Press Release

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to Help U.S. EDA Evaluate and Improve Performance Standards

September 30, 2011
Contact: John Atwood, (202) 482-4085

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration (EDA) today announced a $335,000 grant to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to assist the agency in improving its methods and measures to for program evaluation.

"This EDA investment is an important component of EDA's efforts to continually improve measures and methods for evaluating our performance," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development John Fernandez. "The project will build on the agency's on-going efforts to evaluate the impact of our activities, programs, and investments."

The study will build on the Agency's existing body of research, and will inform the refinement of performance and outcome measures, data collection processes, and forecasting and validation methods.

The grant is being made under EDA's Research and National Technical Assistance program, which fund research and technical assistance projects to promote competitiveness and innovation in distressed rural and urban regions throughout the United States and its territories.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov):

The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.