Excellent Opportunity for Montana- Local Economic Development Financial Certification Program (EDFP) May be offerred in Montana- Are you a candidate?

The Montana Department of Commerce SBDC and MBDC Programs are interested in sponsoring and contributing funding to bring the National Development Council (NDC) training to Montana starting in the spring of 2004.

The EDFP training is a rigorous, four-course training series that explores the skills essential for the successful practice of economic development – business credit and real estate finance analysis techniques, loan packaging procedures, negotiating and problem solving skills and deal structuring techniques.

Participants in the EDFP certification program build the capacity to translate development opportunities into results for their communities. The four courses, each of which is five days in length, are as follows:

ED 101 – Economic Development Finance

ED 201 – Business Credit Analysis

ED 202 – Real Estate Finance

ED 300 – The Art of Deal Structuring

To keep the costs of this training to a minimum for Montana economic development providers, at least 55 participants must commit and attend the four-part series. (To date, we have 16 people who have made a firm commitment.) We are anticipating the registration fee for each course between $450-$500 per participant. We also anticipate the following schedule for the four-course training:

Spring 2004 (March/April/May)

Funding split into two fiscal years.

Fall 2004 (September/October/November)

Spring 2005 (March/April/May)

Fall 2005 (September/October/November)

The central locations considered for this training are:

Great Falls

Helena

To attend the above EDFP certification program outside of Montana would include a registration fee of $925 per course, plus travel, meals and lodging usually in a major metropolitan city. Bringing this training to Montana would greatly reduce the costs associated with obtaining this type of certification.

In order to commit to the above, the Montana Department of Commerce needs to find out how many people would be interested in, and committed to, attending the NDC EDFP Certification training? If we can obtain 55 participants to commit to the training, the Department can begin to make the necessary arrangements with the National Development Council.

Please email Gloria O’Rourke if you are interested and can commit to attending the NDC Economic Development Finance Program (EDFP) training. The deadline to submit your interest is October 15, 2003. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Janice Wannebo at the Montana Department of Commerce (406) 841-2751 or email at: [email protected]

Gloria O’Rourke

MEDA – Montana Economic Developers Association

MEDS – Montana Economic Development Services

118 E. Seventh St.; Suite 2A

Anaconda, MT 59711

ph: 406.563.5259 fx: 406.563.5476

[email protected] http://www.medamembers.org