Join us for a discussion on innovative strategies to build, attract, and retain talent in rural communities. Whether you’re a state economic development executive, policy director, program manager, or regional development specialist, this webinar will provide you with strategic frameworks and practical approaches to enhance your state’s rural workforce initiatives. Join us on September 30th at 3:00 PM ET!

SEDE Steering Committee Member Spotlight: Kevin McKinnon, Deputy Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

Kevin McKinnon has been Deputy Commissioner of Economic Development at DEED since 2014 and has worked in economic development since 2001. He joined DEED’s Business and Community Development division as director of business development in 2006 and was named executive director of the division in 2012. Deputy Commissioner McKinnon oversees DEED’s Business Development, Business Finance, and Community Finance departments, as well as the Minnesota Trade Office and the Office of Broadband Development. Prior to serving at DEED, Kevin was president of the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corp., executive vice president of economic development for the River Heights Chamber of Commerce, and a senior economic development analyst for the city of Colorado Springs. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

Executive Order Governing Federal Grantmaking (NADO) On August 7, 2025, an Executive Order titled “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking” was signed, which directs federal agencies to strengthen oversight over the discretionary grant process. Under the order, there are some structural shifts that could impact the grantmaking process, including: an effort to streamline the grant application process; a focus on making awards to a broad range of recipients and discouraging awards to repeat recipients; a move to centralize control under senior political appointees; and an emphasis on the potential for an award to be terminated if it is deemed to no longer be in alignment with agency priorities. Potential impacts to grantees include simplified applications, restricted project types, termination risk, range of recipients, compliance burden, and more. Some have noted that there is potential for delays in the grantmaking process due to these impacts and changes in the review process.

Good Jobs Economy Launches State-Level Partnerships (America Achieves) The national nonprofit organization America Achieves launched Good Jobs Economy partnerships to work alongside governors, states and local regions to connect residents to good jobs while helping employers access skilled talent. The goal is to help hundreds of thousands of Americans reach and stay in the middle class by accessing good jobs and advancing their careers. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, Incoming National Governors Association (NGA) chair, and Maryland Governor Wes Moore, NGA’s Vice Chair, announced that Oklahoma and Maryland will be the first states to work with Good Jobs Economy to scale effective programs and modernize talent systems — and prepare to make effective use of newly enacted Workforce Pell Grant funding. As part of this effort, Oklahoma is launching a Good Jobs Fund with an initial commitment of $19 million to identify, develop and grow successful programs in Oklahoma. Maryland’s strategy includes building a revolving workforce fund to support low-cost nursing pathways, a statewide strategy for high school career counseling, employer connections for underrepresented tech talent, and improving high school career counseling.

*Economy 💰*

Can Regionally Oriented Innovation Policies Strengthen National Competitiveness? (SSTI) As policymakers consider how to invest limited tax dollars to stimulate R&D, it’s important to examine whether newer regional policy approaches have the potential to increase national competitiveness versus traditional individual programs. A recent NBER working paper may help answer these questions by examining the spatial distribution of innovation. The authors find that when firms expand their R&D operations into new geographical markets, it leads to increased knowledge spillovers to other firms in those areas. Based on these findings, the authors suggest policymakers should consider implementing strategies that encourage the spatial expansion of innovative firms.

How Does the BLS Gather Data? What to Know (NBC News) With recent shifts in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is important to understand how the BLS collects data for the monthly jobs report. The process for preparing the report, formally known as the “Employment Situation Summary,” starts with a survey of American Households. The Current Population Survey goes out to about 60,000 households across the country, including about 2,000 trained employees interviewing people. The sample of households surveyed changes periodically and no household is surveyed more than four months in a row. The BLS also conducts a survey of government agencies and businesses, asking them for information about their workforce, hours worked and earnings data from their payroll records. Once data is gathered, it is prepared and formatted for the monthly jobs report. Revisions are common as additional information becomes available, or corrections are made.

How a New EDA Disaster Grant is Pursuing Regional Industry Transformation (The Brookings Institution) The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced a new $1.5 billion Disaster Supplemental Grant Program (DSGP) for local communities hit by natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. The EDA has a long legacy of supporting disaster recovery, often through funding individual construction projects and other economic development programs. This year’s DSGP marks a notable evolution for the agency: the inclusion of an “Industry Transformation Path” that can provide regions with up to $50 million to invest in a strategic industry opportunity. This round of disaster supplemental grants acknowledges that the adverse effects of almost any disaster are compounded by existing distress and disinvestment, and that federally backed investments in economic development and capacity-building are critical for long-term regional growth and resiliency. Ahead of the March 3, 2026 application deadline for Industry Transformation grants, regions impacted by major disasters should act now to engage private sector partners, public officials, economic and workforce development practitioners, and community organizations around a cohesive theory of change for their regional economy.

*Trade 📈*

Tracking New Tariffs on Every Country (The New York Times) New tariffs took effect for roughly 90 countries on August 7. The new rates were enacted through a series of executive orders, some of which reflect trade deals struck recently with countries that offered favorable concessions to the United States. One executive order extended the trade truce between the U.S. and China for another 90 days, as talks toward a deal continue. Some of the highest new rates apply to imports from Brazil, which are subject to a tariff of 50%. Several of the tariffs target specific products or industries globally, using a provision of federal law meant to help the president address trade issues that present national security threats. The latest targeted copper imports. The article contains an updated tracker on the tariffs and details for each country.

What Comes After the Trade War (Council on Foreign Relations) The global trading system as it once existed is no longer viable, with major economies like the United States and China increasingly following divergent rules and strategies. As a return to the status quo seems unlikely, a new international economic order must acknowledge this shift and adapt accordingly. The path forward may lie in the formation of flexible coalitions of like-minded countries coming together to define a set of rules that reflect new realities There may be value in bringing together countries to adopt common views about controlling the export of key technologies, developing secure supply chains, establishing principles for the use of industrial policy and state subsidies, and coordinating competition with China. This new framework may pull countries together to set the rules of the road for artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies or for the digital economy more generally. Although rising protectionism and de-integration could slow global growth and impact exports, this pragmatic approach could help manage economic relations in a fragmented geopolitical landscape and reflect the interdependence that defines today’s global economy.

*Industry Trends 💡*

A Time to Act: Policies to Strengthen the U.S. Robotics Industry (ITIF) Robotics is emerging as a critical “general-purpose” technology vital to boosting productivity and sustaining economic competitiveness, but the United States now lags behind in both robotics adoption and production, with most industrial robots produced abroad and robot density per manufacturing worker trailing nations like South Korea, Germany, Japan, and China. Despite strong innovation in robotics research, the U.S. lacks domestic industrial-scale production and supportive national policies, causing it to underutilize robotics and fall behind global peers. To address this, the report outlines low‑cost policy actions, such as incentives, regulatory reforms, and strategic support, that Congress can implement to spur U.S. robotics innovation and deployment, thereby enhancing both economic productivity and national security.

Mapping Kentucky’s Innovation Economy (Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation) The Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC) completed a project that is the first comprehensive mapping of patent activity and inventor demographics across the state, covering over 10,000 inventors and nearly 18,500 patents filed from 2021 to 2024. What sets this effort apart is the depth of data by linking inventors’ age, gender, education (including degrees and institutions), field of study, location, and employment history. This identified not only where innovation is happening, but just as critically, where people were not engaging with intellectual property and its economic benefits. These findings are shown on a public-facing, interactive dashboard that lets users explore the data by geography, sector, gender, age, and more.

What Constitutes Manufacturing Success? (The Brookings Institution) What constitutes success in manufacturing and how should people assess policy efforts? The article outlines a comprehensive framework for evaluating manufacturing progress, arguing that success should be assessed using multiple metrics, such as boosts in U.S. production jobs, manufacturing output, labor productivity, trade balances, foreign investment, domestic sourcing of components, currency fluctuations, and tariff revenues. One of the most clearcut criteria for judging the success of manufacturing initiatives will be the proportion of Americans employed in manufacturing. The number of American employed by manufacturing has greatly decreased since 2000. Between the advances in technology and the business incentives to use robots and AI to cut costs and increase profitability, it may be challenging to increase the number of jobs. Meanwhile, policy tools like tariffs, trade agreements, trade policy, and foreign investment play complex roles, and their impacts require close monitoring.

*Workforce ⚒️*

Ozarks Tech Opens New Training Center to Power Missouri’s Workforce (KYTV Springfield, MO) A new facility dedicated to workforce development in high-demand fields that power and feed Missouri communities opened at Ozarks Technical Community College’s Richwood Valley Campus in Ozark. The new $5 million, 19,600-square-foot Technical Training Center was made possible through multiple sources. The State of Missouri contributed $2.5 million through the MoExcel program, the Economic Development Administration contributed more than $1.7 million, and the remaining funds came from college sources. The TTC will serve as the primary training site for Ozarks Tech’s agriculture and electrical distribution systems programs, two career pathways vital to Missouri’s economic infrastructure. The agriculture program enrolls over 200 students annually and the electrical distribution systems program reported 100% job placement for 2024 graduates with starting salaries of $60,000+.

$12M in Funding for Workforce Development in Minnesota (ABC News) The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced $12 million will go towards new workforce development programs for Minnesotans. It is part of the State Drive for 5 program which provides competitive grants to provide workforce training and job placement in five high growth industries: caring professions, education, manufacturing, technology, and trades. Drive for 5 was launched in 2023 to expand workforce training in occupational groups where there is high demand for employees and a pathway to careers with family-sustaining wages. The grant round is comprised of two programs: the first is Industry Sector Training for partners that provide workforce development services, and the second is for Job Placement Services with employers that are currently hiring or anticipate near future employment opportunities in the program’s five targeted sectors. So far, initial grantees have enrolled approximately 800 Minnesotans in training programs.

Western Nevada College Received $600K for Lithium Recycling Workforce Training Hub (KRNV Reno) A local college in Northern Nevada is one of three schools in the state to receive funding from the state to expand certain workforces. Western Nevada College (WNC) will soon establish a workforce training hub thanks to a $599,999 award from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The training hub will create a local workforce for what industry leaders call the ‘lithium loop’, which refers to the mining and production of lithium locally in Northern Nevada, and then the recycling of those lithium devices once they’re made. The recycling stage is where this new workforce is needed to essentially close the lithium loop. The funding comes as Career Technical Education (CTE) schools increase in popularity in Nevada and across the country, with about 51% of Nevada jobs requiring a level of education above a high school diploma but below a bachelor’s degree. The other two Nevada schools that received funding are Great Basin College, which got more than $500,000 for mining training expansion, and the College of Southern Nevada, which got $1.5 million for an education and training center.

Executive Order Targets AI Readiness for Montana Workforce (Government Technology) A new executive order from Montana’s Governor directs state officials to support broader AI integration to further workforce development. Montana is leaning into AI’s potential to impact and bolster its workforce, with the signing of Executive Order 5-2025. The order does several key things, including establish the 406 JOBS initiative, named for “Four Pathways to Employment, Zero Barriers to Work, and Six High Demand Sectors.” The initiative aims to align state workforce development strategy with the federal government’s goals for jobs and AI. The order also directs the state to work with the Office of Public Instruction, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, the Montana University System, and the Department of Commerce to advance AI for the workforce and economy, recognizing estimates that 30 percent of U.S. jobs could be automated by 2030. The order directs the Montana State Workforce Innovation Board to work with relevant agencies on developing an initial written report to the governor offering recommendations for a statewide implementation strategy for the first year of the initiative.

Two Ways to Support the Federal Investment in Workforce Development (NAWB) The Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced a bipartisan bill to fund the federal Department of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, and related agencies for the upcoming 2026 federal fiscal year. The House Appropriations Committee has indicated plans to mark up its version of a bill in early September, and it may be less favorable to workforce development and unlikely to garner bipartisan support. It is more important than ever that members of Congress have an up-close and personal view of how the public workforce system serves their community. Two ways this can be done is by inviting and hosting elected officials to visit employers, job centers, and other workforce assets, and by informing the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB) of these visits by emailing nawb@nawb.org. This offers a strategic opportunity for workforce leaders to showcase how federal investments are driving local impact.

*Business Expansions and Incentives 📊*

MA Gov. Requests $890.4M in TBED and Innovation Initiatives in 5-Year Capital Funding Plan (SSTI) Massachusetts’ Governor proposed a five-year capital investment plan for fiscal years 2026-2030, requesting $890.4 million in combined general obligation bonds and private sector contributions for many of the state’s technology-based economic development (TBED) and innovation initiatives. Of this, $685.1 million would go to the Executive Office of Economic Development, divided among key programs such as $251 million for implementing the Mass Leads Act, $230 million for the Life Sciences Capital program, and $68.6 million to establish a Massachusetts AI Hub. The remaining $205.3 million targets innovation and entrepreneurship, including $39 million for the Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative (M2I2), which supports federal‑award recipients working on emerging manufacturing technologies such as integrated photonics, flexible hybrid electronics, and advanced textiles.

Major Multi-Million Dollar Expansion Project Coming to Little Rock (KTHV-TV Little Rock) Welspun Tubular LLC announced a major multi-million-dollar expansion project coming to Arkansas. The expansion project will be done with an investment of $150 million, so that a new Longitudinally Submerged Arc Welded (LSAW) line pipe mill and coating facility can be established at its existing site in Little Rock. This new expansion project is expected to significantly boost the local economy and create about 300 new jobs. The new facility in Little Rock will enhance Welspun’s capability to serve many diverse sectors, including carbon capture, LNG export, oil and gas, and hydrogen pipelines.

Alabama Plant Set for Major Growth as GE Unveils $3B U.S. Expansion (Yellowhammer) GE Appliances has announced a $3 billion investment in domestic operations, with the aim of significantly expanding its manufacturing capabilities. The Kentucky-based corporation plans to invest the capital over the span of five years, with a significant portion of that funding being allocated to the GE plant in Decatur, Alabama. GE Appliances previously completed a $125 million expansion project at the North Alabama plant in 2020. The investment was projected to create 255 new jobs, taking total employment to 1,300. Per GE, the expansion grew plant capacity by 25%, creating its “refrigerator super site.” Upon completion of the latest plan, GE Appliances will have invested $6.5 billion across its U.S. manufacturing plants and nationwide distribution network since 2016.

$46M Investment to Establish Major Manufacturing Facility in the Mid-Hudson Region (NY ESD) Garonit Pharmaceutical, Inc., a global manufacturer of antiseptic products and health care solutions, will establish a state-of-the-art, 200,000-square-foot pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in New Windsor, Orange County. With a $46.1 million investment, the facility will become the world’s largest chlorhexidine gluconate manufacturing operation, producing antiseptic products essential for surgical disinfection and infection prevention in hospitals worldwide. New York State is supporting this project with $3.8 million, including up to $3.5 million through the Excelsior Jobs Program and a $300,000 Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council capital grant. The project marks a major milestone in New York’s strategy to grow its life sciences sector and expand domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Lessons from a Decade of Studying State Economic Development Tax Incentives (Pew Charitable Trusts) Since 2011, The Pew Charitable Trusts has helped states evaluate and improve their tax incentives. In April and May of 2025, Pew hosted four regional webinars for states in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, and West, featuring experts from evaluation offices in each area and highlighting how the evaluation landscape has changed over the years. One important lesson is that evaluation processes are most effective when established by legislation that provides a clear administrative plan, measurable impact criteria, and mechanisms to inform policy decisions. State policymakers can help ensure that economic development tax incentives work as intended by putting in place well-designed evaluation processes that provide the data needed to make those determinations. Pew is passing this accumulated knowledge to state partners, including legislators, policy analysts, and policy groups in hopes that states will continue to redefine and strengthen their tax incentive programs.

The State Economic Development Executives (SEDE) Network engages in regular events throughout the year. State Economic Development.org lists these activities and offers an interactive forum for discussion among peers. The SEDE Steering Committee includes: Sandra Watson (AZ), Chair; Clint O’Neal (AR); Kurt Foreman (DE); Kevin McKinnon (MN); Michelle Hataway (MO); Hope Knight (NY); Christopher Chung (NC); Andrew Deye (OH); Sophorn Cheang (OR); Adriana Cruz (TX).

Allison Ulaky of the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) led the development of this Bulletin; for questions on the content in this Bulletin or for information on the SEDE Network contact Bob Isaacson, CREC Senior Vice President.

State Economic Development Bulletin – Issue 84, August 2025

HEADLINES

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