Butte Economic Development Blueprint For Change Committee Narrows Focus- Montana Tech playing a critical role to line up college resources with economic development efforts

The Blueprint For Change effort to spur economic development and other community improvement took some major steps forward last week.

By Gerard O’Brien and Heidi Wright of the Montana Standard

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the BFC steering committee and a community economic leaders committee hammered out mission statements for their respective groups. In addition, each committee began working on draft plans of specific goals and objectives to be accomplished in the next 1 to
3 years.

The draft mission of the steering committee states: We are networkers, catalysts, and if need be, organizers of efforts to move Butte forward. The purpose of the economic development group, representing nine existing economic development organizations, is to find common ground on economic development issues important to Butte and the surrounding area, and begin a plan of action.

A progress report on Blueprint For Change, as well as an opportunity for community-wide participation in economic development goal setting, will be held at a town meeting May 1 at 7 p.m. in the main dining hall in Montana Tech’s Student Union Building. The meeting will be facilitated by Dr. Ann Clancy of Billings and will focus on sharing the committee’s preliminary work and seeking community input on establishing economic development goals that are both high impact and high priority to the area.

In addition, last Thursday, business and education leaders met at Montana Tech’s College of Technology to focus on key educational efforts necessary to help southwest Montana businesses prosper. This information will help guide the college in setting new academic programs that tie directly to retaining existing businesses and developing much-needed jobs.

About 50 people attended the Thursday morning session. The group evaluated the educational needs of both current and perspective businesses and narrowed the focus to five areas:

Education and training in career skills, such as communication, math, critical thinking, customer service and support services;

Information technology for entry level, technical and professional career fields;

Health sciences including highly specialized fields experiencing a regional shortage in trained professionals;

Manufacturing to better position our community for growth in the manufacturing field,
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics—which focuses on planning, managing, and providing scientific research and professional and technical services.

The idea is to develop “educational clusters” that are specific to the needs of local businesses and create appropriate curriculum for the students == from skill-based certification up to 2-year degrees. As the business needs change, the programs change to fill those needs.

For instance, the current informatics training partnership with Tech and St. James Healthcare is filling a need to bring nursing students and nurses’ aides up to par with the technology that tracks patient care. Much of a nurse’s time is spent filling out paperwork. This discipline will curb the paperwork, better track patients and give nurses more one-on-one time with their charges.

COT has a robotics program for light manufacturing. Many of the students are finding work out of state in this growing field. Vice Chancellor Susan Patton said she’s been working to attract manufacturers since there is a steady workforce in training here.

The Blueprint steering committee is comprised of members from The Montana Standard, Town Pump Inc, Atlantic Richfield, St. James Healthcare and MERDI/MSE, who are all sponsors of the effort.

http://www.mtstandard.com/newslocal/lnews11.html

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Tech center lines up college resources with economic development efforts

By Leslie McCartney of The Montana Standard

Now nearly eight months old, one of the newest economic development groups in Butte is busy matching college resources with local businesses, people and other booster efforts.
The Economic Development Resource Center at Montana Tech, founded with a $300,000 federal grant secured by Tech professor Bob DeDominic, is unique.

“It’s been misinterpreted that we’re doing economic development,” DeDominic said.

He explained that the center is designed to help people by matching them with resources available at the college. It also provides a complementary effort alongside Butte’s numerous economic development efforts.

Kim Robinson, who operates the center, likens its work to that of a matchmaker, lining up students or resources to help those with real-life needs.

For example, the center helped Main Street Butte in its quest to light the mine headframes. Before work could take place, engineering assistance was needed. A Montana Tech student took measurements and performed other tasks that allowed the project to proceed. And while not all work is free — although the center tries to keep projects as cost-effective as possible — this was free for the budget-conscious Main Street.

Another example of a cooperative effort between college and community is helping Big Sky Internet gauge Butte’s interest — including Tech students — in the high-speed Internet service it wanted to provide. The positive response helped Big Sky decide to locate in Butte.

Jim Smitham of the Butte Local Development Corp. said he’s grateful for the help of Tech and its students when the group was researching property on Harrison Avenue. The vacant land has been undeveloped due to uneven terrain and questions about its suitability for development.

“We wanted to identify how to bring it to a marketable situation,” Smitham said.

The center matched the BLDC with Butch Gerbrandt of Tech’s civil engineering department. Gerbrandt and his students, through surveying, researching and figuring answers, came up with four options for the land.

Now the BLDC has a professional report — at no charge — ready for those interested in the land. In addition, the project gave students practice with a real-world situation.

Smitham sees another way to use the center as well — such as putting students on the long-discussed parking garage project suggested for Uptown Butte.

Word of the center is slowly filtering to the public. The center occupies a special niche since it does not do economic development, but rather provides a focal point within Tech to coordinate the resources available in the college.

“We shouldn’t be the initial step,” DeDominic said.
The center doesn’t normally do marketing or business plans. Rather, it helps guide efforts already percolating or those needing specific help. In fact, it is dependent on what economic development groups are already doing, DeDominic said.
The center is involved with other development groups, including Blueprint for Change, a local effort working to identify and coordinate economic growth.

People may not realize the resources available from a local higher education entity like Tech.
“We try to help bring the community and Tech closer,” Robinson said.

Assistance doesn’t stop at the Butte-Silver Bow County line: people from throughout southwest Montana, including Jefferson County, are invited to contact the center.

Recently, the center teamed up with NorthWestern Energy, Headwaters RC&D and the Butte Small Business Development Center to host a “Fish Philosophy” seminar, based on the famous Pikes Market in Seattle. The center has also been busy developing a brochure, Web site http://www.mtech.edu/edrc and quarterly newsletter.

The center is funded through June 2004 and principals are hoping to secure more grant money to continue its work.

Reporter Leslie McCartney may be reached via e-mail at [email protected]

http://www.mtstandard.com/newslocal/lnews111.html