EVALUATION FRAMEWORK

EVALUATION MEASURES

SPREDD’s leadership and stakeholders view the CEDS as a mechanism to formulate strategies able to transform the region by means of reducing poverty, outmigration, unemployment and uncertainty while increasing the overall prosperity and sense of place/emotive bonds that many have for the region. By establishing an Evaluation Framework to measure these objectives, stakeholders and SPREDD leadership gain insight into the overall effectiveness of the CEDS. A well-constructed evaluation framework can also identify areas of the CEDS that may need to be adjusted.

The Evaluation Framework was compiled by means of answering the following:

• Which conditions are important? Employment and prosperity increasing
• Which trends need to be reversed? Outmigration and lingering damage from hurricanes and earthquakes
• Which assets are available to be leveraged? Ports, Foreign Trade Zone, Tax Advantages, Blue Economy, Sectors noted on Page 2
• How will a strategy help achieve the economic vision? By means of a coordinated and regional approach.

Inventory/map the Opportunity Zones in the region

Are there any opportunity zones within your region? If so, please provide a general overview of these areas and include information about the specific district census tracts.

What is distinct about these opportunity zones? Are there any common attributes that allow the Opportunity Zones to share a common typology within the region?

Table 8: Initial metrics for CEDS validation
The target metrics are intended to capture a large portion of the regional economy based on metrics that are important to stakeholders such as outmigration, reducing poverty, and jobs. The primary driver of the metric is 4% annual increases in GDB-EAI (for the region), which tracks closely to GDP. Similar 4% annual increases are expected in labor force participation and job growth. The most ambitious goals are a 10% annual reduction in the poverty rate, and an 8% annual increase in per capita income.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Discuss resiliency issues and measures here.

 

 

 

 

In Strategic Direction / Call to Action, five primary goals were outlined, with numerous sub-tasks and deadlines noted. Tracking of progress on these goals will be made by using blockchain technology. Progress on these goals will be tracked through a series of transactions placed in a transparent, permanent, immutable ledger and verified by independent third parties. Blockchain has quickly become a mainstream technology and is being used in a wide variety of applications including large industry supply chains, large infrastructure projects, and The Department of Treasury and the Army are pursuing programs for device tracking using blockchain.

SPREDD does not intend to merely track progress on achieving goals and initiatives set forth in this CEDS. Instead, SPREDD will track underlying economic metrics to determine if the implementation of these goals is having an impact. If the metrics do not improve, then the initiatives may have to be adjusted accordingly. Rather than track numerous goals, SPREDD is going to track the following macro goals at the regional (micro) level to foster an enhanced sense of regionalism. Table 8 reflects the initial target metrics for SPREDD’s Validation Framework.