The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) has completed the DRAFT Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Report.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) describes a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) as “a strategy-driven plan for regional economic development.”  Essentially a CEDS brings together the public and private sectors to develop a regionally-owned plan to build capacity and guide the economic prosperity and resiliency of a region. Ideally, the process of developing a CEDS will result in individuals, organizations, local governments, institutes of learning, and private industry engaging in meaningful conversation, working together to plan and prioritize investments in a manner that best serves the economic development interests across a region. In a practical capacity, a CEDS enables localities to qualify for EDA assistance under its Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance programs and is a prerequisite for designation by the EDA as an Economic Development District (EDD).

The Hampton Roads CEDS was prepared by HRPDC staff in collaboration with the Hampton Roads Alliance, Re-Invent Hampton Roads and Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. This CEDS was developed with input and assistance from many individuals and organizations across the region, and builds on over a decade of extensive regional economic development planning work that has been conducted in Hampton Roads, most notably the 757 Recovery & Resilience Action Framework.

The maintenance of the CEDS is an on-going process, as the Economic Development Administration requires that a CEDS Annual Performance Report be submitted each year and that the CEDS be revised and updated every 5 years.  

Click here to view a copy of the draft Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. 

All interested parties are encouraged to review the draft report and send comments to Mr. Greg Grootendorst at ggrootendorst@hrpdcva.gov or by mail to 723 Woodlake Drive, Chesapeake, Virginia 23320. The deadline for comments on this draft report is February 28, 2022.