly contact your Senators.

Learning more about applying –

first round application is due on October 5th, 2023

The first phase of this pilot program is a Strategy Development Planning Grant between $250,000 and $500,000 each. This is the application that is due on October 5. What does a planning grant consist of? The idea is to develop strategies to get feedback from the unemployed folks in your geography on what they need to be employed, get back on their feet – and, for our communities, develop more local economic prosperity. This could be a doorknocking program, community meetings, working with nonprofits to determine the best approach. This will also include what is called “desk research” such as analyzing unemployment and job statistical data in your community. 

Once that planning has been done, you may be invited to apply for $20m to $50m of funding to incorporate the findings into your economic and community development work. There will be 4 to 8 implementation grants nationally. In the Phase 2, investments can support a wide range of implementation activities across workforce development, business and entrepreneur development, infrastructure, and additional planning, predevelopment, or technical assistance. You can also use the planning you do in Phase 1 to apply for other sources of funding that relate to the strategy you develop.

Who Can Apply

Most organizations that are not for profit are eligible to apply for this funding. Each application needs to have a letter of support from a unit of government below the state level – city councils, and county commissions are the most common, or these units of government can apply, themselves. Economic Development Districts are also eligible to apply. Organizations must fall in, or serve, an area indicated on this eligibility map which is specific to this program.

Application Process

Those who would like to apply for the Recompete Pilot Program Strategy Development Grant, due October 5th, need to do so through the Economic Development Administration’s Economic Development Grants Experience (EDGE). Applicants should set up their account in this system as soon as possible to get the application pieces, optional templates, and additional resources from the Economic Development Administration.

The application consists of these pieces:

---

1. A standard federal application form which gathers information about your organization (Form SF-424)
2. Letters of support from groups and organizations in your community
3. A 5-page project description
4. A standard federal application budget form
5. A narrative of the budget which explains each item in the budget (Form SF-424A)

Several additional pieces of paperwork relate to the applicant’s ability to receive federal funding:

1. A certification regarding lobbying
2. A disclosure of lobbying activities
3. Documentation of your indirect cost rate, if this applies to your organization
4. Documentation of intergovernmental review (only applies to some states).

The Economic Development Administration recently had a webinar on this topic – there are resources to give you more context and information. You can find the recording here and the slides here.