Written by: Mark Linton

I am pleased to announce that HUD has selected a consortium that includes Enterprise Community Partners, Public Financial Management (PFM), HR&A Advisors, Inc., NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and the International City/County Management Association, Inc., to run and operate theStrong Cities, Strong Communities National Resource Network (SC2 Network).  The SC2 Network, funded with HUD technical assistance resources, will provide communities with targeted technical assistance to help support locally identified priorities for economic growth and job creation. The recent economic recession left many communities throughout the country struggling with ways in which to become economically competitive again.  Through the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative, this administration has been partnering with cities that have been suffering from disinvestment and a wide range of socio-economic factors to become more economically viable and help create jobs. Just last week, the Administration released the first SC2 Annual Report, which details the accomplishments of the initiative, to date.  The report highlights that many of these communities are coming back and stronger than ever, and their economic resurgence is being led by policies that encourage sharing information, best practices, experiences, and resources with other cities and regions. Learning from those experiences, through SC2, HUD has been working to create a SC2 Network which will serve as a “one-stop” shop for economically distressed communities to access a wide array of short-term technical assistance. The goals of the SC2 Network are to:

• Provide a single portal for economically distressed communities to access a wide array of short-term technical assistance (both operational and programmatic);
• Develop a one-stop clearinghouse of federal, state, and local technical assistance programs that will be used to directly connect distressed communities to programs that are tailored to address their economic challenges;
• Deliver more intensive technical assistance to a limited number of economically distressed communities to support local priorities, such as improving the municipality’s credit rating, developing an economic development strategy, or updating workforce strategies to support small business development;
• Disseminate best practices, innovative solutions, and policy lessons across a range of organizations and decision-makers that can help shape or inform economic development, strategic planning, and program efforts; and
• Establish local resource networks and new public-private partnerships that will bring together cross-sector leadership and leverage existing community assets to help strengthen communities.

We look forward to working with the SC2 Network winning consortium to provide assistance to communities and cities throughout the country; and fostering a spirit of cooperation and sharing that helps improve local economic competitiveness and bring jobs and make a positive, long lasting impact in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.