What We Do
Wayne County’s Economic Development Department enhances the quality of life for residents and fosters vitality across all 43 communities. We drive economic prosperity and strengthen our region through strategic investments and sustainable partnerships.
Wayne County is committed to fostering personal opportunity, community stability, and business growth by utilizing every available economic development resource to help residents live their best lives.
Our department is very much like the Swiss-army knife of county government. We have four divisions--Sustainability and Innovation, Economic Vitality, Community Development and the Wayne County Land Bank--four tools that all work in collaboration to bring resources and services to County residents across all 43 communities.
Economic Vitality: Wayne County Economic Vitality Division works to maintain and enhance the economic health and resilience of Wayne County. Here are some key activities of the Economic Vitality Division and how we are making Wayne County economically healthy and resilient:
Land Bank: The Wayne County Land Bank Division engages in various programs to help support residents and developers in improving the area, ensuring that vacant and abandoned properties are turned into valuable community assets. It is tasked with managing and repurposing vacant, abandoned, and tax foreclosed properties. Its primary mission is to return these properties to productive use, support community revitalization, and reduce blight within the county. The land bank acquires properties that have gone through tax foreclosure, and then it works to sell, rehabilitate, or otherwise repurpose these properties for residential, commercial, or public use.
Sustainability and Innovation: The Wayne County sustainability and innovation Division collaborates to create projects and policies that decrease the County’s carbon footprint and build stronger, more resilient communities in the face of a changing climate.
Community Development: Wayne County Community Development Division supports activities to build stronger and more resilient communities within Wayne County. We work closely with both public and private organizations to secure funding for 38 communities within Wayne County, focusing on supporting low- to moderate-income individuals, families, and neighborhoods. These funds support a wide range of activities, including infrastructure upgrades, affordable housing development, improved public services, blight elimination, and homelessness prevention, all of which contribute to economic growth and community prosperity.