Regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)

The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) and Together North Jersey created the Regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the North Jersey region. Funded by the U.S. Economic Development Agency, CEDS is designed to foster public-private partnerships to lay the groundwork for an economic road map to diversify and strengthen regional economies.

• Regional Innovation Clusters
• Small-Business & Entrepreneurial Support
• Infrastructure Assets
• Workforce Training

The Together North Jersey Regional CEDS document is structured in two PDF bookmarked documents (an Action Plan and a Technical Report) as follows:

North Jersey Regional CEDS – Volume 1: Action Plan

• Regional Economic Profile
• Action Plan
• Implementation Matrix
• Performance Measures
• Significant Planned Regional Investments

North Jersey Regional CEDS – Volume 2: Technical Report

• Industry and Occupational Analysis
• Supporting CEDS and Related Plans
• Resource Matrix
• North Jersey Economically Distressed Communities

The heart of the Volume 1 — the Action Plan — is organized around four focus areas: regional innovation clusters, entrepreneurship and innovation, infrastructure, and workforce training. The Action Plan is preceded by a Regional Economic Profile, which includes a summary of key economic indicators for each of the 13 counties. The Implementation Matrix breaks out each of the strategies and actions into a table and provides estimates of impact, feasibility, duration, and partner organizations needed for implementation. A section on Performance Measures lists the recommended metrics to gauge the success of the plan in building economic competitiveness in future years. Finally, a description of major Regional Infrastructure Investments is provided.

Volume 2 contains the supporting components of the CEDS planning effort. This includes an extensive Industry and Occupational Analysis of the region, a listing of High Priority Strategies found in existing county CEDS and other state/regional planning documents, a Resource Matrix of organizations that can support implementation of the CEDS, and a summary of Economically Distressed Communities in the region.