Research Tools
The SEKRPC and SEKEDC help connect communities, businesses and non-profit organizations to the resources they need to be successful. The following are helpful research tools.
The Kansas Regional Data Portal was developed by the Kansas Business & Industry Data Center at the University of Kansas in collaboration with the Kansas Association of Regional Development Organizations (KARDO) for easier access to key indicators for regions in Kansas.
Institute for Policy & Social Research
Search Kansas Data for reports, view County Profile Reports, and view the latest Kansas Statistical Abstracts.
StatsAmerica is a service of the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. It contains a number of data sites and tools for economic development.
Innovation 2.0 provides insight into the innovation capacity and innovative output of a region. It is also a service of the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
The Rural Opportunity Map was born out of the need for a new framework to understand opportunities in small town America in the 21st century – a framework that takes into account the way industry and employment are changing, and the demographic trends that have defined small towns for the past decade. The tool is meant to allow anyone - from nonprofit leaders to academics, Opportunity Zone investors to journalists - to find insight and opportunity in small town America.
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)
As the Economic Development District for Southeast Kansas, the Southeast Kansas Regional Planning Commission prepares a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy approximately every 5 years.
The Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) contributes to effective economic development in America’s communities and regions through a locally-based, regionally-driven economic development planning process. Economic development planning – as implemented through the CEDS – is not only a cornerstone of the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) programs, but successfully serves as a means to engage community leaders, leverage the involvement of the private sector, and establish a strategic blueprint for regional collaboration. The CEDS provides the capacity-building foundation by which the public sector, working in conjunction with other economic actors (individuals, firms, industries), creates the environment for regional economic prosperity.
Simply put, a CEDS is a strategy-driven plan for regional economic development. A CEDS is the result of a regionally-owned planning process designed to build capacity and guide the economic prosperity and resiliency of an area or region. It is a key component in establishing and maintaining a robust economic ecosystem by helping to build regional capacity (through hard and soft infrastructure) that contributes to individual, firm, and community success. The CEDS provides a vehicle for individuals, organizations, local governments, institutes of learning, and private industry to engage in a meaningful conversation and debate about what capacity building efforts would best serve economic development in the region. The CEDS should take into account and, where appropriate, integrate or leverage other regional planning efforts, including the use of other available federal funds, private sector resources, and state support which can advance a region’s CEDS goals and objectives.
