1) Cascade County (Great Falls MSA) was ranked 47th amongst all 388 U.S. metros for private industry average hourly earnings, putting us in the 88th percentile. The ranking was published this week by Syneva Economics. This marks a big improvement in our wages over the last few years. The Billings metro was ranked 141st and Missoula 319th.
2) Moody's projects that personal income in Cascade County (Great Falls MSA) will grow 4.0% in 2017, followed by 21% over the next five years. I think we can do even better than that!
3) Several Great Falls area leaders have earned well deserved recognition. David Oien, founder of
Timeless Seeds in Ulm, has been named Montana's Outstanding Agricultural Leader of 2017 by Montana State University's College of Agriculture and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station. The awards highlights his 30 years of organic and alternative agriculture achievements. We are proud to have helped finance Timeless Seeds' Ulm facility. See more details in the
The Valierian.
4) Tammy Lacey, Superintendent of
Great Falls Public Schools (GFPS), has been honored by the School Administrators of Montana with the 2017 G.V. Ericsson Award, the most prestigious award a Montana school administrator can receive. The GFPS Board was recognized as the School Board of the Year by the Montana Association of School Superintendents. Jessica Carranza, GFPS psychologist, was honored as the Montana School Psychologist of the Year by the Montana Association of School Psychologists. See more details in
Tribune.
5) Scott Reasoner, General Manager of the
Great Falls Voyagers, has been named the 2017 Pioneer League Executive of the Year. And, Jason Nitschke, our GFDA Small Business Center Director, was recognized
by the U.S. Small Business Administration this week with the "2017 Montana Veterans Service Award" for his one-on-one work with veteran-owned businesses and for exemplary service presenting the quarterly Boots to Business and ReBoot workshops. Congratulations to these outstanding community leaders. We're lucky to have you!
6)
Rockwell Scales of Great Falls recently opened its new workshop to expand the capacity of its truck, livestock, and mining scale manufacturing operation. Two new positions have been added and a new website launched. Rockwell Scales owner, Nick Rockwell, has utilized GFDA's Small Business Development Center and Procurement Technical Assistance Center services to assist with government contracting, sales and marketing, and human resource management. Rockwell Scales has also utilized the Tradeshow Assistance program at the Montana Department of Commerce to attend an industry tradeshow in Australia. A public grand opening is being scheduled for mid-2018.
8) If you haven't yet voted in the Cascade County election, PLEASE VOTE YES for the proposed economic development mill levy. Help us keep our economic momentum moving forward! Ballots are due by 8 PM Tuesday. They can be returned by mail (better mail it today) or in person at the Elections Office at 325 2nd Ave. N., Great Falls between 7 AM - 5 PM or on Tuesday at ExpoPark from 7 AM to 8 PM. You can still register and vote or get a replacement ballot.
Here are is our
GFDA Top 10 Reasons for Voting YES
on the Cascade County economic development mill levy.
9)
Our third of four "Small Business Webinar Series: Employee Retention - Creating a Positive Company Culture" was well received by a statewide audience. GFDA partnered with MSU-Extension, Montana Economic Developers Association, and Headwaters RC&D of Butte for this webinar. All three recorded webinars are now live here. The next event on GFDA's Business Education Calendar, The LaunchPoint - A Pre-Business Workshop, is Wednesday, November 8th from 4-5pm in our office. For more information or to register, click here or contact Jason at JNitschke@GFdevelopment.org
10) Downtown Great Falls revitalization efforts progressed during the 3rd quarter of 2017 with 17 building permits being issued totaling $810,382, seven new businesses opening downtown, and volunteers giving 7,849 hours toward downtown efforts! Check out the
Downtown Development Partnership of Great Falls.
11) GFDA's
Loan Committee approved a $25,000 loan as part of a larger financing package including an SBA 504 loan that was approved last week and local bank financing. This loan will help the borrowers purchase inventory and cover ineligible SBA 504 costs for their purchase of a local business. If you need financing help to start, grow or expand your business please contact Mike Archer, GFDA's loan officer, for more information on the products and services we have available to help; 1-406-284-1789 or MArcher@GFdevelopment.org.
12)
Our
Fire It Up! business networking event
sponsored by Embark Credit Union will feature roundtable presentations and conversations led by experienced women business leaders. Topics include: marketing, packaging your business for financing, networking like a pro, legalities of hiring and firing in a nutshell, and creating a company culture to cultivate a work life balance. Join us November 14 at 5:30 PM in the Dark Horse Hall, lower level of the Celtic Cowboy. Register
here
13) Montana tourism hit a new record in 2016, attracting 12.3 million visitors who spent over $3 billion. The University of Montana's
Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research estimates tourism supported 34,700 jobs and $2.5 billion in statewide economic activity. Kiplinger's predicts that Alberta's economy is headed for a record 4.2% expansion this year after a 3.6% contraction in 2016 so that should help boost this year's tourism results.
14) Tourism may be boosted in our region with a new proposed Bigfoot Museum in Browning, see details in
Tribune story. And,
ExpoPark has replaced its basketball floor which is the scene of many exciting high school tournaments; see details at
The Electric.
16) We are pleased to announce that Shannon Clancy will be joining our GFDA team as our new Loan Servicing & Data Processing Associate. Sharon is a paralegal who has worked for the Cascade County Attorney's Office for the past 10 years. We interviewed many great candidates for this position and are excited to welcome Shannon to our team.
17) Kudos to the Great Falls Tribune for two extensive articles this week. One covered efforts to create a
National Heritage Area celebrating our Missouri River heritage, and one about the proposed
Madison Food Park.
Thank you to our investors and partners for your support. You make what we do possible! We are getting close on some new exciting deals. Now BE SURE TO VOTE!
