Commerce Announces Community Recipients for SITES Program
The Oklahoma Department of Commerce (Commerce) today named that 16 communities have been selected to receive awards from the Supporting Industrial Transformation and Economic Success (SITES) Program. In February, Commerce announced the launch of the SITES Program to proactively addresses statewide site infrastructure needs to meet the demand of existing businesses as well as companies looking to establish operations in Oklahoma.
The following communities were awarded funds through the SITES Program:
- Bristow
- Chelsea
- Hinton
- Jay
- Kingfisher
- Lone Grove
- Nowata
- Perry
- Ponca City
- Sallisaw
- Sapulpa
- Shawnee
- Tahlequah
- Thomas
- Vinita
- Wellston
On March 20, Commerce opened applications for communities to receive a portion of the $29.95 million currently unallocated from the Progressing Rural Economic Prosperity (PREP) Fund to assist with the creation of new industrial sites or address infrastructure needs at existing sites. Commerce received applications from 33 communities with those applications totaling more than $232 million in requests for assistance. Projects submitted included water, sewer, electric, natural gas, site remediation and site access for ports, airports and industrial parks. The application process closed on May 31, 2023.
“For the past three years, Commerce has seen a historically high demand from companies looking to locate to the state,” said Jennifer Springer, Director of Business Development, Oklahoma Department of Commerce. “Through the SITES program, we are working to make legacy improvements into industrial site infrastructure in rural communities to help meet that demand and support those communities as they look to bring more jobs and investment to their regions.”
To be eligible, projects had to be designed to create nationally marketable industrial sites. Priority was given to projects that were at the “last mile” for site marketability. Meaning that the needed element is considered the final piece of infrastructure for a site to have the water, sewer, electric, natural gas and/or fiber capacities needed for industrial purposes and to close gaps in needs for the site to be nationally marketable.
For more information about the SITES Program, visit www.okcommerce.gov/SITES.
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