IEDC Recognizes ARC and EDR Group at 2005 Annual Meeting

At its 2005 "Excellence in Economic Development" Annual Awards Breakfast, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) recognized the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and Economic Development Research Group (EDR Group) for their pioneering work developing the ARC-LEAP Guide and Handbook for Assessing Local Economic Development Opportunities with ARC-LEAP. Glen Weisbrod and Steven Landau accepted the award on behalf of the entire LEAP development team.

ARC commissioned EDR Group to develop a package of economic development assessment tools for use by its local development practitioners. The package of tools is designed to assist local and regional agencies in targeting their economic development efforts. The resulting handbook and software tool provide step-by-step methods for assessment of a local area's competitive performance, barriers to economic growth, and potential opportunities for improvement.

The ARC-LEAP tool is available at no cost to local development districts within Appalachia. It is available to other agencies and researchers as EDR-LEAP