U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker redesignated 12 cities as manufacturing communities until 2018. The cities initially earned the designation through the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership in 2014.
To achieve the original designation, communities had to identify an existing manufacturing industry in their area and then create strategies to invest in six areas: workforce and training, research and innovation, infrastructure and site development, supply chain support, trade and international investment, and operational improvement and capital access.
President Barack Obama's administration launched the IMCP initiative in 2013 to stimulate manufacturing across the nation by helping communities work on various industry-related projects. The U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration has invested almost $23 million in 49 IMCP projects from applicants across 26 states.
"These IMCP-designated communities are doing their part to develop comprehensive strategies to strengthen the local manufacturing sector and to attract business investment that makes our nation more globally competitive," said Secretary Pritzker.
Here is a list of the 12 redesignated manufacturing communities.
- Southwest Alabama, led by the University of South Alabama
- Southern California, led by the University of Southern California Center for Economic Development
- Northwest Georgia, led by the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission
- The Chicago metro region, led by the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development
- South Kansas, led by Wichita State University
- Greater Portland region in Maine, led by the Greater Portland Council of Governments
- Southeastern Michigan, led by the Wayne County Economic Development Growth Engine
- The New York Finger Lakes region, led by the City of Rochester
- Southwestern Ohio Aerospace Region, led by the City of Cincinnati
- The Tennessee Valley, led by the University of Tennessee
- The Washington Puget Sound region, led by the Washington Department of Commerce
- The Milwaukee 7 region, led by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee
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