For "Excellence in Support for Business Development Activities", 2006

On June 9, 2006, ACCRA - the Council for Community and Economic Research - announced that Economic Development Research Group was a winner of the "7th Annual Applied Community & Economic Research Awards." These prestigious awards, announced at the ACCRA annual conference, recognize the contribution of innovative research activities to the success of local, regional, or state/provincial economic development initiatives.

The award was given for the Local Economic Assessent Package (LEAP), a system for targeted marketing and economic development, on the recommendation of a national panel of judges in the field of economic development. The panel noted that this project represents a public-private partnership effort, combining tools developed by EDR Group with an implementation program developed in partnership with the Appalachian Regional Commission.

It recognized the Local Economic Assessment Package (LEAP) as a web-based system that builds research and analysis capacity in small communities, allowing them to evaluate their local economies, identify business development targets and implement business development strategies. The award was for "Excellence for Projects that Support Business Development Activities."

Teresa Lynch of EDR Group accepted the award together with Greg Bischak of the Appalachian Regional Commission. A slide show was presented showing the ways in which the LEAP tool has been applied. The ACCRA judging panel made its selection among competing proposals based on consideration of factors including:

- Contribution to applied economic development research field
- Innovation in approach or implementation
- Response to customer needs
- Economic benefits that have resulted from implementing the project
- Quality of product or process.