Investors & Partners,

Happy New Year! 🎉 We're now in July and moving right along in fiscal year 2024! We're so excited to share our 2023 milestones and our 2024 vision and goals at our upcoming full board meeting on Wednesday, July 19 at 10am. Please make plans to attend; we'll have a full agenda, and since we will be at the Aetos Center at Nixa High, stick around for a tour of the beautiful new facility also!

Tourism ad used by SMCC in June, drawing on Christian County's diverse shopping opportunities

We're in the thick of summertime now, and so we wanted to remind our friends and partners of the numerous opportunities for business development in our region happening now, including workshops, resources, and more! SBDC Missouri hosts several seminars all through the month, and don't forget the State of the State 2023 happening at the end of the month. The Christian County Library also has helpful resources for small businesses, and SCORE SW Missouri hosts online and in-person workshops as well! Stay sharp to avoid the summer slump!

As always, we are incredibly thankful for our investors and partners. We treasure your constant support and engagement. Have a wonderful day!

Kristen Haseltine

President/CEO - Show Me Christian County

417-496-5987 (cell)

Visit us at showmeccmo.com

The next Show Me Christian County full board meeting will take place at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at the Aetos Center for Performing Arts at Nixa High School. Be sure to mark your calendars, and watch out for more information!

FY2023 was a big year for Show Me, and we're thrilled to be able to share a few milestones and achievements with you. First and foremost, we were engaged with 14 projects in various capacities and responded to 10 local business leads. Our hospitality study, now hosted on our website, was also completed, and we had the opportunity to help multiple municipal entities and local organizations with grant applications for placemaking efforts. Advocacy was also important this year, as we made two trips to Jefferson City to meet with lawmakers, while holding meetings with legislators locally as well.

We were thrilled to see that our engagement on social media skyrocketed to nearly 50,000 impressions in FY2023, a huge leap from just 5,000 impressions the year prior. Around 25,000 of those impressions were the direct result of our spring and summer targeted advertising campaigns, which have also shown impressive clickthrough rates and engagement. As we continue to produce original videos, blogs, and news releases, we expect to see these numbers to continue to climb.

Seminar: Winning Government Contracts

This introductory monthly 2-hour seminar is an overview of the critical first steps associated with winning government contracts. Taking place July 12 at 9am, this seminar covers how to get started in government contracting arena including federal, state and local government registrations and certifications. Hosted by SBDC Missouri.

Click here for more info!

State of the State 2023

Keynote speaker Governor Mike Parson will be presenting on economic opportunities, workforce development, and infrastructure investment at this year's State of the State, hosted by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, July 27 at Great Southern Bank Arena. Cost to attend is $50, or $500 for a table; doors open at 11am!

Click here for more info and to register!

The Missouri Department of Economic Development received funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to assist with economic recovery efforts. The following grant applications are open or will open soon. Please follow the link for more information about these grants.

• Entertainment Industry
• Applications are open!
• Nonprofit
• Applications are open!
• Cell Tower
• Applications are open!

After a soft opening in late June, 14 Mill Market is officially open for business! It was a long road getting here, but it's paid off, as the food hall has already made an enormous splash in Nixa!

Not sure what a food hall is? You're in for a treat. 14 Mill Market features 11 different vendor concepts, all of them locally-developed, cooked from scratch, and all unique. The food hall is also equipped with a full-service bar, rentable meeting area, outdoor games, and more!

Show Me Christian County had the privilege of assisting the Callahans with financial projections and business plan refinement as they worked to bring their incredible dream to fruition. To learn more about 14 Mill Market, click here!

A big congratulations to Rich and Leah Callahan on the completion of 14 Mill Market!

Every month, we title our newsletter after a song that seems fitting. Unfortunately, everyone knows it was the Beatles who originally recorded "Here Comes the Sun." It's a track on not only their most popular album, but one of the most iconic albums in music history.

Instead, we'll frame our trivia question differently.

How many times has "Here Comes the Sun" been covered by other artists?