View the current approved CEDS.
The District’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) is an economic road map that is intended to diversify and strengthen the local economy. The CEDS analyzes the District’s economic conditions and serves as a guide for establishing goals and objectives, developing and implementing a plan of action, and identifying investment priorities.
Led by the DC Office of Planning, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and the Washington DC Economic Development Partnership, the District analyzed economic assets, needs and opportunities citywide and in emerging neighborhoods. The strategy was shaped by public and private sector input, as well as new research and analysis around core and emerging industries, including the District’s creative, green and technology sectors.
The District’s CEDS identifies strategic focus areas as promoting the following themes across the city:
- A diversified and accessible economy
- Distinctive and robust neighborhoods
- Creative, innovative and international
- Green and sustainable
In addition to a review of citywide strategies, the CEDS highlights key neighborhood opportunities, such as the development of Walter Reed in Ward 4 and the St Elizabeth's campus in Ward 8. For these and other emerging areas, the CEDS establishes objectives, strategies and investment priorities intended to improve economic development outcomes.
The CEDS was submitted to, and approved by, the US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) in 2010. An approved CEDS allows the District to apply for federal funding that could support revitalization efforts in the city.