Mobile Chamber Foundation Is A Finalist For Federal Program

The White House has announced that the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation, in collaboration with the Gulf Coast Chambers Network (GCCN), was selected as a finalist in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program. Recompete, which the Mobile Chamber calls “highly selective,” had 560 applications from communities across the country where prime-age (25-54) employment is significantly lower than the national average. The goal of the program is to provide grant funding to persistently distressed communities to create and connect workers to good jobs. The foundation/GCCN is one of 22 communities selected as a finalist, opening a path to apply for phase two of the program, which would provide an investment of $20-50 million in network communities. In addition, the foundation/GCCN was awarded a Strategy Development Grant that allows the foundation to lead the coalition through a yearlong project to build teams, complete workforce studies and develop strategies to prepare the GCCN communities for such a large investment. GCCN is to work diligently in this endeavor to boost an application for Recompete phase two funding.