Iowa Democrat Senator Tom Harkin has announced five Iowa regional planning organizations have been awarded a total of $304,000 to help establish a comprehensive economic development strategy in their regions.

Locally, the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area Planning Agency received $60,000 to serve the counties of Mills and Pottawattamie in Iowa, and Washington, Douglas, and Sarpy in Nebraska and the Southwest Iowa Planning Council received $60,000 to serve the counties of Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Montgomery, Page, and Shelby.

The projects will bring together the public and private sectors to create an economic development roadmap to diversify and strengthen the regional economy. Specifically, it is expected these funds will help develop a process and strategy that supports job creation and private capital investment. The funding was made available through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA).