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Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) today announced the Global Epicenter of Mobility Coalition, led by the Detroit Regional Partnership Foundation, will receive $52.2 million in grant funding from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce to catalyze Michigan’s mobility sector. Grant funding was provided as part of the American Rescue Plan Build Back Better Regional Challenge. 
 
“Michigan’s mobility industry strengthens domestic manufacturing, advances research, and creates jobs across America,” said Rep. Dingell. “Our state’s auto leadership has developed a roadmap to a diverse and resilient mobility economy for other states to replicate. The same strengths that have driven the growth of the automotive sector for decades will now transform our area’s economy into a robust and growing industrial mobility hub.”
 
“The Detroit Regional Partnership has a proven track record of leveraging their expertise and resources to improve our region, and I’m proud to support them as a leader in this transformation,” continued Rep. Dingell. “Southeast Michigan has a vision for a strong, equitable economic future, and along with the immense capabilities of a century’s old auto industry, this EDA grant will support the transition into a smart, sustainable, and inclusive mobility epicenter and help keep us at the forefront of manufacturing and innovation across the globe.”
 
EDA’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge aims to build strong regional economies and support community-led economic development. EDA was allocated $3 billion in supplemental funding under the American Rescue Plan to assist communities nationwide in their efforts to build back better by accelerating economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and building local economies that will be resilient to future economic shocks.
 
The Detroit Regional Partnership Foundation aims to leverage the Detroit area’s expertise in the automotive industry and enter the growing advanced mobility industry to create jobs in the region’s 11 counties surrounding the city of Detroit. If provided an implementation grant, the coalition proposes to make this pivot by investing in three pillars: company innovation and transition, which will invest in startup incubation and legacy-company transition into advanced mobility; talent transformation, which will focus on increasing diversity in the workforce and skilling for the advanced mobility sector; and foundational infrastructure, which will develop testing sites and industrial parks for advanced mobility products, and market the region to advanced mobility firms.  

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