PVPC Releases Economic Development Strategy
SPRINGFIELD — The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) recently released its 2016 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) annual update, as part of its larger Plan for Progress, a 10-year blueprint for economic development in the region.
The CEDS features a description of regional economic development conditions and sets forth goals and objectives for the future, as well as a list of projects seeking the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) Public Works funding in the next year.
The report highlights the region’s continued decrease in unemployment, an improved workforce talent pipeline, and increased early education enrollment and high school and community college graduation rates, among others, as metrics illustrating the overall progress being made.
The CEDS also lists many major committed projects of regional significance such as the Center for Hospitality and Culinary Excellence at Holyoke Community College, the Springfield Innovation Center, CRRC Subway Car Manufacturing Plant, and the Aviation Research and Training Center – a collaboration between UMass Amherst and Westover Air Reserve Base.
A full digital copy of the 2016 CEDS is available on the PVPC website: www.pvpc.org. Hard copies are also available upon request.
The PVPC, which administers this process, has been the EDA-designated regional planning agency for the Pioneer Valley region since 1999, which includes 43 cities and towns comprising the Hampshire and Hampden county areas in western Massachusetts.
