First step toward riverfront homes in downtown Great Falls!
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Here is our Top 11 for this week celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen the Great Falls regional economy -- Montana's Golden Triangle. And, sharing business resources and skill-building opportunities to empower your success.
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1) The first cohort of our new accelerator class for early-stage companies, Accelerate Your Startup, completed its fourth and final module. We will celebrate these seven graduates with a Business Pitch In event on Tuesday, June 28th from 11 AM - 1 PM at The Wild Hare (located at 518 Central Avenue in Great Falls). Save the date and join us to hear the pitches of these new businesses and enjoy opportunity to buy a great lunch.
2) We made $150,000 in gap loans to support redevelopment of the Metropolitan Building on Central Avenue in downtown Great Falls, leveraging an investment of over $700,000 in the property.
3) June seems to be Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) month! We are reaching out to dozens of companies that would make a great fit in our market in preparation for our virtual Select USA SpinOff summit Invest in Great Falls Montana on June 22 at 8 AM Mountain Time and hope to meet them in person in DC at the annual Select USA Investment Summit June 26-29. Learn more about our FDI efforts here.
4) Each week Great Falls Tribune reporter Traci Rosenbaum features Inspire/Aspire Award winners honored at 2022 Fire Within in Great Falls. This article shares the stories of Molly McGonigal of 406 Cookies and Bonnie Beuning of Century 21 Northwest Realty. Congratulations to the 2022 Fire Within Award winners!
6) TC Glass hosted an open house at their new location at 1300 River Drive North in Great Falls. TC Glass is a third-generation company operated by Tye and Cody Habel. The recent expansion will provide TC Glass the opportunity to grow their fabrication operations. Tye credits GFDA for helping with the expansion, "GFDA was very helpful with the zoning process, and to make the expansion possible we needed gap financing. GFDA stepped in with Stockman Bank to help us fund the purchase. Without GFDA it wouldn't have been possible." Congratulations to TC Glass!
7) Independence Bank is growing by leaps and bounds in Montana. Their newest branch will be located on River Drive North in Great Falls and is set to open in August. Learn more about Independence Bank's services in the Announcement of the Week. Thank you for investing in the Great Falls region!
8) The effective SBA 504 loan rates for June, including all fees, are 5.187% for a 25-year loan, 5.127% for a 20-year loan, and 4.922 for a 10-year equipment loan. Refinancing loans came in at 5.200% for 25 years, 5.141 for 20 years, and 4.938% for 10 years. Interest rates on SBA 504 loans are fixed for the life of the loan. Using the SBA 504 loan structure for your business real estate, long-term equipment, and refinancing needs can make it possible for you to invest as low as 10% of the deal, preserving your cash to fund business operations. These loans can be used for property acquisition, including commercial condos, construction, renovations and equipment purchase. Contact Jill Kohles for more information at [email protected] or 1-406-590-1056.
9) We received our 2021 Financial Award from the Community Development Financial Institution Fund of the U.S. Treasury, $266,530 in grant funds matched 1:1 by our local investors and $500,000 in the form of a long-term loan that will be matched by a $500,000 loan from the Montana Board of Investments. We plan to immediately invest much of this new loan capital into an important project in Great Falls to enable it to move forward. Some of the new capital must be invested in Glacier County where we have a remote-located Rural Business Adviser, Rich Gannon. For help starting or growing your business, contact Rich at [email protected] or 1-406-836-2078.
10) Team members Christian, Jake, Jenn, Justin and Lyndsay are headed to Colorado next week for the Basic Economic Development course. This course will better prepare our team as economic development professionals and qualifies as part of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) designation. Did you know that out of only four Certified Economic developers in the state of Montana, two, Brett Doney and Jolene Schalper, are on Team GFDA? If you need expert economic development support for your complex big idea for Great Falls, reach out to the GFDA Team.
11) Learn more about what it takes to drive growth in the region by viewing this short VIDEO. These investors are the reason we can keep working to help grow the local economy & bring higher wage opportunities. Recent investments include: Community Division—Shumaker Trucking & Excavating Contractors, Inc. If you are interested in joining our team of investors, or just want to visit about how you can help to grow Great Falls, contact Investment Director Jenn Gallmeier at 406-781-9499 or [email protected].
Lots of great local businesses at the Great Falls Farmers Market!
Brett
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.
"The path from dreams to success does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get on to it, and the perseverance to follow it."
Kalpana Chawla
Edition 536
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Cost-Effective Rail-Served Industrial Sites Available
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]
June SBA 504 Loan Rates
The 25-year loan effective rate (including all fees) came in at 5.187%; 20-year at 5.127%; 10-year equipment loan at 4.922%; and, 20-year refinance 5.141%; 25-year refinance 5.200%. 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].
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Events, Business Training, and Opportunities
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Early Stage Montana is bringing its roadshow to Great Falls on June 22nd. They are recruiting for their 2022 Accelerator Series cohort and are coming to town to meet with startups and bring the local tech community together for one evening. Entrepreneurs, advisors, or anyone interested in getting involved in the local tech startup scene are invited to attend the Early Stage Montana Roadshow Receptions. Register here.
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.
The Montana Innovation Partnership is offering a number of trainings and an accelerator program for companies interested in pursuing Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants.
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].
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.
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].
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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Our Mission
Grow diverse economic opportunities that enhance quality of life.
GFDA is a certified Community Development Financial Institution and a 501(c)3 charitable organization. High Plains Financial is a certified Community Development Corporation that offers SBA 504 loans statewide. GFDA and High Plains Financial are Equal Opportunity Employers and Lenders.
GFDA is proud to host a Montana Small Business Development Center, a Montana Procurement Technical Assistance Center, and a Montana Food & Ag Development Center. We are also proud to provide office space for MSU's Montana Manufacturing Extension Center and an SBA Women's Business Center in partnership with the University of Montana and the Montana Native Growth Fund.
GFDA was the first economic development organization in the Rocky Mountain West to earn accreditation from the International Economic Development Council.
For more info, click to our website.
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