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