Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) today announced that the Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded $300,000 to the Nevada System of Higher Education in Reno to fund a response to the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
“These funds will go to help Nevada businesses respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing technology, training, and research to retrain workers, adapt business plans, and develop new ventures. I’ll keep pushing in the Senate for the tools and approaches that will revitalize Nevada’s economy in the wake of this crisis.”
BACKGROUND:
Cortez Masto voted for the CARES Act, which provided EDA with $1.5 billion for economic development assistance programs to help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. The program provides rural and urban communities support for local and regional economic development. The goal of the program is to spur job creation, leverage private capital investments, and strengthen America’s ability to compete in a global marketplace. In June, Senator Cortez Masto called on Congressional leadership to include additional EDA funding in the future legislation responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
EDA supplemental awards to university centers require the universities to implement one or more scope of work activities that have been pre-approved by EDA: (1) providing technical assistance to entrepreneurs, businesses, and communities to assist in economic recovery efforts, (2) assisting with solutions to move courses to an on-line platform to support the business and entrepreneurial community, (3) supporting technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, product development and manufacturing aimed at the prevention of, preparation for, or response to the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, (4) conducting, sharing and disseminating applied research to address challenges resulting from the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, and (5) assisting communities in identifying and supporting workforce talent through workforce training and other professional development programs.
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