When
President Lyndon Johnson spoke about creating a “Great Society” – laying the
groundwork for the creation of EDA – he called on our country to “create new
concepts of cooperation, a creative federalism, between the National Capital
and the leaders of local communities.”
No
agency within the federal government better embodies this notion than EDA.
At
EDA, we have been supporting economically
distressed communities for more than 50 years. While EDA does not invest directly
in businesses, the agency works closely with local economic development
officials to support competitive, bottom up, regionally-owned development
strategies focused on stimulating private investment and creating new jobs.
At EDA, we
understand that some communities need help developing a plan and figuring out
where to start their efforts. Others need critical infrastructure that will
allow businesses to locate or expand operations. It’s a continuum, and EDA
helps communities at every point along the way.
We believe
economic development is a more inclusive, comprehensive and sustainable
approach that often results in economic growth, and is much more valuable and
impactful.
It’s like the old
Chinese Proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to
fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Today, businesses have added 15.5 million jobs since early 2010 and the
unemployment rate has ticked down to 4.9 percent.
We are proud of the work we have done – and the work that our community
partners are doing - to move the economy forward across the country. We are
particularly pleased with the improvements we have made to increase federal
collaboration to better serve communities.
President Obama
believes that to continue to make progress, we must continue to work together.
I joined the Obama
administration in 2012 and have served as Assistant Secretary since 2014. It
has been the honor of a lifetime to serve our great nation!
Jay
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