40 U.S.C. § 15504: Program development criteria

the relationship of the project or class of projects to overall regional development; the per capita income and poverty and unemployment and outmigration rates in an area; the financial resources available to the applicants for assistance seeking to carry out the project, with emphasis on ensuring that projects are adequately financed to maximize the probability of successful economic development; the importance of the project or class of projects in relation to the other projects or classes of projects that may be in competition for the same funds; the prospects that the project for which assistance is sought will improve, on a continuing rather than a temporary basis, the opportunities for employment, the average level of income, or the economic development of the area to be served by the project; and the extent to which the project design provides for detailed outcome measurements by which grant expenditures and the results of the expenditures may be evaluated.