Helping Communities Shine

Whether researching and implementing ways to shape a community's economic development plan or partnering to create ways to put people to work, CREC connects researchers and policymakers with:

     • Data training
     • Custom portfolios that aid regional competitiveness

What We Do

Project Catalogue

Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Management Review Report
Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
Start Date: May 2015 — End Date: Jan 2016

CREC provided a management review of WEDC and recommended changes to its strategic focus and internal processes.  CREC conducted a series of interviews, focus groups, and in-depth reviews of the organization’s operating procedures, performance indicators, and prior legislative audits. The team assessed whether WEDC’s existing efforts aligned with its strategic mission, examined its management structure […]

Workforce Information Council’s Skills Initiative
The Workforce Information Council
Start Date: Jan 2015 — End Date: Dec 2015

CREC staff provided research and technical assistance to the Workforce Information Council’s Skills Initiative.  This project will obtain a baseline assessment of the efforts engaged in by state LMI agencies in providing skills data to a variety of customer groups and the views of state LMI Directors about the current and future importance of providing […]

Comparison of Metropolitan Life Sciences Initiatives
Business Development Advisors
Start Date: Oct 2007 — End Date: Dec 2015

Prepared under a subcontract for Detroit Renaissance, this study examined how successful life-sciences regions have organized their life-sciences development efforts. Life sciences are defined to include how medical, education and research institutions can combine effectively support growth in this sector. The Center for Regional Economic Development’s goal in this project was to provide a framework for […]

Lakeshore (Wisconsin) Value-Supply Chain Analysis and On-Line Mapping Tool
Progress Lakeshore Foundation
Start Date: Feb 2014 — End Date: Dec 2015

CREC worked with the Progress Lakeshore Foundation, Inc., in partnership with the Kewaunee County Economic Development Corporation and the Lakeshore Industry Cluster Initiative, to develop an in-depth Value‐Supply Chain Analysis of Industry Clusters in the Lakeshore Sub Region of The New North, consisting of the counties of Calumet, Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Sheboygan Wisconsin. This […]

Benchmarking for the WIOA Planning Process
University of Illinois, Urbana
Start Date: Jan 2015 — End Date: Dec 2015

CREC assisted researchers at the University of Illinois designed to support state and regional planning for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.  Researchers reviewed a matrix of potential data requirements and identified information that reflected the best benchmarks for econoimc development output and performance, including commenting on the most feasible metrics available for local workforce […]