Economic
Development
Department for Community Planning (DCP) staff includes economic development professionals with years of training and experience in all aspects of economic development on both the local and regional levels. As BGADD staff members, they can efficiently coordinate efforts between local governments and State and Federal agencies to attain grant funding to leverage conventional and secondary market financing. They assist both private business and government entities in research, development, and presentation of economic development analysis and strategies. In addition, BGADD economic development specialists serve as directors of Economic Development Authorities (EDA) across the region, assisting local EDA members in ongoing economic development planning and marketing for their communities. Other available services include brownfield remediation and redevelopment, entrepreneurship and small-business assistance, and industrial park planning and development.
About the Economic Development
Advisory Council
The Bluegrass Economic Development Advisory Council (BEDAC) is made up of regional economic development stakeholders, including County Economic and Industrial Development Authority Directors, Chambers of Commerce, and representatives of various industries from around the region. The committee meets quarterly to discuss future industrial and economic development in the region, to collaborate to solve challenges and barriers to growth that member communities are collectively facing, and to review grant funding applications related to economic development that have been submitted around the region.
The Council also serves as the primary set of stakeholders to assist BGADD staff with the region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, also known as the “CEDS Plan.” The plan is updated annually and is rewritten every five years.