Out of hundreds of applicants to the
bipartisan Tech Hubs program, 12 Tech Hubs to receive
implementation grants totaling $504
million
America
Achieves calls for additional appropriations,
already authorized by Congress with bipartisan support, to
meet local demand for Tech Hubs nationwide
NEW
YORK, July 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- America Achieves congratulates the 12
regions winning Tech Hub implementation grants today. We are proud
to have provided in-depth technical assistance to 6 of these 12
Tech Hubs.
The Biden-Harris Administration announced grants
today through the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic
Development Administration (EDA). This program was enabled by
Congress' bipartisan $10 billion
authorization of the Tech Hubs program as part of the CHIPS and
Science Act in 2022 and an initial down payment of just over
$500 million in
appropriations.
America Achieves is calling on
Congress to appropriate an additional $2
billion this year – 20% of bipartisan authorization levels –
to fully fund all 31 of the designated Tech Hubs and enable a
second funding competition. Further appropriations would put
Americans to work in hundreds of thousands of good jobs that grow
local industries of the future and strengthen U.S. competitiveness
and national security.
"In rapidly changing local economies, communities across America
are investing in local businesses, good jobs, and quality training
for their residents to solve problems, grow the economy, and
advance national security and competitiveness," said America
Achieves CEO Jon Schnur. "Today's
announcement – funded by the bipartisan Tech Hubs program –
responds to surging local interest and leadership aiming to build
vibrant Tech Hubs and a 'Good Jobs Economy' that creates new, good
jobs and ensures that local residents have fair access to good
jobs."
Nearly 400 local coalitions submitted applications in the first
round of the Tech Hubs competition last year. Of those applicants,
31 became designated Tech Hubs in October
2023. Today's announcement provided a total of $504 million in funding to 12 of these Tech Hub
designees. America Achieves also
celebrates the incredible work of the 31 designated Tech Hubs that
are poised to help communities compete globally, drive economic
growth locally, and create good jobs; the EDA announced that all of
them will receive significant benefits, regardless of whether they
received federal funding this round.
The regions supported by America
Achieves in their applications and receiving funds today
include: The Tulsa Hub for Equitable & Trustworthy Autonomy
(THETA) (Oklahoma); Headwaters
Hub (Montana); the South
Florida Climate Resilience Tech Hub; the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech
Hub; and the Nevada Tech Hub.
After working closely with these coalitions, America Achieves feels confident that the Tech
Hubs grantees will deliver on their potential by using funds
effectively and creating Good Jobs Economies in their communities –
growing a local economy that equips local residents with the
skills, pathways, and support to get and keep good jobs that
deliver on the Tech Hub promise.
"America Achieves was a trusted
partner supporting our hub throughout this process,'' said
Wendy Harris, Regional Innovation
Officer of the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub. "From their expertise
in workforce and economic development to their hands-on assistance
with our application, they helped us lay the foundation for the
Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub and our work to come."
"Making Tulsa's Tech Hub a reality was no small feat," said
Jennifer Hankins, managing director
of Tulsa Innovation Labs, which led Tulsa's Tech Hubs strategy, "and required
contributions from partners across the country. America Achieves brought invaluable expertise
and capacity to our team and was integral to developing a proposal
that ultimately resulted in a historic investment to secure
Tulsa's economic future."
A clear pathway toward fully funding the Tech Hubs program is
essential to sustain the momentum that local leaders around the
country have generated. In 2022, Congress provided bipartisan
authorization for $10 billion to
support the Tech Hub funding competition created by the CHIPS and
Science Act and the Department of Commerce. To date, Congress
has appropriated $541 million – just
5% – of this funding. This funding, while significant, is a first
step that has only supported 3% of this first round of Tech Hubs
applications. To fulfill the potential of this program and build
Tech Hubs that create good jobs across the country, Congress must
build on this down payment and appropriate the full amount
authorized.
About Some of the Regions Supported by America Achieves
- The Tulsa Hub for Equitable & Trustworthy Autonomy
(THETA) will transform the Tulsa,
OK region into a globally competitive hub for the
development, testing, manufacturing, and deployment of cyber-secure
autonomous systems, such as drones. Tech Hubs funding will create
up to 56,000 new jobs, with half these jobs going to Tulsans who
have been historically underrepresented and excluded from the
benefits of regional economic growth. THETA will build on
Tulsa's legacy of aerospace
manufacturing, significant investments in the local drone industry
and nationally unique testing facilities to build the Tulsa Tech
Hub. In addition, THETA includes partnerships with Tribal nations
and Black Tech Street to meaningfully engage underrepresented
communities in advanced technologies and expand economic
opportunity to these communities.
- The Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub aims to draw on Wisconsin's storied manufacturing history to
position the state as a global leader in personalized medicine, an
emerging healthcare approach that tailors tests, treatments, and
therapies informed by a patient's unique genetic code, medical
record, and environment.
- Headwaters Hub seeks to establish Montana as a global leader in the development
and production of "smart photonic sensors'' – primarily optical and
laser technologies – and ways that local businesses and workers can
ensure cutting-edge technology, in combination with artificial
intelligence and machine learning, can be applied to self-driving
vehicles, emissions tracking, and farm and wildfire management,
among other applications. Montana's proposal centers rural and tribal
communities and seeks to ensure that these communities help lead
Hub projects and share in their expected benefits, particularly
with regard to job creation.
- The South Florida Climate Resilience Tech Hub – a
consortium led by Miami-Dade County – will advance gains that the
region has already been making in sustainable climate technology
and filling local jobs engaged in high tech efforts.
- The Nevada Tech Hub will put local residents to work by
drawing on the region's rich sources of lithium and materials
needed for electrification, to further establish the state as an
international hub for the processing and recycling of
self-sustaining batteries that can power electrical vehicles, among
other uses.
About America Achieves
America Achieves is a
nonprofit organization that partners with local communities to
support a blend of economic growth and economic mobility – creating
Good Jobs Economies that create good jobs in high-growth sectors
and ensuring that participation in those jobs much more closely
reflects the diversity of local communities than it does today. For
more than a decade, America Achieves
has incubated high-performing initiatives, launched new nonprofit
organizations, and partnered with local leaders focused on making
their communities better places to live, learn, work, and raise a
family. In recent years, our nonprofit organization has helped
design, shape, and secure federal funding for a series of new
programs and policies supporting place-based economic and workforce
development. America Achieves helped
regional coalitions that applied for this funding, with a combined
success rate more than four times greater than the national
average.
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SOURCE America Achieves