Archives for September 2016

Stewartville is home to a 57,500 sq ft facility built in 2014.  The space is already equipped with loading docks, clean rooms, HVAC, electrostatic flooring and other amenities that make it a valuable asset.

Article by: Cris Gastner

On August 8-10, CEDA Staff traveled to Fargo, ND to gather information on the community’s 1 Million Cups initiative.  CEDA is working closely with Rochester Area entrepreneurs to create a Kauffman Foundation-supported 1 Million Cups organization in our region.

Fargo is quickly becoming known for its budding entrepreneurial culture and attractiveness to young professionals. During this visit, meetings were also set with relevant organizations to discern if community projects to promote development and entrepreneurship could have any significance to CEDA’s work in its communities.  Because of similar climate and MSA populations, this information could be highly useful especially to the communities near the Rochester area.

Meetings took place with officials from; Greater Fargo Moorhead EDC, Emerging Prairie/The Prairie Den, Folkways, and the NDSU Economic Development/Research Park. The basis of each of these meetings was to investigate the history of each of the organizations mentioned and learn about how they are playing a role in creating the entrepreneurial culture that defines Fargo regionally.

The excitement around this culture is prevalent throughout the community as each of the organizations spoke promoted the work of the others, speaking to the energy and positivity that is driving the entire community forward. Several wonderful ideas were gleaned from these conversations and many valuable relationships were formed.

CEDA staff also attended the One Million Cups meeting in Fargo, which is the largest in the Midwest, in order to find out what makes it so successful. It was great to see all of the organizations we had met with the day before represented at the event as the community pride was definitely evident. Greg Tehven, founder of Emerging Prairie and lead organizer of the One Million Cups Initiative in Fargo, is one of the many new and exciting relationships for CEDA. Greg did a phenomenal job of making sure both our staff as well as our organization were connected to as many people as he could to make the trip highly valuable.

For more information on the fantastic organizations we met with and the great work they are doing for their area, please check out the following links. Greater Fargo Moorhead EDC – gfmedc.com, Emerging Prairie/The Prairie Den – emergingprairie.com, Folkways – folkways.co, and the NDSU Research and Technology Park – ndsuresearchpark.com

Article by: Chris Giesen

Harmony Receives $50,000 Grant for Emergency Management

Harmony was awarded a $50,0000 USDA Community Facilities grant to make several emergency management equipment improvements throughout the City.  “The grant will provide about two-thirds of the overall project cost to purchase and install back-up electric generators at the City’s two sanitary sewer lift stations and the cost of updating the electrical system at the City’s community center to accept a portable back-up electric generator,” said CEDA Vice President Chris Giesen who authored the grant.  “Currently in an power outage emergency situation city staff has to move a portable generator between the two lift stations to keep sewers flowing the correct way, and this grant eliminates that issue, freeing up precious time and man-power in an emergency situation.  It also improves the City’s ability to utilize its community center in emergency situations as a shelter, previously back-up electric power was not available at the facility”  he continued.