Oklahoma

During Fiscal Year 2013, EDA invested $2,065,180 in seven projects in the State of Oklahoma. These projects are expected to create or retain 610 jobs, according to grantee estimates. EDA’s investments help Oklahoma communities achieve bottom-up, locally-defined economic development goals and strategies.

EDA offers a complementary, balanced portfolio of grant programs designed to help rural and urban communities grow their private sectors and create jobs.

Investment Spotlight: Delaware Nation Green Technology Center

The Delaware Nation Economic Development Authority focuses on three “P’s”: people, progress, and planet.  True to its mission, when pursuing business opportunities that would spur job growth and increased prosperity, the Delaware Nation endeavored to create a project with high economic impact and low environmental impact.

Shuttered for more than a decade, a dilapidated former carpet mill facility provided just such as opportunity. In September 2013, EDA awarded $950,000 to the Delaware Nation of Anadarko, Oklahoma to renovate the former mill to create the Green Technology Center. The EDA investment includes the installation of energy efficient technology and the rehabilitation of an adjoining rail spur, which will lessen the facility’s reliance on trucking.

The new center, which is strategically located near highway and rail access, will support numerous manufacturing businesses, including a tribally-owned lighting company that will be the building’s first occupant. The GreenTech Center is expected to help create 150 jobs, according to grantee estimates.  The manufacturing businesses seeking to locate at the Center will increase the number of higher-skill, higher-wage job opportunities in Anadarko, a community still recovering from the loss of 300 carpet manufacturing jobs, improving quality of life throughout the region.