Bradley Byrne, CEO of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce and former U.S. Representative for Alabama’s 1st congressional district from 2014 to 2021, created Gulf Coast Chambers Network last year to apply for the highly selective Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program. GCCN—consisting of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce, the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance and One Acadiana—aims to connect Gulf Coast residents throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to jobs in maritime, manufacturing and construction industries. The coalition also aims to connect both urban and rural residents to sector-specific training in the region.
“We have good jobs available and more hiring needs coming,” Byrne says. “We need to connect our current citizens to training that will get them into these jobs.”
GCCN is a subset of the chamber leaders who addressed the Southern U.S. delegation in Washington D.C., May 16-18, 2023. GCCN did so through a Congressional breakfast and individual meetings with Senators of the Gulf Coast regions. In addition to workforce development, GCCN also advocated for disaster response and recovery, flood insurance rates, coastal protection, fisheries and public safety.
“GCCN was formed as a group of chambers who were both eligible and interested in applying for the EDA Recompete Grant as a coalition,” Byrne says. “We had a similar coalition of legislators in Washington when I served in Congress, and it was incredibly productive as many of us were facing similar issues. So, we took that idea and applied it to the advocacy work our communities are working on at the chamber of commerce level. Building alliances with like-minded communities is critical to our advocacy work. We are stronger and our message carries further when we speak with one voice.”
The Recompete program, offered through the Biden-Harris Administration—and through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration—aims to provide grant funding to persistently distressed communities to create and connect workers to good jobs. Led by the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation Inc., GCCN was named as one of 22 finalists among the 560 applications submitted from communities across the country where prime-age (between 25 to 54 years old) employment is significantly lower than the national average.
“The chambers that participated in GCCN include those that were able/willing to compete for the Recompete grant,” Byrne says. “The geography fell into the parameters of who EDA deemed eligible, and
[we were able to] maintain a coalition size that could make an EDA investment impactful.”
Being named a finalist thereby allowed GCCN to apply for Recompete phase two, which would have provided an investment of $20 million to $50 million in the network communities. While GCCN was not awarded the phase two grant, it was awarded a Strategy Development Grant totaling $495,572. This grant allowed the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation Inc., to lead the coalition through a year-long project to build teams, complete workforce studies and develop strategies to prepare the GCCN communities for such a large investment.
While not a direct result of GCCN’s efforts, FEMA has made changes to its response process. “We [also] have seen some federal funding of infrastructure needs on the Gulf Coast, like the $550
million for I-10 across Mobile Bay,” Byrne adds.
GCCN is planning another trip to Washington, D.C., in the fall.
