In an effort to draw more business and economic development to the Heart of Virginia, the Farmville-based Commonwealth Regional Council (CRC) is seeking to unite its member and some non-member localities in developing and maintaining a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), which could mean more grant money from the federal government.

The CRC pitched the idea to Cumberland County supervisors, offering to waive the non-member match as an initial step of the program conditioned on one stipulation: Cumberland rejoin the CRC should the application for CEDS assistance be approved.

Joining the CRC — of which Cumberland was once a member — would cost the county $15,700 annually.

The request came from CRC Executive Director Mary Hickman during the board’s November meeting.

“For the past several months, the (CRC) has been discussing the current situation of its members (Amelia, Buckingham, Charlotte, Lunenburg and Prince Edward) not qualifying for financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA) under its public works, economic adjustment and planning programs,” Hickman said in a letter to District Two Supervisor and Board Chairman Lloyd Banks Jr.

“Under current regulations, EDA directs its financial investments only towards projects that are based on strategies resulting from a participatory planning process established to develop and maintain an EDA-approved (CEDS).”

According to Hickman, the CRC is moving toward “submitting a regional application to EDA for financial assistance to undertake the CEDS process for its current members. While it is not mandatory by the EDA program that all localities within the CRC region be a participant, the CRC does not want a non-member locality within the region to lose an opportunity to participate in the project.”

Hickman said CEDS will allow for a “much more proactive and strategic focus on targeted projects and initiatives, rather than simply reacting to urgent needs that haven’t had the proper forethought and planning.”

Hickman said the CRC formally adopted a participation policy for non-members in a “CRC-sponsored regional project (required match plus 25 percent). This application does require a match. Under this policy, Cumberland County’s share of the match would be $7,500.”

According to Hickman’s letter, about $3.8 million has been allocated on projects in central and Southside Virginia since 1980 using CEDS. The latest one was in 1998, according to Hickman’s letter. An example of grant money being allocated to a project, she said, includes public works and economic development projects.

“This supports construction, expansion or upgrade of public infrastructure facilities, which we all know are the building blocks of any economy,” she said during the meeting. “Through the CEDS process, this will be a mechanism to coordinate with efforts … concerned with economic development that’s in the CRC footprint. That would be part of this process.”

If a project has not been identified through a regional planning process as a priority for its locality, “there are many cases in funding agencies that (a) locality can lose points if it’s not created through a regional planning process,” according to Hickman.

She said the CRC elected to waive the non-member match for Cumberland, conditioned on the county activating its membership with the CRC if the application is successful, “to ensure full support of the CRC during the implementation of this regional project.”

Asked about when a decision would be needed, Prince Edward County Buffalo District Supervisor and CRC board member C.R. “Bob” Timmons said by the board’s January meeting would suffice.

“We want you back,” Timmons said. “I think it makes better sense if we come together as a group to participate.”

“I think what our challenge has been as a county is trying to come up with some type of strategic plan as to how we would like to move forward with the whole idea of economic development,” Cumberland’s District Two Supervisor and Board Chairman Lloyd Banks added.

Banks noted another aspect of the challenge is identifying cost benefit to the county.