Establishing the Foundation (ETF)
Economic Development - Establishing the Foundation (ETF)
Your journey starts here!
Economic development is about building strong, resilient, and prosperous communities.
Establishing the Foundation (ETF) is the cornerstone of EDA's Community Economic Development Certificate Program. This core course provides the essential knowledge, tools, and frameworks needed to understand the modern practice of economic development and build a strong foundation for success in the profession.
Participants will learn how to analyze community conditions, identify opportunities, develop strategic plans, implement initiatives, measure results, and build partnerships that support long-term economic growth and resilience. The course also introduces EDA's six-factor Community Economic Resilience framework, helping participants understand the broader factors that influence community prosperity.
Whether you are new to economic development or looking to strengthen your understanding of the field, ETF provides the practical skills and confidence needed to support informed decision-making and effective economic development practice.
This is a core course within the Community Economic Development Certificate Program and serves as the foundation for all other EDA Institute courses.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Explain what economic development is and how it differs from individual projects or oneâtime initiatives.
- Describe how economic development practice has evolved from a narrow businessâgrowth focus to today’s integrated, resilienceâcentered approach.
- Identify the key contributing factors that shape a community’s capacity to grow, including human capital, infrastructure, natural resources, financial capacity, and community alignment.
- Differentiate between governance and operations roles in economic development and explain the responsibilities of Council, administration, and practitioners.
- Interpret basic economic and community data, both quantitative and qualitative, and explain how it informs planning, investment readiness, and strategy development.
- Apply core community analysis tools, including needs assessment, asset mapping, gap analysis, and SWOT, to understand a community’s economic position.
- Explain the purpose and structure of a Strategic Economic Development Plan and distinguish between vision, mission, goals, strategies, and tactics.
- Select and justify economic development strategies that fit a community’s context, capacity, and readiness.
- Describe common economic development delivery models and assess which model is most appropriate for a given community.
- Explain how a Logic Model connects strategy to implementation and accountability.
- Identify appropriate partners, funding sources, and incentives to support economic development initiatives.
- Describe the role of performance measurement and continuous improvement in economic development, using the SOME Framework as a guide.
- Explain resilience as a lens that should be integrated across all aspects of economic development practice, framed by the six-factor resilience model introduced in Module 1 and developed further in the CER course.
Delivery Option & Cost
Individual
Online, self-directed learning. Available 24-7.
$195 Members $295 Non-Members
Group
Hybrid- Online:
Self-directed, augmented with live instructor sessions
$325 Members $435 Non-Members
In person:
Group session in your community. One day instructor-led online workshop.
$2950 Members $3450 Non-Members