About

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Welcome to Economic Development Assistance Consortium. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, EDAC is an organization which provides technical assistance to community development corporations, governmental agencies, foundations, financial institutions, healthy food endeavors, manufacturing incubators, retail revitalization projects and small business ventures nationwide.

EDAC was formed in the early 1980s as a result of the dissolution of the Center for Community Economic Development. The Cambridge-based CCED was the original federally-funded resource center for the community economic development field. It provided support for the initial national funding program for CDC projects, then known as the Special Impact Program (currently succeeded by the HHS/ OCS Community Economic Development annual grant competition.)

This site will serve community economic development organizations and their partners with information about issues which affect community and economic development.

Boston Headquarters Personnel

 

EDAC assignments are coordinated by specialists in our Boston headquarters with decades of experience in implementing projects fostering urban and rural economic revitalization.

 

+ Marcus S. Weiss, President

Marcus Weiss, President of EDAC, is regularly engaged in technical assistance, evaluation and grantsmanship assignments for federal grantees and serves as a contractor to federal agencies analyzing innovative approaches for community development capitalization, securitization and the leveraging of supplemental private sector resources. He has also aided governmental and foundation grantees in the development of food hubs, core neighborhood supermarkets/public markets, food trucks, aquaponics, community farms and restaurants as well as manufacturing incubators and retail districts. [Read more]

+ Susan Horn-Moo

Susan Horn-Moo is a co-founding member of EDAC and a regular member of the grant writing, technical assistance and evaluation teams.  She is an attorney and community economic development consultant specializing in industrial and commercial real estate development, transit-oriented development, small business lending, legislative and policy analysis. For ten years she served as General Counsel to Transit Realty… [Read more]

+ Harold Oshima

Harold Oshima, an EDAC senior consultant since 1984, is a financial consultant and investment advisor specializing in small business and real estate development with an emphasis in financial analysis of real estate acquisitions, development and operations. A former IRS employee, he serves as President and CEO, Oshima & Associates, Inc, Boston, MA, a registered investment and financial advisory firm… [Read more]

+ Sara Weiss

Sara Weiss is a managing partner and Director of Operations for EDAC. She is responsible for coordinating teams of scholars and researchers for national studies and technical assistance conducted by EDAC. Sara has been engaged in the drafting and production of federal grant proposals for economic development initiatives for over twenty years… [Read more]

+ Mara Averick

Mara Averick is EDAC’s Research Associate, Information Analyst and Web Developer. She researches success metrics and qualitative and quantitative data indicators to evaluate government-funded projects. She also develops measurable indicators of project success with actionable site maintenance protocols and synthesizes data relevant to evaluating EDAC client projects… [Read more]

EDAC Affiliated Consulting Specialists

 

Our specialists represent a diversity of backgrounds ranging from law and architecture to economics, business development and non-profit organizational management. Several of our specialists from around the nation have run governmental agencies while others have served for years as technical assistance contractors for federal grantees. For over three decades, EDAC consortium members have developed prototypical models for development finance, business development incentives and training activities for federal, state and local specialists whose principle emphasis is community economic development and catalyzing investment and business growth in underserved areas.