Montana Economic Development

The MEDA Spring Conference Agenda is now online and registration is open! Plan to join us in Havre, May 6th – 7th while we focus on "BUILDING MAIN STREET AND MONTANA."

On Thursday, April 3, Governor Steve Bullock will be joined by Larry Simkins of the Washington Companies, and Bill Johnstone of D.A. Davidson & Co. at Boeing Helena to release the business plan for Montana developed by the Main Street Montana Project.

The community of Philipsburg does an amazing job of putting on festivals and attracting people as they come to the national parks. I think it’s unrealistic to think we can make winter as profitable for them as summer is. But if we can get more people to stay in Philipsburg, the multiplier for all of us is better."

Groups in places across the country are working to move away from old-school binary "rural or urban" thinking and instead find issues where the two groups can work together.

"If you are thinking of moving a business to Libby, there are a lot of attractive aspects: the dam, the river, rail. But information technology drives any business. If an IT business was thinking of coming to Libby before, it would say no way. With fiber, we can provide big-city speeds in an area with low cost of living and high quality of life."

Montana Site Selector is a sophisticated tool developed to provide business owners and entrepreneurs access to the critical data needed to start or grow a business in Montana.

Forty-five percent of metros (179) will experience employment growth greater than the national average of 10.8 percent.

"I think this mill site is the greatest opportunity in Montana to create economic development and to balance the environment and to take advantage of the natural setting."

The state of Oregon recently completed a study, concluding that two-wheeled tourists contributed $400 million to the Oregon economy, annually.

The theme will focus on addressing the needs identified in the Main Street Project Report.