NASHUA, NH – The impact to the community of the city’s ReGen Valley effort will be analyzed with support from the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Agency.
The agency announced this week that it will provide resources to analyze data that will provide insight into the long-term impact of the ReGen Valley initiative, which is part of the emerging biofabrication industry effort in southern New Hampshire. ReGen Valley received a $44 million Tech Hub grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration in June.
The CDFA will make an annual investment of $35,000 in resources over the lifetime of the EDA grant, the agency said in a news release.
ReGen Valley is part of the biofabrication industry cluster – businesses focused on developing and manufacturing regenerative tissue and organs – that began in Manchester’s Millyard with a $44 million Build Back Better Grant in November 2022.
The initiative is expected to create up to 9,000 jobs and more than 40,000 indirect jobs across southern New Hampshire in the coming years, and is led by Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) | BioFabUSA and coalition partners of the NextGen Manchester Resiliency Council.
The June Tech Hub grant will be used to close the gap between the scientific research and development of regenerative technology to the final destination – getting it to patients.
CDFA will cultivate and analyze community-based data sets “to provide insight into the long-term impact of strategic investments to address socioeconomic challenges and opportunities in New Hampshire,” the release said.
The data will serve as a measurement for how strategic investments in critical community economic development initiatives can have a positive impact on the community over time, according to CDFA.
“Data plays a pivotal role in CDFA’s work and has been a strategic priority of the organization since 2019,” the release said. “CDFA’s Community Progress Indicators, a set of 13 metrics that assist in measuring socioeconomic well-being and community need at the municipal level in New Hampshire, assist the organization in meeting the evolving needs of New Hampshire communities by informing our strategic priorities and guiding the allocation of resources to the places that need those resources the most.
“Identifying quality metrics in alignment with the organization’s vision – and using them to identify and better understand statewide, regional and local trends – helps CDFA support partners in creating lasting impact within New Hampshire communities,” the release said.
CDFA engaged the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute and a fellow from the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire to analyze data sources, the release said.. The recommendations were the basis for creating the Community Progress Indicators, which are reviewed and refined on an annual basis to ensure accuracy and responsiveness to emerging issues within New Hampshire.
CDFA has information on its Community Progress Indicators and related resources, including a downloadable data set, data dictionary and a map-based data visualization tool, on its online Resource Hub.