For the first time, the federal government is designating an entire state — Hawaiʻi — as an Economic Development District.
The designation will open up doors for more federal funding for local projects, said Lauren Primiano, the manager of strategic initiatives at the state Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.
"It's really a breadth of economic development, facilities, infrastructure, job development and support programs, entrepreneurial programs and general economic diversification initiatives," she said.
Mary Alice Evans, the director of the office, shared that it made no sense to ask for four county districts because all the islands interact economically with Honolulu.
"The only logical thing was to go in as a whole state and then we learned that no other state had done that and that we were a pioneer in this. But we got lots of encouragement from the Economic Development Administration, which is a federal program under the U.S. Department of Commerce," she said.
Primiano said that it is too soon to tell how President Donald Trump's administration will affect federal funding. But, she added that the U.S. Congress reauthorized the Economic Development Administration with overwhelming bipartisan support.
"This reauthorization was basically Congress' stamp of approval on the work that the EDA was doing and essentially codified it, as well as expanded and increased the appropriations for the EDA program. So you know all this to say, we are cautiously optimistic that based on this reauthorization, based on bipartisan support in Congress, that the EDA will continue to receive support and be able to then in turn support the states and the economic development districts, including ours," Primiano said.
"We really think this is especially valuable for those smaller, community-based organizations or nonprofits that maybe haven't pursued federal funding in the past because it's just so complicated and time-consuming to manage," Primiano told HPR.
She said that they had support from various entities while working to receive the designation.
"This was a monumental effort. It was really a testament to all levels of government coming together to make the designation possible. And we just think that's such a great tone for the work ahead," she said.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Jan. 27, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
