JEDC News, May 2018

STEM Summer Camps

Entertain and educate your kids during the summer hours by signing them up for our STEM summer camps. Your kids will experience the hardest fun they've ever had! We have NEW camps this year including 3D Design & Printing and Building a Lunar Colony. To sign up for Summer Camps, please visit http://www.jedc.org/stemak/summerprograms.

STEM camps teach hard skills for future careers, and foster valuable 21st-Century life skills like problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration.

Congratulations to Alaska Airlines!

Photo Credit: Alaska Airlines

J EDC Investor, Alaska Airlines, was recently awarded top ranking among Traditional Carriers in J.D. Power Satisfaction Study for the 11th consecutive year!

The study is based on 11,508 responses. It measures the satisfaction of business and leisure travelers who flew a major North America carrier between April 2017 and March 2018. Alaska won among traditional airlines with an overall score of 775, up 10 points from 2017, and highest of any traditional airline across five categories, including aircraft; cost and fees; boarding/deplaning/baggage; flight crew; and check-in.

Alaska Airlines improved its scores in every category compared to last year, with significant improvement in the aircraft category compared to last year, with significant improvement in the aircraft category, which includes condition of the aircraft, comfort, leg room, and storage. Over the last year, Alaska invested in updates to the guest experience including completing the roll out of Premium Class to Boeing 737-800, 900, and 900ER Fleets. Guests flying Premium Class receive more leg room, early boarding, a complimentary snacks, and drinks. In the past year, Alaska Airlines also added 15 spacious, three-class cabin E175s to its fleet. The airline is constantly making investments in the guest experience with the addition of high speed satellite connectivity, more free movies and TV content, new First Class and main cabin menu items, new craft beers and local wines selections, and coming later this summer, a new lounge experience, which includes an on-site barista.

Communal Kitchen Survey

JEDC is facilitating a group of Juneau entrepreneurs to explore whether and how to set up a shared commercial kitchen to support Juneau's emerging and expanding food businesses. If you have or know of a business that needs commercial kitchen space to expand or if you are looking to start one, please fill out a short commercial kitchen needs assessment survey HERE. Contact Margaret O'Neal for more info [email protected] or 907-523-2326.

Events Coming up

June 9 - How to Run for Local Office Workshop (flyer below)

June 25 - Entrepreneur Meet-Up at Amalga!

June 25 - Lunch Workshop on Intrastate Crowdfunding with Amy Pearl (flyer below)

June 27 - Vitalize Alaska Business Conference

June 30 - Southeast Alaska Cornhole Invitational (a Downtown Business Association fundraiser)

Juneau Maritime Festival RECAP

Thank you for joining us for the 9th Annual Maritime Festival! We had a great turnout, decent weather, and lots of fun celebrating Juneau's maritime history, culture, and commerce.

Photo Credit goes to Michael Penn.

Economic Indicator: Cruise Visitors to Juneau Will Increase 20 Percent by 2019

The record number of cruise visitors to Juneau in 2017 is expected to be surpassed in 2018 by 7 percent, with 1.15 million passengers stopping here. Newly released estimates from the cruise industry predict that 2019 will be an even larger record-breaking year, bringing almost 1.3 million cruise passengers. This is an increase of 20 percent over the 2017 season. The Norwegian Bliss, a new addition in 2018, will be the biggest cruise ship to visit at 4,000 passengers. It was built specifically for the Alaskan market.

The cruise industry is vital to Juneau's economy, providing one of our largest private sector sources of jobs and wages. In addition, the sector generates about 18 percent of the sales taxes collected in Juneau and brings $13 million in passenger fees to CBJ to help mitigate the impacts and costs of the growing passenger numbers.

Investor Spotlight:

The Juneau Economic Development Council thanks Alaska Marine Lines for its continual support. Alaska Marine Lines provides highly reliable marine transportation of all types of freight to and from Southeast Alaska, Central Alaska, Prince William Sound and the Yukon Territory of Canada. In addition, they offer a full range of intermodal service options and door-to-door, fully insured freight management services. As a full-service marine transportation company, we move all types of freight to and from Alaska - from necessities like groceries and cars to oversized cranes and other bulky materials for diverse projects in the mining, oil and construction industries. Our equipment includes dry and refrigerated containers, all sizes of tugs and barges and specialized pieces for the most complex projects. Whether your cargo is oversize, refrigerated, hazardous, less-than-container or full-container, we'll get it there safely, efficiently and within your budget. We are part of the Lynden family of companies.

Become a JEDC Investor

We invite you to invest in Juneau by becoming a JEDC Investor. Show your support of the work we do to forward Juneau and Southeast's economy.

By supporting JEDC you are supporting the long-term economic success of Alaska's capital city, and creating a business climate that in turn supports your business or organization.

To learn more about our investor program, please visit www.JEDC.org/investors or send an email to Dana Herndon.