UT CIS Receives EDA CARES Act Funding

The University of Tennessee’s EDA University Center (UTUC) program has received $300,000 in additional funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) under the “CARES Act” Recovery Assistance initiative. The UTUC is operated by UT CIS to leverage the resources of the UT system to build economic competitiveness across Tennessee.  EDA CARES funding will be used in three priority areas:

• Connecting economically distressed and at-risk communities to UT system-wide resources to help;
• Working with local, regional and state economic development organizations throughout Tennessee to connect business and industry to university resources to help them alleviate impacts from the pandemic, improve resiliency and strengthen supply chains; and
• Expanding and adapting economic development training offerings to address topics relevant to the economic impacts of the pandemic and improve accessibility by developing an online platform to deliver courses.

According to CIS Economic Development Director Beth Phillips, UT CIS will be reaching out to communities across the state in the coming months to identify needs and connect them to University resources to help address impacts from the Pandemic.  Assistance could include integrating resiliency into economic development plans, providing support to business and industry to expand market opportunities and enhance competitiveness, conducting research and feasibility studies, and other types of university-based support.  Finally, Phillips said the additional funding will allow for the development of new content for the “Tennessee Certified Economic Developer” program along with the platform to deliver it virtually.