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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Aug 21, 2007 |
"When you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it - this is knowledge." Confucius
Two interesting observations on rural economic development -- Migration: The Key to Prosperity in Rural Communities? http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- Building a house of cards in the rural West http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html as well as the factors that are needed for successful business nurturing communities -- 2007 MAYOR’S CHALLENGE: These Are the Cities Where Business Opportunity Is Greatest For Growing Companies http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Boomtown Institute
Come Home Montana
- The Agurban from Boomtown Institute - Entrepreneurship Camps
If you have a child or know of a child interested in entrepreneurism, contact your local college/university. If they don't have a program yet, they probably will very soon.
Come Home Wyoming
- Montana Career Opportunities - IT/Network Sales Executives - Executive Account Managers - Pyron Technologies
Pyron Technologies, Inc. provides network solutions, medical technologies and website development to companies in Montana and throughout the U.S.
- Lincoln, Montana getting husband, wife team for reopened medical clinic
"We'd stop in for breakfast or coffee, and I remember Lincoln as a cool town with super friendly people."
- Montana Career Opportunity - President and Chief Executive Officer - Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
We are a fast-paced, passionate nonprofit conservation organization focused on ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Vice President of Lands and Conservation - Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
The Vice President of Lands and Conservation is a member of the RMEF senior management staff and the Executive Team.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Have mule, will travel: Man rides mule from Minn. to Wyoming looking for work.
"I could probably get a job and stay here, but I'm not willing to part with my mule," Maday said. "He's my best friend and I'm not getting rid of him for nothing."
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
- Resources for students looking to start a business
Why are today's youth so enterprising? Experts point to a growing skepticism about job security.
Funding and Building your Business
- The State of Small Business. Through a Spirit of Cooperation and Competition, Utah’s Small Business
“It’s hard to find people here,” says Jeremy Hanks, founder and CEO of Doba, an online wholesale marketing company in Orem. “I look at Omniture and MyFamily.com and other technology companies in Utah County. I don’t compete with them at all [for business], but I do compete with them because to get the [experienced workers] that I need, I’ll have to take one of their employees.”
- Building a house of cards in the rural West
In places like Joseph, Oregon, land values are soaring through the roof, immense palaces are being erected for people who only live there part-time. Ordinary people are out of work, and only a struggling handful of year-round residents are likely to remain. When will it fall apart?
- Migration: The Key to Prosperity in Rural Communities?
Rural development experts say migration and population change are some of the least important factors in growth and development. Those in the cities say it is the most important. What's going on?
- 2007 MAYOR’S CHALLENGE: These Are the Cities Where Business Opportunity Is Greatest For Growing Companies
“As a University town, education, health care and insurance have been our primary industries. As we rapidly approach a population of 100,000, we realize the importance of supporting our mainstays while developing a more diverse mix of high tech businesses, light manufacturing, service trades and small businesses”
- Letter From Langdon: The Home of Renewal
Just when you think everything is lost, rural America gives you hope. All around Langdon, Missouri, author and farmer Richard Oswald sees ways his hometown is building a future producing energy.
Education
- The fine art of negotiating (with liars)
"If you read the studies from the field of psychology, you'll see that people lie all the time."
- InviteShare lets techies trade invites to exclusive Web site tests
''All these people want to know about all the new services,'' he said, ''and this is a gold mine for a new startup to have access to.''
- What's the Secret To Serial Success?
While some entrepreneurs struggle their whole lives to bring one idea or product to market, there's another breed: those who do it once, twice or three times more, disproving the notion of beginner's luck.
Montana Meth Project
- Educators consider merit pay plans. "They don't make enough money, especially the good ones — especially the great ones."
The 2002 No Child Left Behind law has placed a greater emphasis on using objective data in schools.
- Education molds leaders. Businesses must push reforms to ensure students prepared
In almost every other state that has been effective in improving its education system, the business community has been engaged to push for reforms.
- Montana Sen. Max Baucus proposing free college tuition for math and science majors
The goal, he said in an interview last week, is to better prepare children for school and get more of them into college to make the United States more globally competitive, particularly with countries like China and India.
- High School Honor States Program Highlight
The NGA Center's Honor States Grant Program is a $23.6 million, governor-led initiative to improve high school and college-ready graduation rates in 26 states.
- Building Early Childhood Facilities: What States Can Do to Create Supply and Promote Quality
Fueled by mounting evidence that quality early education helps close the achievement gap, most states are increasing their investments in preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds.
Connectivity & Communications
- Grant may bring $1 million to fight meth
The grant could amount to as much as $1 million for the site over five years, depending upon how well the program performs in those neighborhoods.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Vote On the Most Shameful Wikipedia Spin Jobs
THREAT LEVEL predicts a lot of sad, embarrassing secrets will emerge from this project once netizens dive into it -- and we'd like to be a part of that.
- Make Wi-Fi safe with private network
So you're a self-employed business person, tourist or vacationer and you want to be sure that it's safe when you send e-mail and surf the Web using free Wi-Fi in town and elsewhere. What do you do?
Incubators and R&D
- Artificial life likely in three to ten years
Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they're getting closer.
Regional Business
- The Enthusiast
A controversial biologist at Harvard claims he can extend life span and treat diseases of aging. He may be right.
- Academic Research into University Entrepreneurship Picks Up Steam, says Kauffman Foundation
"It is rewarding to finally have a summary of knowledge on the topic of university entrepreneurship."
Montana Business
- Idaho ranks among most business-friendly. Montana moves up 4 spaces to 44th.
The Cost-of-Doing-Business Index indicates each state's comparative advantages or disadvantages in attracting and retaining businesses.
Montana Economic Development
- Employers are laboring to find - and keep - quality employees
As the scramble for workers continues in Billings, businesses have been forced to become increasingly creative and accommodating to stay competitive.
- The business of baseball in Great Falls, Montana
"People think of minor league baseball as a little enterprise, but we're a good-sized business, and growing."
- About that $15 million in commissions. Montana Blue Cross/Blue Shield
In fact, it’s likely some agents are making as much as Blue Cross’ top executives, who last year earned anywhere from $200,000 to $480,000 in salary, bonuses and other compensation.
- Hot business: Entrepreneur magazine honors fast-growing , Montana based, Ridgeway Pharmacy
Their success and meteoric growth were honored this year when they made Entrepreneur magazine's Hot 500, a list of the fastest growing small businesses in the nation.
- Say, has the butler cleaned the trout yet?
Resorts like Paws Up that expand on the dude ranch concept are reporting increased bookings, another signal that luxury travel remains one of the strongest and fastest-growing segments of the tourism industry.
Regional Economic Development
- New Ennis, Montana Hospital Breaks Ground Ahead of Schedule. Governor Schweitzer Attends to Speak about the Importance of Rural Healthcare in the State
“In an area where rural residents and most tourists, on average have to travel 50 miles to see a doctor or up to 300 miles to see a specialist, facilities such as the Madison Valley hospital are vital.”
Utah Business
- Will Work for Self. State doesn't offer enough help for disabled to find self-employment
Increasingly, people in the field of rehabilitation are learning that self-employment and entrepreneurship can be excellent work solutions for people with physical or mental limitations. These adults have often been assigned to workshops where they receive low wages, are isolated from the mainstream working world and don't use their talents to their full capacities. In the worst cases, they are sequestered at home or in institutions.
- Warming Will Exacerbate Global Water Conflicts
As global warming heats the planet, there will be more desperate measures. The climate will be wetter in some places, drier in others. Changing weather patterns will leave millions of people without dependable supplies of water for drinking, irrigation and power, a growing stack of studies conclude.
Utah Economic Development
- Utah school districts face teacher shortage
Jordan, Alpine, Davis and Salt Lake City school districts combined reported nearly 150 teacher vacancies as late as Thursday.
Government Technology
- Salt Lake-to-Paris direct flights up in air
The Governor's Office of Economic Development Board on Friday approved a $250,000 Industrial Assistance Fund grant for Delta, which the company would receive after a maiden flight between the capitals of Utah and France.
- Fund of Funds Brings Deal Flow to Utah
Thanks to the Fund of Funds, Utah is one of the hottest places to invest in the country, according to venture capitalists.
Idaho Business
- Montana Awards $11 Million Contract to L-1 Identity Solutions for Digital Drivers Licenses Solutions
L-1's Solution Will Integrate Previously Unlinked Activities to Decrease Identity Fraud Related to Driver's License Issuance
Wyoming Business
- Boise gives up on plan to create an industrial park south of Micron
The city will sell most of the 325 acres that former Mayor Brent Coles wanted to develop to attract manufacturing and high-tech businesses. The money will be used for libraries and other projects.
Other Economies
- Wyoming prepared for supercomputer
To the point that "Wyoming wrote a bigger check," that check was written to the University of Wyoming. Well before the supercomputer lab was looking for a new home, Wyoming was investing heavily in UW with the awareness, and mission, that investment in the future begins with the education system.
- Electronic anklet has potential for prison system. Freedom Fighters
Equipped with a global positioning unit and a cell phone, the TrackerPal is a little larger than a pack of cigarettes, uses detachable, rechargeable battery packs, and is attached with a custom tool. Police can use the TrackerPal's cell phone to speak with offenders.
Careers
- Five members to pick decision makers for VC Fund
These committee members do not exactly seem like entrepreneurial businessmen, considering each of them work for large companies that do not likely work with startups
Non-Profit News
- How Older Job Applicants Can Plan a Savvy Search
Age can be a barrier if you don't promote yourself energetically.
Energy
- Crowded Montana nonprofit sector creates challenges
Over the past 10 years, the number of nonprofit organizations in Montana increased by 43 percent, making the state home to roughly 9,500 nonprofits, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics.
Commuter Rail Development
- Arctic sea ice shrinks to record low
"It is very strong evidence that we are starting to see an effect of greenhouse warming. The puzzling thing is that the melting is actually occurring faster than computer climate models have predicted."
- The "Clean Energy Census Report 2007"
They track 116 local clean energy companies that have been founded since 2001, and as a sign of the entrepreneurial nature of the industry, they found that over half of the 556 local clean energy companies tracked have less than 5 employees.
Transportation
- Here are the real statistics, and they support light rail
As a counterpoint to last week's article by Emory Bundy, here are some figures that suggest light rail is a better deal than claimed, environmentally and economically, and other modes of mass transit are not as good.
Montana Education Excellence
- U.S. Secretary Peters Says Bikes 'Are Not Transportation'
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters said that instead of raising taxes on gasoline to renew the nation's sagging infrastructure, Congress should examine its spending priorities -- including investments in bike paths and trails, which, Peters said, "are not transportation."
Community
- Montana campuses give a lot back
Montana now ranks first in the nation for its level of civic engagement.
VIRUS ALERTS
- Five of the best neighborhoods in North America
From a Kansas City shopping center to a small town Main Street, these success stories can inspire great things in your community.
- Would You Like A Job With That Virus?
Cyber crooks are targeting a wave of new attacks at people searching for jobs online, security experts warn. Oddly enough, the criminals behind this scam appear to be just as interested in hiring you as they are in hijacking your PC.
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