Fire Within was a huge success! Nearly 200 people joined in celebrating the 32 Aspire/Inspire Award Winners. Visit our website for the list of Aspire and Inspire Award winners. Thank you to The Fire Within event sponsors Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana and Alluvion Health. Watch our social media channels next week for features on each of the Inspire and Aspire winners. 

1) Site work started on the 216-unit student housing project Benefis Health System and Farran Realty Partners are developing adjacent to the Touro Montana Medical School. Construction is underway on the new Great Falls Public Schools dedicated fiber network; see KRTV.

Vision Net has acquired iConnect Montana. The combined companies will operate under the Vision Net brand. The move positions Vision Net to meet increased customer demand across the state and the region in the rapidly-evolving telecommunications industry—notably the need for edge computing.

We closed a $950,000 gap loan to Starry Night Hospitality to aid in the redevelopment of a downtown Great Falls property to create an upscale boutique hotel, The Gibson. Gap financing is available to fill the difference between what a bank or credit union can offer and the equity the client can bring to the table. Many thanks to Sarah Daul of Citizens Alliance Bank for her tireless effort on this project and for being a great banking partner. If you want to discuss different financing options that GFDA may be able to provide, please contact Jill Kohles at 406-590-1056 or [email protected].

Congratulations to the 12th Missile Squadron at Malmstrom AFB on winning the Omaha Trophy for the best missile squadron in the U.S. Strategic Command for 2021! See KFBB.

The Great Falls MSA had its lowest April unemployment rate on record at 2.7% according to data released by the Montana Department of Labor.

Our Announcement of the Week was Independence Bank in Shelby. This full-service branch opened in April and will have its grand opening in June. Congratulations to the Independence Bank team in Shelby! Watch the Announcement of the Week here.

Congratulations to the CMR, Great Falls High, Belt, and Simms high school teams that won $500 cash prizes in the Montana Chamber's The Prospects entrepreneur pitch competition! And special congratulations to the Simms team that won first runner-up statewide! GFDA and the Great Falls Area Chamber provided the cash for the prizes.

Congratulations to the winners of the Electric City Shark Tank high school entrepreneur competition hosted by the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce: 1st place Haley Tompers with 2th Brush; 2nd place Lezlie Phattavong and Mikayla Saalfeld with SLUMP; and, Emma O'Rourke, Keegan O'Rourke, and Shyla Belcourt with Humanity Hoodie!

Thank you to our partners at Snowy Mountain Development Corporation for hosting two QuickBooks classes and 31 attendees in Lewistown. Thank you as well to GFDA investor and QuickBooks trainer Wendy Weissman for deferring our profit sharing agreement to allow us to reinvest profits from the class to help more clients. Wendy is delivering four QuickBooks trainings in our region in June. Check our events calendar for details.

Networked with angel investment groups from across the country at the Angel Capital Association's annual conference, part of our planning to launch an angel network in the Great Falls region. Participated in the Montana International Trade & Investment Day event. Travelled to Lethbridge to meet with our economic development colleagues across the border to discuss future partnership efforts. Co-taught the annual ethics workshop for Economic Developers Alberta.

Another redevelopment on 10th Avenue south is moving forward. The Great Falls City Commission approved vacating the alley behind the former Cartwheel at 10th Avenue and 19th Street to make it possible for Talcott Properties to develop a new restaurant there.

The City has earned a better rating from FEMA that will lower flood plain insurance for city residents by 20%; see TheElectric.

Congratulations to Dr. Kristen Boroff and her husband, Barnett Sporkin-Morrison, on opening Moggies & Mutts Family Animal Clinic in Choteau. The new veterinary practice specializes in treating cats, dogs and other small pets. See Choteau Acantha for full story.

Big Sky Processing near Lewistown is set to open a new USDA inspected meat processing plant, see KRTV.

We closed a $173,000 SBA 504 loan for Elk River Books located in Livingston, Montana. Elk River Books is a bookstore that specializes in rare and collectible literature, along with works by regional authors. They have been growing and was ready to stop leasing and purchase their own space. Many thanks to their excellent commercial banker Heather Malcolm at the Bank of the Rockies for recommending this great product to them. If your commercial space isn’t keeping up with your growing business or you’d like to buy instead of lease, please contact Jill Kohles at 406-590-1056 or [email protected] to find out how we can help.

Congratulations to the CMR and Great Falls High School students on completion of the 44th Great Falls High School House! See KRTV.

Join us June 1st at The Newberry in Great Falls as we celebrate the accomplishments of our community partners, clients, and investors at the GFDA Annual Meeting. Register here.

The proposed 25-unit affordable senior housing Carter Commons development won a preliminary allocation of tax credits from the Montana Board of Housing. We were proud to testify in support of the project; see TheElectric. The project will be developed across from Carter Park in Great Falls.

Great Falls was named one of the Five Best Cities in Montana by WorldAtlas.

USDA announced that commodity and specialty crop producers impacted by natural disaster events in 2020 and 2021 will soon begin receiving emergency relief payments totaling approximately $6 billion through the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) new Emergency Relief Program (ERP) to offset crop yield and value losses. For more information please visit the USDA website or contact Justin Loch at [email protected].

An Assistance for Business Clinic will be held in Great Falls on June 8th from 8 AM to 5 PM. The ABC clinics are designed to assist new and established employers, accountants, bookkeepers, HR professionals and attorneys to proactively prevent unnecessary claims or charges. Includes presentations by MT Departments of Labor & Industry, Health & Human Services, and Revenue. Register here.

The Montana Food & Beverage Show will be held November 7th in Missoula. Register at: AGR.MT.GOV/FOOD-AND-BEVERAGE-SHOW.

Montana State University will offer a Food Product Development Course this fall, with funding available for students to partner with companies on projects related to market analysis, recipes, shelf-life testing, nutritional labels, consumer evaluation, and other topics. For more information on developing a project opportunity for this course, contact Dr. Wan-Yuan Kuo, Director of the MSU Food Product Development Lab at [email protected]

Our community is built on supporting one another. GFDA’s investors are truly driving the growth and exciting changes in the region. Recent investments include: Flagship Division—VisionNet, Community Division—Hybrid Steel Design, LLC and McLaughlin Research Institute. We are so thankful for their continued support and because of them we can keep providing businesses & entrepreneurs with the wide range of services we offer. If you want to be a part of the team that is growing the region, contact Investment Director Jenn Gallmeier at 406-781-9499 or [email protected].

Go Great Falls Voyagers!

Brett Doney

President & CEO

Connect with me on LinkedIn to network with the Great Falls Montana region. Forward the GFDA Top 10 to friends and colleagues. You can join our distribution list HERE or text GFDA to 22828.

Subscribe to the Grow Great Falls Montana YouTube channel!

"Being an entrepreneur is hard. Having supportive and caring investors helps."

Fred Wilson

Here is a Growth Highlights for the Great Falls Montana Trade Area. Our Menu of Services and Staff Team handout. Here is our our Quarterly Investor Letter and our GFDA 2022Q1 Quarter Index. In case you missed it at Ignite 2022, we unveiled our new We Are Great Falls video!

If your company needs a rail-served, BNSF-Certified, shovel-ready site with all municipal services at your door, we have lots available for immediate construction in the Great Falls AgriTech Park. Contact Jolene Schalper at 1.406.750.4481 or [email protected]

The 25-year loan effective rate (including all fees) came in at 5.117%; 20-year at 5.057%; 10-year equipment loan at 4.922%; and, 20-year refinance 5.071%; 25-year refinance 5.130%. These rates are FIXED for the life of the loan and are inclusive of all fees. If you would like to find out how to get financing for commercial real estate and equipment at potentially lower rates than you're paying for your home mortgage, please contact Jill Kohles at 406-590-1056 or [email protected].

Save the dates for four new trainings we’ve recently added to our Business Education Calendar this summer. We’ll be hosting our cash flow and profitability course Profit Mastery on July 8th and July 15th. We’re also launching a new training to inspire and educate entrepreneurs about becoming a franchise owner. Becoming a Franchisee: An Alternate Path to Business Ownership will be hosted in-person July 29 and via a two-part webinar August 11 and August 18.

Great Falls College MSU is working with partners to create a CDL Truck Driving program in Great Falls. They need full-time and part-time instructors -- download job description -- and employers to support this important workforce development effort with funds, equipment, and commitments to recruit participants and hire successful graduates. Contact Tammie Hickey at 406-771-5104 or [email protected].

The transition is complete! The D-U-N-S number has gone away, and the SAM.gov-generated Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) isnow the authoritative identifier for all U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and Integrated Award Environment (IAE) systems. If you are registered in SAM.gov (active or not), you have already been assigned a UEI (SAM). To register your business in SAM.gov for the first time, get a UEI (SAM), or to find out more information about how this transition affects you, contact your Great Falls PTAC and connect with Shannon at [email protected]     

Montana STEP grants can pay for 75% of your international export marketing efforts up to $10,000. The Montana TechLink Center at MSU is offering a new round of workshops on how to win Small Business Innovation Research funding.

What’s it like to live in Great Falls Montana? Get a glimpse through the new Great Falls 2022 Livability Magazine! Livability Great Falls is a tool for recruiting people from outside our community and is one of the tools for our Talent Attraction campaign. We also have a Email List to share resumes of trailing partners and others and we promote Hot Jobs – jobs that would entice people to move here. If you are recruiting people from outside Great Falls, click here to join our recruiter email list and learn more.

Join us for the June Strategic Teaming Alliance Roundtable (STAR) hosted by PTAC in alliance with Northrop Grumman Corporation on June 16 at 8:00 AM MST. This is the second event in a series of STAR roundtables designed to assist businesses with navigating and benefiting from doing business with the federal government and large federal contractors (often referred to as Primes). Connect with panelists from businesses that are currently successfully performing as prime and subcontractors. Learn helpful tips to assist you in achieving your government contracting goals. REGISTER!

USDA launched a Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) to help compensate producers with their livestock losses incurred by adverse weather or attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by the Federal Government. LIP payments are equal to 75% the average fair market value of the livestock. For more information visit the USDA website here.

We have migrated our pre-business workshop for early stage and pre-venture startups to a self-paced, video-facilitated, online format. Business Basics for Startups is now live and ready for beta testing. If you’d like to check out the content and provide feedback, we’d appreciate it. Click here to check out the new modules and resources. Please direct feedback to Rich at [email protected].

Montana Rapid Retraining funds are available to help more people enroll in workforce training programs and expand industry-driven accelerated workforce training courses. The Great Falls Job Service can assist with Rapid Retaining Efforts. Contact Beth Schmidt at 406-791-5869 or [email protected]. For business strategy/planning help to take advantage of this one-time opportunity, contact our Small Business Development Center (SBDC) regional director, Jason Nitschke at [email protected]

What if you could step back for a couple hours a month, discuss issues with similar size companies and work on your business growth? We invite CEOs to join PeerSpectives, a CEO roundtable system with structured, facilitate protocols. When companies reach the second stage (typically 10+ employees, $1m + in revenue) they have unique challenges and this model is designed to maximize your opportunities. Call Jason Nitschke to discuss, 750.0314. Participation is limited by size and industry. Learn more about this proven system here.

Attention Veteran-Owned Businesses! In less than a year the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE) will transfer to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). As of January 1, 2023, all functions of VA’s CVE will be handled by the SBA. To help make this a seamless transition, we encourage all self-certified SDVOSBs to complete the verification process through the VA now before the transfer becomes effective. Please start the verification process at https://vetbiz.va.gov/vip/. For more information on starting the verification process, contact Lillian Sunwall at [email protected]. 

The best resource we scan daily to stay abreast of business and community innovation is MATR.net (Montana Associated Technology Roundtables) which we are proud to help sponsor. Sign up for their free newsletter.

The Montana Department of Commerce launched an investment matchmaking website for Montana business projects. The Opportunity Exchange’s - Montana Investment Portal is a website where investors can easily view and connect to projects in the state. Click here to view listed projects. Click here to get your investment project listed on the portal. For help posting your project or property on the Montana Investment Portal, contact Kristian Richardson at 406-841-2032 or [email protected].

We've released the Great Falls Childcare Demand Assessment that shows a need for additional childcare facilities to serve 580 children in Great Falls. For assistance with childcare facility business planning, contact Jason Nitschke at [email protected].

Join the Trailing Partner Email Group specifically for employers to share resumes of trailing spouses/partners across the Great Falls region with other employers looking to hire. “Your (Live in Great Falls) website is very impressive and helpful! Great Falls looks amazing, and we love what we've seen real estate-wise, and business-wise.” This quote was from an email sent to us from a couple considering relocation to Great Falls. We will be sharing their resumes (with their permission) on the Trailing Partner Email Group.

We've released the Great Falls Housing Market Assessment that shows a need for over 450 new housing units per year in the immediate Great Falls area. For assistance with housing development, contact Jake Clark at [email protected] or 1-406-403-4937.

Looking to take control of your business’s financials, increase profit, and improve your bottom line? We have had interest from businesses in scheduling a Profit Mastery course. These courses are scheduled by demand. If you are interested in taking this two-day workshop, contact Jason Nitschke at [email protected] or call (406) 750-0314.

Visit our relocation website LiveInGreatFalls.com. This website was the #1 request we got from local recruiters and HR professionals for aiding in attracting talented workers to Great Falls. The Great Falls At-A-Glance two-pager is a great complementary resource that highlights Great Falls for people unfamiliar with our community.

We have Brownfield Clean-Up money that we want to put to work! Our low interest Brownfield Loans can be used to clean up hazardous materials including but not limited to lead paint, asbestos, etc. Are you working on a project that could use some clean up? Call Lillian today to discuss eligibility 406.750.1253 or [email protected].

The Montana Manufacturing Extension Center (MMEC) is offering a Cybersecurity Challenge to Montana manufacturers. They are also offering Lean 101 workshops in May. Sign up here to get email notice of all of MMEC's services and trainings. We're proud to host an MMEC business adviser who covers the Golden Triangle region. Contact Doug Roberts at [email protected] or (937) 489-3985.

Of our online business planning tool, LivePlan, one said: "LivePlan is Awesome!" The LivePlan tool is helping her streamline her strategy in preparation for presenting to bank partners. We offer LivePlan licenses for free to active clients. Learn more about LivePlan on our website.

All of our recorded monthly business strategy webinars are available online for viewing anytime, click them out here.

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