5/11/2016 9:00:00 AM
In recognition of the 90th anniversary of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Gov. Mark Dayton has proclaimed May 8-14 Economic Development Week in Minnesota. The IEDC is the largest professional economic development organization serving economic developers.
Read the governor’s proclamation /deed/assets/Economic%20Development%20Week_tcm1045-230060.pdfhere.
As part of the week’s events, DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy will speak at the CHS Redevelopment Tour Thurs., May 12. CHS Field is the St. Paul-owned 7,000-seat facility which is home to the St. Paul Saints.
DEED was a player in the redevelopment of the Lowertown ballpark: The 9.7-acre site was once on the top ten list for the most contaminated sites in Minnesota. It had been contaminated with volatile organic compounds, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, diesel range organics and lead. At one time, coal gas, personal care products and paper correction fluid had been manufactured there. In 2012, DEED awarded the city a $1 million Contamination Cleanup Grant. The project created 21 jobs, retained 36 and leveraged 10 million of private investments.
In addition to creating millions of dollars in economic impact annually, this project was the 2015 Minnesota Brownfields ReScape Award Winner for Environmental Impact, and a 2015 winner of an Honor Award from AIA (American Institute of Architects) Minnesota.
Today this up-and-coming neighborhood is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been hailed as one of the greatest community development stories in Minnesota.
For followers of economic development news, the CNBC ranking underscores what we already know: Minnesota offers the complete package.
Minnesota – home to 17 Fortune 500 companies, including Best Buy, UnitedHealth Group, Target, 3M and Hormel – is a great place for business. Minnesota’s top category was education, ranking second. Quality of life was another high-ranking category. CNBC also cited the state’s low crime rate, clean air and healthy residents. We earned a h/t for Minnesota’s overall economy and created more than 250,000 jobs since coming out of the recession.
Minnesota’s 2015 Business Expansion Projects report continues the story.
By the numbers, in 2015 there were:
Snapshots of 17 of those projects are included in the report: Alexandria Extrusion Co., Alexandria; Andersen Corp., Cottage Grove and North Branch; Sil-Pro, Delano; Viracon, Owatonna; Cirrus Aircraft Corp., Duluth; Smiths Medical, Plymouth; Werner Electric, Cottage Grove; Uponor, Apple Valley; Arctic Cat, Thief River Falls and St. Cloud; Amazon.com, Shakopee; Grede Holdings, St. Cloud; Lifecore Biomedical, Chaska; Sportech, Elk River; Mendell Inc., Lakeville; Rahr Corp., Shakopee; Fast Manufacturing, Windom; and Post Holdings, Lakeville.
The Angel Tax Credit Program is setting the stage for the next generation of companies in Minnesota. In 2015, 114 startups in the program attracted more than $70 million in investments.
The program has been a huge success since it was launched in 2010, attracting nearly $320 million for business startups. That’s capital that otherwise would not have been available to unproven startups that often struggle to get funding from traditional sources.
Listen here to how the Angel Tax Credit program has helped support some ground-breaking Minnesota companies.
In 2015, the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP) awarded 44 grants to post-secondary training institutions to help 59 businesses throughout the state with specific training needs.
These collaborations help Minnesota businesses remain competitive and build capacity at Minnesota training institutions. The projects will leverage $15.5 million in matching funds from the businesses and $1.3 million from the educational institutions. The grants are expected to benefit 10,894 workers – 10,306 current workers and 588 new hires.
Also, MJSP awarded $2.7 million for 21 Low Income Worker Training Program Grants that are expected to train 1,274 low-income people and to prepare them for the next stage of their career.
Getting word out about the MJSP is a priority: Eight statewide information sessions were held last year. Formal grant-signing events increase the visibility of the program and partners.
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