Jamie Toledo Joins Economic Alliance as Business Services Strategist

The Economic Alliance is happy to welcome new hire, Jamie Toledo!

Jamie's main responsibilities include managing existing business relationships in coordination with the Member Services Team and executing Economic Alliance responsibilities to all existing business expansion and retention projects. This role also serves as the in-house financial administration expert for expansion and growth activities. 

Read more about Jamie's past experience on our website or contact her now.

Frontier Natural Products Co-op Expanding in Norway

Frontier Natural Products Co-op recently announced they will expand their main campus in Norway. Frontier plans to build a new 10,000-square foot building for flammable storage and an Innovation Center for new cosmetic and food development. To maintain consistency with its sustainability initiatives, the business will install solar arrays to power operations.

The project has a capital investment of $3.1M. The Iowa Economic Development Authority board awarded tax incentives via the High Quality Jobs program on Friday, Oct. 20.

The Economic Alliance assisted Frontier Co-op with the application for Iowa's High Quality Jobs Program.

Corridor Development (formerly known as the Joint Venture) is an extension of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance and Iowa City Area Development Group and is dedicated to helping the seven-county region thrive through targeted business attraction and workforce development initiatives. Jennifer Daly, President & CEO of Corridor Development, began her leadership of the region’s business attraction and workforce efforts in July 2017. Since then, she has tirelessly worn a path north and south along I-380 and beyond, visiting with, listening to and learning from over 100 business and community leaders to understand the opportunities and challenges in our region. 

Corridor Development is, by design, an extension of the economic development efforts already underway in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City areas. Beyond Jennifer's leadership, Corridor Development employees include DaLayne Williamson, Director of Workforce Solutions and Brian Crowe, Director of Business Attraction. Tom Banta, Business Attraction Strategist and Kate Moreland, Director of Talent Pipeline also devote partial time to Corridor Development activities. Both the EA & ICAD teams provide support to Corridor Development in communications, graphic design, research and data analytics, operations, administrative duties and more. 

Jennifer's many meetings across the Corridor assisted her already strong sense of direction for what needs to happen next to achieve the goals of this new regional endeavor. In the coming months, Corridor Development will be implementing a new marketing and story-telling campaign for the region, leveraging several talented creatives throughout the Corridor. The Corridor Development team is reviewing the best land and building sites for new attraction projects and meeting with employers to confirm their workforce concerns. In partnership with Kirkwood Community College, they will also be collecting data from employers to forecast talent needs over the next 24 months, data that will help guide talent attraction and pipeline strategies.

Economic Alliance members interested in receiving specific information about Corridor Development's regional work in business attraction and workforce beyond what you will receive here in the Economic Development Update, you can sign up here to receive the new Corridor Development Update, which will begin to be distributed in the near future.

Tax Reform Update

Last month the U.S. House of Representatives passed tax reform legislation, the first such reform in over 30 years. Today, the Senate is on track to follow the House and pass a Senate version of tax reform legislation. 

The next step in the process is expected to begin next week when members from the House and Senate will convene a conference committee to iron out the differences of the two versions. Republican leaders hope to complete this process and send an agreed upon version of the legislation to President Trump before Christmas. 

Read the Tax Foundations side by side comparison of the House and Senate version of tax reform legislation. 

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is said to be closely following federal tax reform as it will have an impact on her priority to achieve state tax reform. Read her and Economic Development Director Debi Durham's guest editorial on federal and state tax reform. 

The Economic Alliance supports tax reform that will simplify the code, lower rates for all businesses and encourage a pro-growth economy.

Cedar Rapids Fire Department Requests Private Sector Input

The Cedar Rapids Fire Department has initiated a process to develop a 5-year, community-driven, strategic plan. A key part of this effort is to solicit comments from business and industry in Cedar Rapids. They would like to hear from you: Private sector input plays an important role in helping to maintain and enhance quality of service Citywide. Click here to take the survey.

The following is a list of projects the Economic Alliance is currently working on with location decisions expected to be made within the next 12 - 18 months:

*Projects abandoned or alternative location selected.

 Connect with the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance  

If you're having trouble viewing this email, click here to read it online.