6.2 EDSR 03-20-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Community Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Meeting Amanda attended the Sherburne County Economic Competiveness meeting. Sherburne County has partnered with Central Minnesota Jobs and Training, the Federal EDA, Xcel Energy and the Initiative Foundation to create a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the 7W District. The partnership includes Benton, Stearns and Wright Counties and will greatly increase our chances of receiving future Federal EDA project dollars. The conversation focused on regional economic development strategies and goals. The meeting was facilitated by Central Minnesota Jobs and Training's Economic Development Coordinator, Jennifer Russell. Below are some goals that were identified as a result of the meeting: 1. Promoting youth apprenticeship programs 2. Create a Regional Marketing Strategy 3. Create a Regional Revolving Loan Fund 4. Foster Business Succession Planning 5. Leverage Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation and Greater MSP 6. Leverage Private Sector and Promote Public Sector Grant Opportunities for Broadband Development throughout the region The strategies and goals from our conversation will be included in our regional CEDS plan. Projects that are included as part of the CEDS document have historically had much greater odds of receiving implementation funding through the Federal EDA. Two more meetings will occur over the next few months and will cover the following topics: The meetings are open to the public. 1. Community Resources 2. Foundational Assets Site Selector Guild Conference Amanda attended the 6th Annual Site Selector Guild Conference in Tucson. The guild comprises of 44 of the most prominent Site Selectors from around the world. Elk River was able to take advantage of the Gold Sponsorship in partnership with DEED, APEX, City of Fairmount, City of Becker, Great River Energy, Xcel Energy and WSB. Sherburne County contributes to half of our cost to attending the conference. The Gold Sponsorship allowed our group to have a private, 2.5 hour lunch with 14 Guild Members. This gave our group an opportunity to highlight each of our communities and/or organizations. This meeting was highly effective and gave the guild members an opportunity to ask questions about each of our communities. Guild Member Jason Hickey was involved in facilitating and developing one of the data centers in Elk River. He spoke of the ease of working with the city on the project. Three of the fourteen Guild members in attendance were from Germany, England, and Canada. The number of conference attendees is limited to 350. Being part of a larger delegation allows us to participate in the conference and take advantage of the opportunities that a sponsorship of this level has. EDA City Beautification Committee Meeting The first meeting of the EDA City Beautification Committee was held this week. The City Beautification Committee serves to recognize business owners, whom have made an effort to clean, repair, improve, and enhance the overall aesthetics of their property to maintain the beauty of their neighborhood. The Committee is tasked to select an applicant during the Months of May through October that has made substantial improvements to the exterior of their building and/or landscape in the past year. The committee will select a second applicant whom shows effort to consistently maintain their property in an attractive well -kept manner. Saff will be promoting the program and encouraging the submittal of new applications through the chamber, word of mouth, social media and our website.