Federal Agencies Stories | Community Development Digest

Commerce Signs MOU with National Asian, Pacific Islander CoC

The Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the National Asian and Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ACE) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU is aimed at helping both MBDA and ACE increase awareness within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community of business opportunities in trade, exporting, and contracting through trainings, roundtables, and webinars.

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Labor Department’s Final Rule on Overtime Regs OK’d by OMB

The Department of Labor’s final rule updating the overtime regulations has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget and is awaiting publication in the Federal Register. The final rule focuses primarily on updating the salary and compensation levels needed for Executive, Administrative and Professional workers to be exempt.

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SBA's 'Emerging Leaders' Training for 2016 Ready to Launch

The Emerging Leaders training focuses on small, poised-for-growth companies with potential for job creation.

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Agency Proposes New Program Evaluation

For the first time, state, tribal and local governments, and public housing authorities may request AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA and AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) resources in a single application to use national service as the transformative catalyst in addressing a community’s most pressing local problems.

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DOI to Open Natural Resource Investment Center

The Department of Interior will establish a Natural Resource Investment Center to spur partnerships with the private sector to develop creative financing opportunities that support economic development goals while advancing the Department’s resource stewardship mission.

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Commerce Department Forming Digital Economy Board of Advisors

The Department of Commerce is seeking candidates to serve on a new Digital Economy Board of Advisors which Commerce is establishing to give government a mechanism to obtain advice from leaders in industry and civil society. The board will provide recommendations on ways to ensure that the Internet continues to thrive as an engine of growth, innovation, and free expression.

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GSA Launches ‘Economic Catalyst Initiative’ in Three Cities

GSA launches a nationwide Economic Catalyst Initiative to better align the agency’s building, leasing, and relocation plans with the economic development goals of local communities while also improving outcomes for the federal government and partner agencies and respecting local development processes.

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Agency Continues to Promote Apprenticeships

The Employment and Training Administration (DOL) continues to increase funding and resources to encourage registered apprenticeship programs, including a new toolkit and an upcoming new funding opportunity. The agency’s ApprenticeshipUSA offers employers in every industry the tools to develop a highly skilled workforce to help grow their business. For workers, ApprenticeshipUSA offers opportunities to earn a salary while learning the skills necessary to succeed in high-demand careers.

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Interior Expands Leasing Provisions for Indian Landowners

The expanded leasing provisions make the right-of-way process on tribal lands more transparent and requires a firm timeline for approval by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and affected landowners.

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Feds Give National Urban League $300,000 for ‘Entrepreneur Center’

The Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is investing $300,000 in the National Urban League (NUL) to establish a new Entrepreneurship Center Program in the city of Baltimore. The program will provide critical training and technical assistance to those negatively impacted financially by recent unrest in the city.

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