Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation (FCEDC) and Center
for Enterprise Development (CED) have received a $437,899 grant from
the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration
(EDA). The grant will be utilized to fund the implementation and three
years of services that will expand and enhance FCEDC’s current
existing business development services in the form of an economic
gardening program called “Impact!”. The nearly half-million dollar
grant is the first to be awarded by EDA in Wisconsin and in the
Chicago district region.

Impact! aligns with the practices and strategies of the FCEDC to be
responsive to ever-changing situations and climates, including today’s
struggling economy, or for example, a response to the June 2008
flooding that affected much of the County. The aim of the Impact!
program, based on a proven model, is to create jobs and improve the
local economy through existing business expansion by leveraging
technologically advanced decision support tools.

“We want to thank the EDA for providing funding for this tremendous
opportunity. This is a powerful program that will have real-life
impact on our businesses and our community,” said Brenda
Hicks-Sorensen, president of FCEDC, who also commented that more
information would be forthcoming. “The FCEDC team will now be quickly
gearing up to roll out the Impact! program. The implementation process
for this program is significant and could not be started until we knew
definitively that we received the grant. We have received word that,
in a few weeks, EDA officials will be here to officially award the
grant. The plan is then to hold a kick-off of the program this fall.
The kick-off event will provide detailed information to the very
businesses that would benefit from the program.”

Hicks-Sorensen noted that many entities assisted FCEDC in various
parts of the application process for this substantial grant including
Senators Kohl and Feingold, Congressman Petri, Fond du Lac County,
East Central Regional Planning Commission, the board of directors of
FCEDC and CED, and local business partners.