U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker today announced that eight non-profit organizations have been selected to receive approximately $2.2 million in awards through the Commerce Department’s Market Development Cooperator Program. The financial assistance will support projects aimed at increasing U.S. exports, creating jobs, and strengthening America’s global competitiveness. According to the award recipients, the Department’s investments are expected to help generate more than $3.3 billion in U.S. exports in the next three years.

“The Commerce Department is committed to helping U.S. entrepreneurs and businesses sell more of their goods and services to the 95 percent of world consumers that live outside our borders,” said Secretary Pritzker. “The Market Development Cooperator Program awards announced today will help lay the groundwork for organizations to help American companies of all sizes increase their exports and create jobs nationwide.”

The Market Development Cooperator Program, housed within the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA), provides awards for financial and technical assistance from ITA to support well-defined business plans aimed at increasing exports and U.S. competitiveness within certain industries. A Market Development Cooperator Program award establishes a partnership between ITA and a non-profit industry group that makes it possible for ITA to help many more U.S. businesses than it could help without such a special relationship. These cooperative agreements help support NEI/NEXT, which aims to build on Administration-wide achievements under President Obama’s National Export Initiative to ensure that more American businesses can fully capitalize on emerging markets worldwide.

The eight recipients of the 2014 Market Development Cooperator Program awards competed with other organizations. Applicants were evaluated against criteria such as creativity, the capacity to attain project objectives, and the likelihood of getting U.S. companies to take actions that result in exports that create or sustain U.S. jobs. This year’s recipients are:

• ASTM International (West Conshohocken, Pa.) – $87,140
• American Water Works Association (Denver) – $299,955
• California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce (Sacramento, Calif.) – $300,000
• Duquesne University Small Business Development Center (Pittsburgh) – $300,000
• Modification and Replacement Parts Association (Washington, D.C.) – $300,000
• Portland Development Commission (Portland, Ore.) – $299,420
• Specialty Equipment Market Association (Diamond Bar, Calif.) – $300,000
• Washington State Department of Commerce (Olympia, Wash.) – $300,000

This year’s Market Development Cooperator Program awards will be matched with a $5.4 million investment by the non-profit industry recipients, who pledged to pay a minimum of two-thirds of the project costs and to sustain the projects after the initial Market Development Cooperator Program award period ends.

Since the Market Development Cooperator Program’s inception in 1993, the program has issued 136 awards to 106 organizations in 32 states. The program has helped to generate more than $9 billion in exports. In an average year, Market Development Cooperator Program projects generate $572 million in U.S. exports. For more information about the Market Development Cooperator Program, please visit www.trade.gov/mdcp.