This EDA short-term planning award to the north central wisconsin regional planning commission will help the commission and its partners grow north central wisconsins entrepreneurship support ecosystem

The Economic Development Administration awarded $150,000 to the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission on January 1, 2026, under the Economic Development Support for Planning Organizations program (CFDA 11.302), a Project Grant.

The award funds development of tools and strategic planning assets for the region's entrepreneurship support ecosystem. The Commission will expand its existing entrepreneurship portal by building the Market Advantages Tool and Community Profile Tool, which enable new business owners to access resources for business success. The Commission will also develop a new regional resiliency plan to assess economic risk, identify major employment centers, and analyze potential impacts from economic disruptions.

The work builds on pandemic-driven changes to the region's economy and the Commission's prior success deploying an entrepreneurship portal. Performance occurs in Wisconsin through June 30, 2027.

As a result of pandemic-induced changes in the regions economy, the commission built an entrepreneurship portal where new business owners could access resources to understand how to thrive. This EDA award builds upon the entrepreneurship portals success by developing new tools in the portal including the market advantages tool and community profile tool. In addition, the commission will develop a new regional resiliency plan to assess risk, identify major employment centers, and analyze potential impacts from economic disruptions.