Greetings!
Things have certainly changed since our last investor letter on February 7th. I hope this finds you well and that your business is making its way through the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our GFDA team is doing everything we can think of to help businesses in the region survive the crisis and adapt to recover and prosper. We have been distributing information, toolkits, guides and notices almost daily. We’ve reached out individually by phone to over 500 businesses, hosted webinars and virtual meetups, provided stabilization and recovery loans, and worked one on one with dozens of companies and organizations.
In addition to helping existing businesses to survive and reposition, we are pursuing five objectives:
1)
Keep every possible business startup, expansion, attraction and real estate project in our pipeline alive and moving forward, or if they need to be postponed, wrap a protective cocoon around them so they are more likely to move forward in the near future.
2)
Increase business retention and expansion efforts, and pivot business attraction to identify and pursue new opportunities created by the pandemic.
3)
Continue key elements of our strategic plan, including strengthening the region’s entrepreneurial and investment ecosystem, downtown and river corridor revitalization, workforce housing, and talent attraction.
4)
Secure as many resources for the region as possible to put to work in stabilization, recovery and growth.
5)
Keep our organization healthy and financially strong, and help our partners to do the same. Accelerate investment in technology to make us more efficient and productive.
Thank you for your continued support! We appreciate how difficult this period has been and how uncertain the future can be, though we remain bullish on the prospects for the Great Falls region to recover and continue to diversify and grow. When the economy falters, economic development work increases in importance. Your investment support is critical to our ability to continue to provide services, pursue new opportunities, and use as match to secure state and federal resources for our region.
Please let me or any of our team members know if we can be of assistance in helping your business to recover, if you know of another business that could use some help, or if you know of a new opportunity we should pursue.
Let’s keep Great Falls and the Golden Triangle moving forward!
Brett
Brett Doney
President & CEO
1-406-750-2119
If you have not yet invested or reinvested, contact Teresa Schreiner at 406-781-9499 or
[email protected]
. The Great Falls Development Authority is a 501(c)3 charitable non-profit corporation and a certified Community Development Financial Institution.
Our Mission
Grow and diversify the Great Falls regional economy.
Create higher wage career opportunities.
Improve market competitiveness.
GFDA and High Plains Financial are Equal Opportunity Employers and Lenders.
