Abstract
This article contributes to the economic development evaluation literature by providing a comprehensive process evaluation of a significant federal economic development planning program, the Economic Development Administration's funding of planning processes for Economic Development Districts (EDDs). This program represents one of the largest and oldest continuing federal grants designed to foster planning efforts. The evaluation concludes that the overall quality of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) process and resulting plans appears high, that EDDs focus on activities central to national goals, and that most stakeholders consider such activities effective in increasing cooperation and communication within the region. However, EDDs have not been completely successful in ensuring that CEDS committees fully represent their communities, policies outlined in the CEDS do not appear to match needs and goals as closely as would be desired, and the larger community tends to be unaware of valuable EDD activities.
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