Rock County gets federal job grant

JANESVILLE — A federal grant announced Thursday is expected to give Rock County's economic development efforts a significant boost.

The U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Agency awarded Rock County and Forward Janesville a three-year, $450,000 grant to help redevelopment initiatives proposed by local leaders.

The Economic Development Agency is a venture capital resource that tries to meet the economic development needs of distressed communities throughout the United States.

And the Rock County area, which has been racked by job losses and plant closings this summer, certainly qualifies, U.S. Rep Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, said in announcing the grant.

"The local leaders in Janesville and Rock County have put together a forward-looking economic development plan for the region, and this grant will go a long way in supporting these efforts," Ryan said. "This has been a gut-wrenching summer for southern Wisconsin, and (this) announcement provides our community with much-needed support."

Forward Janesville President John Beckord said the federal grant would be matched with about $171,000 in support from his organization, from Rock County, from the cities of Janesville and Beloit and from others.

"The beauty of the EDA program is that it's designed with a lot of flexibility in the way you can use the money to transform an economy," he said.

Beckord said the grant will allow local economic development agencies to boost their external marketing campaigns and target site professionals, commercial and industrial real estate developers and companies that are considering new locations.

"For example, we may go to the international plastics show and instead of just walking the floor, we may have an impressive booth that showcases our area and our projects," Beckord said. "The program will pay for travel, pay for marketing materials and advertising if we decided to go that route."

James Otterstein, Rock County's economic development manager, said the grant will pull together a variety of ongoing economic development initiatives.

"This funding will elevate certain specific activities to a scale that, to date, has been unobtainable due to scarce resource allocation," he said.

Otterstein said the grant would focus on supporting:

-- Regional economic and workforce development initiatives.

-- Industry clusters.

-- Entrepreneurial activity.

-- Real estate reuse and redevelopment.

-- Targeted marketplace positioning.