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GFMEDC ∙ 51 Broadway, Suite 500 ∙ Fargo, ND 58102 ∙ 701-364-1900

Greater Fargo Moorhead EDC2015 Projects & Initiatives

Projects & Initiatives

General EDC Initiatives:Valley Prosperity Partnership (VPP) - The VPP initiative, led by the Greater Fargo Moorhead EDC, Grand Forks EDC and approximately twenty-six leaders created an action-oriented strategy focused on six key areas for high value and sustained economic growth in the Red River Valley in both North Dakota and Minnesota. Marketing for these key areas is fully supported by the Fargo Moorhead and Grand Forks EDCs and actions are carried out through the work of the following committees:

• Workforce • Infrastructure• Entrepreneurial • Water• Marketing • Research

GFMEDC Strategic Plan – This report identifies current and future trends and conditions, primary sector opportunities, business develop-ment eco-system, value proposition in marketing and outreach and infrastructure demands for the GFMEDC.Regional Workforce Study – In partnership with the Chamber, United Way, Convention and Visitors Bureau, and FM Area Foundation, this is a comprehensive study regarding the current state of workforce development, training recruitment and attainment in our region which will result in action steps to address this challenge.

GFMEDC 2015 Projects & Initiatives |


Projects & Initiatives

General EDC Initiatives continued:Speakers Bureau – Created by the GFMEDC; more than 50 business leaders, entrepreneurs, non-profit leaders, and government representa-tives have agreed to volunteer their time to speak to K-12 and higher-education classrooms. FM Diversion Support- The GFMEDC partners with the Chamber’s Busi-ness Leaders Taskforce to support the diversion encouraging business leaders to support diversion efforts and educate legislators on the impact of diversion.Municipal & County Support – GFMEDC staff contributes to city and county meetings, answering questions and providing information to committees, councils and commissions as requested. Technology – GFMEDC utilizes Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a content management system. GFMEDC staff continues to implement and refine the system to track business retention and HR visits, projects and data to better service our primary-sector companies. Dakota Fiber Initiative- GFMEDC helped fund and participates in this statewide initiative focused on broadband policy and assessment. We have provided active leadership toward this effort to include a focus on the legislative and funding process to provide affordable, world class internet speed and reliability to residents and businesses.Presentations: Our organization reaches out to the public through presentations and speaking engagements such as: Chamber Economic Outlook Forum, FMHRA, Park Company, Small Business Innovation Summit, Governor’s Summit, CareerX held at NDSU, Kiwanis and Optimist’s Club, MSUM panel discussions, and International Legislators Forum.


Business Retention & Expansion/Research

GFMEDC Initiatives:SmartBook – The GFMEDC developed this tool to provide an overview of state incentives in North Dakota and Minnesota for area businesses. These books are also regularly distributed to local lending institutions and other service providers to give information on opportunitiesfor local businesses.

Professional service provider awareness meetings- The GFMEDC creates and maintains relationships with commercial brokers and business bankers to inform them of the various Smart-Book programs as well as GFMEDC programs such as Speakers Bureau and Education That Works and to discuss the workforce strategic plan efforts.Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) Visit program –GFMEDC visits 150-200 primary-sector businesses each year to learn about industry trends,opportunities and challenges companies may face. The EDC informs business leaders about incentives, assists in expansions and helps with workforce needs. We also discuss local GFMEDC programs, such as Speakers Bureau during these visits. Our goal is to be able to anticipate trends to help our community prepare for changes and opportunities. Of the companies we met with in 2014, we provided assistance to 53% and of that, 42% turned into expansion projects.


GFMEDC Initiatives continued:Targeted Attraction – The GFMEDC assists MN and ND state economic development offices with business attraction in targeted sec-tors by preparing comprehensive proposal packages. We respond to direct inquiries and inquiries from site selectors. Our targeted industry sectors include UAS, IT, embedded technology, value-added ag, distri-bution centers and data centers. Sector Initiative Summits – The GFMEDC facilitates conversations with industry and education leaders to discuss synergies, opportunities and workforce readiness. The EDC is responsible for and follows up on the deliverables from these action summits. The EDC forms com-mittees and facilitates conversations between groups to identify trends, opportunities, challenges for the upcoming year. The GFMEDC hosted an IT sector summit 3rd quarter of 2014. Growth Initiative Fund (GIF) Management - GFMEDC manages the GIF revolving loan pool for expanding primary-sector businesses. The GIF continues to explore potential new funding programs to aid in financing gaps.Economic Indicators– The GFMEDC gathers data that provides an overview of the current economic conditions of our metro. The Eco-nomic Indicators are distributed along with the GFMEDC newsletters. Indicator categories include Labor, Wages, Housing Permits, Cost of Living, Hector International Airport Boardings, and Sales & Use Tax.



GFMEDC Initiatives Continued:Public Inquiries – The GFMEDC responds to inquiries for demo-graphic, community and general information from various organizations, businesses and other public members.Annual Primary-Sector Employment and Capital Investment Survey – The GFMEDC administers an annual survey of primary-sector companies to get a pulse on employment and investment trends. GFMEDC has been collecting employment data since 2005 and introduced the capital investment section in 2013.Cost of Living Data Collection — The GFMEDC collects cost of living data as a member of a larger organization, The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) cost of living index. This index measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services and is based on six component categories: housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services. Fargo Moorhead is one of approximately 300 participating MSA’s. The GFMEDC has been collecting this information since 2003.




New Initiatives for 2015: Develop a proactive approach to attract new business in targeted industries based on the 2015 GFMEDC Strategic Plan. We will continue to improve on report out of information.Enhance relationships with higher education institutions as it pertains to business development. Companies need to be in class-rooms, sponsoring student activities, senior design problems, and hiring in order to have a healthy pipeline to college graduates. They need connections to specific departments. Local firms can have a major impact if they commit to an active engagement at the higher ed level. We will facilitate these introductions and make sure industry members know who and where the access points are. Host summits in healthcare, engineering and manufacturing. Following up with both industry and education to move initiatives forward and help to create communication between higher education and industry.

GFMEDC Supports:Relationships with state and regional economic development agencies – The GFMEDC provides feedback and insight to the ND Dept. of Commerce, ND Economic Development Foundation, EDND, DEED, EDAM and to advisory committees on programming and activi-ties. The GFMEDC provides insight and recommendations on legislative issues and EDC staff attend conferences and events. These informational and communication exchange events provide valuable dialogue, networking and benchmarking. We will continue to serve on the EDND Board.SSBCI (State Small Business Credit Initiative) — The GFMEDC assists with the SSBCI which was formed when the government provid-ed funding for small business to be used to enable growth or retention of employment. The 38 participating municipalities formed the North Dakota Opportunity Fund gap financing program. GFMEDC serves as the City of Fargo’s representative on the steering committee and the loan committee.

Entrepreneurial Support and Development

GFMEDC Initiatives:Entrepreneurial Resource – The GFMEDC continues to build trusted relationships with the entrepreneurial community and provid-ers who may be a resource to entrepreneurs. GFMEDC meets with entrepreneurs and evaluates their current stage to provide relevant information or make connections. We work closely with Emerging Prairie and other organizations to build the entrepreneurial community.

New Initiatives for 2015:Coding School/Bootcamps – The GFMEDC assists in the assess-ment of existing and needed coding programs. This initiative formally began in September 2014 with a gathering of organizations and individuals looking to increase opportunities to learn to code. The next stage will be collaboration and implementation of new and/or collective programs. Accelerator Program – GFMEDC will research the demand, timing and needs for developing a startup accelerator-type program in the community.




GFMEDC Supports:Startup Weekend- In the 54-hour event, teams take a business concept from pitch to market-ready. Since 2013, the GFMEDC has assisted in sponsoring and facilitating three Startup Weekends and two Women’s Startup Weekends.1 Million Cups (#1MCFAR)– This weekly program offers a local entre-preneur an opportunity to present their startup to a diverse audience of mentors, advisors, and entrepreneurs. GFMEDC provides planning and marketing support; this event now averages 150-200 people per week.Startup Drinks – This casual social event allows people to get together and talk about their ideas and gather entrepreneurial advice or support.eCommerce Breakfasts – This is an opportunity for local companies in the eCommerce industry to gather, share ideas and provide support for each other.Fargo Game Makers - A monthly meetup of the growing local video game development industry. Health Pitch – Platform for thought-leaders to share ideas regarding personal, community and global wellness. The inaugural Health Pitch occurred in 2013, with the second event held in 2014. TEDxFargo - Part of the independently-organized TED events aimed to spark conversations and connections, TEDxFargo has gathered more than 800 attendees. CULTIVATE.you – This annual public event hosted by Arthur Ventures aims to support innovation and entrepreneurship in our community.BUILD.you – Intelligent InSite hosts a public event to discuss the impact of patient-centricity in healthcare as it relates to processes, technology adoption, facilities planning, and care delivery.



GFMEDC Supports, continued: Midwest Mobile Summit – Hosted by Myriad Mobile, this confer-ence connects the public with national mobile strategy and mobile technology pioneers.Misfit Conference – A gathering of approximately 150 creative people from across the world, Misfit has held their conference in Fargo in 2013, 2014 and 2015 with the addition of a film festival in 2014. Hackathon – Originating from the winning pitch of the 2014 Startup Weekend, the Hackathons gather individuals to creatively develop tools that utilize open and accessible public data in the area. The first Hackathon was in May 2014 with two additional Hackathons since then.Tech Cocktail Celebrate Conference – GFMEDC facilitated the local voting poll and assisted two startups to represent Fargo- Moorhead in the event’s national pitch competition in Las Vegas. Celebrate Conference brings together industry leaders, entrepreneurs, startup founders, creative technologists, designers, investors, community builders and media.CoWorking Space – The GFMEDC supported an initiative to develop a collaborative coworking space intended for budding startup companies and entrepreneurs. The new facility, CoCo Fargo, opened in September 2014 in downtown Fargo. We work with CoCo Fargo to provide assistance in entrepreneurial outreach and programming.Fargo Startup House – Miguel Danielson, a local community sup-porter, opened a rent-free co-living incubator for early stage startup in July 2014. The space allows six world-class tech entrepreneurs to live and work in one place for six months as they build innovation-focused businesses.Angel Fund – GFMEDC facilitated a focus group to explore the creation and administration of new angel funds in the area to foster increased capital investments in regional startups. A new angel fund, DakotaNext Fund, was created and will fundraise through 2015.


Workforce Attraction, Retention & Development

GFMEDC Initiatives:CareerFM– The GFMEDC manages a jobs section on our website to help recruit new residents to our region. The careers website, started in 1998, continues to be a strong resource for investors and primary-sector companies. The website allows job seekers from outside the region to learn more about local opportunities and connect with great companies. Teachers in Industry – The GFMEDC partnered to create this program, which places K-12 teachers in a corporate work environment for a four-week internship in the summer. The internship focuses on the overall work process, moving the teacher through different departments in the organization. The GFMEDC manages the program along with partner organizations.Professors in Industry – The GFMEDC created and partners with higher education to place a professor in a local industry to allow the professor to focus on the engineering concepts used throughout that industry.Job Shadow experience – The GFMEDC created and partners with area universities and businesses to provide job shadowing to higher education students. Students learn more about various industry oppor-tunities. Students visit with a variety of businesses for two hours to ask questions, tour the business and learn more about what they do and the education required to work at the organization.Smart Connections: Created by the GFMEDC, these events are held for people who are new to the Fargo Moorhead community. Through the GFMEDC, various employers connect to new residents and invite them to attend a casual social where they can connect with other new residents and learn more about the area.



GFMEDC Initiatives continued:Community Tours – The GFMEDC created and holds customized community tours for senior leadership candidates and spouses. We provide a packet of local information to educate the candidate on what the Fargo Moorhead area has to offer.Workforce Committee – Developed by the GFMEDC, this commit-tee focuses on workforce challenges within the FM metro including attraction, retention and development of workers.Manufacturing Committee – This board committee, created by the GFMEDC, is comprised of business leaders, K-12, higher education and Job Service ND representatives focused on manufacturing trends and various issues within manufacturing.HR Visits: The GFMEDC visits with HR representatives regarding various incentive programs, workforce needs and industry trends.Manufacturing Day Tours – The GFMEDC sponsored this event in October 2013 and April 2014. The events allowed area high school students to tour a diverse group of manufacturing companies. It included local colleges to learn of the opportunities in manufactur-ing after high school graduation and where to obtain the education for those opportunities. In October approx. 70 students attended the event. In April, 92 students attended with their CTE instructors. The October 2014 tour included 163 participating students. Minn-Dak Manufacturer’s Association sponsored an IPad Air as a giveaway to students who participated in an exit survey. Alumni Relations – The GFMEDC collaborates with alumni organizations to sponsor events and giveaway items marketed to alumni as motivation to return to the Fargo Moorhead area.



GFMEDC Initiatives, Continued:Education That Works– The GFMEDC created a program that brought together local K-12 leaders and the United Way of Cass Clay to work on three main initiatives:

• Accelerated teacher professional development• Communication and outreach regarding 21st century skills:

4C’s Creativity Critical thinking Collaboration Communication

• Preparing teachers to teach differently- The group has partnered with MSUM leaders to hold sector breakfasts to discuss teacher education that better prepares teachers to provide project-based learning in their classrooms once they graduate into the workforce.


GFMEDC Initiatives, Continued:MSUM Sector Breakfasts- The GFMEDC helped create and contin-ues to coordinate an ongoing series of meetings between the university and industry groups to better understand and respond to the skills needed for today’s workforce. In 2014, the GFMEDC and the Education that Works Initiative added the sector “education”.

• Education • Technology • Health • Finance • Manufacturing




New Initiatives for 2015:Recruiting students into technology - This initiative is the result of the IT Summit. A small group meets monthly to discuss outreach to three different groups: K-12 students, college students (traditional & non-tradi-tional) and passive job seekers to provide information on regional career opportunities available in the field of technology. Fargo Moorhead Career Transitions - Targets both unemployed and employed individuals who want to make a career transition. LinkedIn Group - Create a LinkedIn group that will allow people to connect and also refer back to www.gfmedc.com/careers/jobsMore student engagement - Host lunch meetings with student groups (ex: Bison Ambassadors) to get their feedback about the Fargo Moorhead region and engage them to help recruit & retain young people.



GFMEDC Supports:Health, Tech and Trades Expo – This expo is open to area 9th grade students. In 2014, 2,815 students had the opportunity to visit, build, draw and operate equipment with 96 exhibitor companies showcasing 60 careers. This expo gives companies a chance to showcase job and educational opportunities while exposing students to available careers early in high school to potentially build curriculum around their interests. STEM Networks (ND, MN and Southeast Region)- The GFMEDC collaborates with various groups both statewide and regionally to work on initiatives to strengthen education industry connections and grow the talent pipeline. Counselors/Teachers to Minn-Dak meetings – The GFMEDC works with Minn-Dak Manufacturer’s Association to invite area school counselors and Career & Tech Ed teachers to attend monthly Minn-Dak meetings to gain a clearer understanding of the environment and opportunities that exist and skills that are needed within manufacturing today. Through April of 2015, there have been 36 teachers and counselors who’ve attended. NDSCS Manufacturing grant and expansion- The GFMEDC has partnered with NDSCS and has been a member of the planning committee to address manufacturing needs. NDSCS has the support of 12 local manufacturing companies to help build a manufacturing technology training academy in Fargo.Career Fairs- The GFMEDC has attended career fairs and visited with graduating students, providing quality of life and community information in order to retain newly-graduated students in the Fargo Moorhead area.


Marketing

GFMEDC Initiatives: Fargo Moorhead Images Magazine – The GFMEDC partners with Livability to develop a yearly magazine that highlights the businesses and quality of life aspects of the region. Print Marketing – The GFMEDC maintains a presence through print media marketing focused on job seekers and businesses. We have won two Addy Awards for our print ads. Digital Marketing Strategy – The GFMEDC maintains a robust digital marketing strategy including digital ads, Google AdWord campaigns and social media ads, to increase website traffic.Social Media Efforts - The GFMEDC manages several social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest. Through our social media efforts, we provide information and connect with potential businesses and residents.Website – The GFMEDC uses the website to provide information and to market to people and businesses looking to relocate to the area. Our website won the Silver Award from the International Economic Development Council. We also recently redesigned and incorporated Careerfm.com into the EDC site, making it more relevant and user-friendly for employers and job seekers.


Marketing continued Website Content Development – The GFMEDC continually reviews content, updates information and adds pages and links. We also review and make changes to create a more user-friendly experience.SmartMove Fargo Moorhead “Agents” (Ambassador Campaign) – The GFMEDC created this marketing campaign to focus on people who have moved to the area to tell their story in short videos. The campaign also encourages new residents (on a voluntary basis) to act as a resource for others moving into the area. Building on this program, we plan to market to local people who can reach out to their friends and family.Marketing Committee — This subcommittee of the GFMEDC Board of Directors consists of local marketing and business leaders who focus on initiatives to market the region.Media Relations - The GFMEDC manages relationships with local, regional and national media outlets. We cultivate relationships and respond to media inquiries. We have partnered with Flint Communica-tions and the local entrepreneurial community to garner national media attentionInvestor RelationsMonthly Electronic Newsletter – The GFMEDC manages and distributes a monthly electronic newsletter highlighting the GFMEDC and economic development news. Annual Meeting – The GFMEDC holds an annual meeting for investors and stakeholders providing an update on our initiatives.Annual Report – The GFMEDC puts together a comprehensive annual report that highlights the focus of the EDC and recaps some of our major initiatives. Blog (Area Voices) – The GFMEDC manages blog content featured on InForum’s Area Voices.Annual Investor Visits – The GFMEDC meets annually with current investors and past investors to update them on programs and initiatives of the GFMEDC.New Initiatives for 2015:Quarterly Investor Updates – The GFMEDC holds quarterly meetings to update investors on projects & initiatives.


NOTES

GFMEDC ∙ 51 Broadway, Suite 500 ∙ Fargo, ND 58102 ∙ 701-364-1900

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