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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Dec 17, 2010 |
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“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” Mark Twain
"Federal Govt. Trade Experts Schedule Meetings the week of Dec. 20 at 7 Montana Cities to discuss the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) ministerial meetings that will held at Big Sky in May 2011." http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- Great example of very innovative economic development: "Turning Fairfield, Iowa into a Rural Renaissance City" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html ---
21st Century Initiative - "You Should Care..."
Come Home Montana
- Building a Grad Nation - Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic
Just as Secretary of State George C. Marshall launched a plan to rebuild Europe after World War II, we must rebuild our broken school system.
- New Guidelines Make Teacher Tenure Less Automatic in New York City
The goal, education officials said, is to change the longstanding culture in which tenure is virtually automatic, a default next step after a teacher's first three years on the job.
- "Students First" A movement to transform public education
Our mission is to build a national movement to defend the interests of children in public education and pursue transformative reform, so that America has the best education system in the world.
- Business/Education/Non-profit Partnership with High School Students to Produce Medical Device Prototypes
A goal of the partnership is to provide Intermountain's physicians and nurses with an avenue to support the development of ideas that lead to improved patient care. The partnership provides other benefits, including:
Come Home Washington
- "The Gift" (Video) to You and Yours on this Most Joyous of Holiday Seasons
"The Gift" was created by a Missoula, Montana artist who did it for its pure joy and wishes to remain anonymous. We hope that this is the first in a series of "Gifts" to Montana and the World..
- Forbes names Bozeman, Montana one of country's fastest-growing small towns
"One of the reasons people move here, they're not necessarily looking to move into town. They want to be out there with the amenities, the wildlife and wide open spaces."
Cleantech
- Washington Career Opportunity - Grant Manager - The Center for Economic Vitality
The Grant Manager will carry strong program and project management responsibilities for developing and implementing the grant objectives and deliverables.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Cutting Through the Hype, Searching for Cleantech's Trillion-Dollar Potential
The promise of clean tech is compelling.
Missoula Public Schools Excellence
- New Pitch for Start-Up Visas
A green card--to any foreign-born entrepreneur whose new business attracts at least $100,000 in venture capital or angel backing out of a total $250,000 in equity financing, while creating five new jobs within two years.
Montana Business
- Missoula's Washington Middle School helps struggling students catch up
"My big pitch on Response to Intervention is that it is what will make Graduation Matters happen."
Montana Economic Development
- New Web Storefronts From Schedulicity Designed to Boost Appointment Booking and Holiday Sales for Small Businesses
Productivity gains, new clients, time and cost savings key for Schedulicity's http://www.schedulicity.com small business customers
- SBA Montana District Office's E-News & Director Michelle Johnston's Upcoming Retirement Celebration
A farewell/retirement dinner will be held for SBA Montana Director Michelle Johnson on Thursday, January 13th at Macaroni Grill in Helena. Dinner is on your own and will be $18. If you are interested in attending and sharing well wishes with Michelle, please RSVP to [email protected].
- Montana to receive $185,000 in settlement with DirecTV
As part of the settlement, DirecTV agreed to pay restitution to consumers and to alter its business practices in the future.
- Economic Outlook Seminar Heads To Nine Montana Cities
Patrick Barkey, director of The University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research, will discuss what has already happened - and what still needs to happen - to bring growth back into balance at the 36th annual Economic Outlook Seminar titled "Paying for the Recession - Rebalancing Montana's Economy."
Regional Economic Development
- Great Falls, Montana airport authority favors incentives for new destinations
The Great Falls Airport Authority Tuesday authorized Director John Faulkner to establish a program that would rebate landing fees to airlines providing new service to certain target markets.
- Federal Govt. Trade Experts Schedule Meetings the week of Dec. 20 at 7 Montana Cities to discuss the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) ministerial meetings that will held at Big Sky in May 2011.
The meetings in Big Sky present an opportunity for Montana businesses to contribute to a global dialogue on an increasingly important market and how Montana businesses can benefit from participating in the APEC event.
Bill Payne
- SBA Announces New Initiatives Aimed at Increasing Lending in Underserved Communities
"These new Advantage initiatives are aimed directly at getting more loans into these markets so these small business owners can get the capital they need to start or grow their business and create good paying jobs in local communities across the country."
- Recruiting Companies to Relocate to a New State Aint What It Used to Be
What does moving a company mean? These days it might mean that you snag the corporate headquarters, which gets you a fancy building and a few C-suite executives, while the bulk of the jobs in manufacturing, marketing, sales, human resources and even high-level design and development remain in Beijing, Bozeman, Boise, Bangalore or some other far-flung and low-cost locale.
Careers
- Video Pitching to Investors
Video pitches are for us lazy investors.
Funding and Building your Business
- Want to get promoted? Stifle your creativity
Creativity is good for your career, right? Not necessarily.
- Plan for a Career - Not a Job
Recognizing the difference between a job and a career is as important for businesses as it is for job seekers
Montana Education Excellence
- Should Entrepreneurs Pay To Pitch To Investors?
This practice has caused a rousing debate among key players, with some calling it a scam, and others defending it as necessary to cover expenses.
- Creating a Brand for a New Business
Q: I'm a freelancer looking to build a company around my services. What tips can you offer for creating a solid brand?
- Ask Yourself These Questions Before Going for Funding
Here are five questions you should consider before you begin the funding process:
- Crafting Your Wow! Statement
How to distill the essence of your value proposition into something short, meaningful, and effective
- How To Close An Angel Round
For starters, there are two kinds of commitments - hard and soft.
Universities and Economic Development
- Three University of Montana Faculty Members Receive Fulbright Scholar Awards
Regents Professor William Woessner and Professors Michael DeGrandpre and James Gannon are the University of Montana's newest Fulbright Scholars.
- Hawthorne School in Bozeman, Montana harmonizes the arts and strong test scores
Parents used to camp out overnight to try to get their 5-year-olds into Bozeman's Hawthorne Elementary School, and it's easy to see why.
- Two Montana State University Billings COT students, Kent Savage and Alandra Oukrop, beat all but two teams in international Cisco Academy competition
"It's pretty darn good for a small school in Montana and our first time competing in this competition."
Idaho Business
- Montana Colleges Launching Unmanned Aerial System Project
"Montana has a legacy of short-term thinking and letting our resources go downstream without value-adding anything. This is a forward-looking industry."
Oregon Business
- The gift of employment: C3 workers are grateful business located in Twin Falls, Idaho
Merriment and cheer is apparent throughout C3's decorated cubicle spaces. There is little doubt the festive feelings are overflowing on the home front, too.
Utah Business
- Commissioner Leonard Steps Up Portland's War on Fun
The first attack is on craft beer, the city's primary cultural export.
Washington State Business
- Overstock.com Ranked Top Ten of Best Places to Work in Corporate America
"Our employees live and breathe our mission: We save people money. As it turns out, they derive real satisfaction in meeting that goal."
Wyoming Business
- Washington Startups Collect $24M in November, Med Devices Lead the Way
The November total shrunk from this summer and early fall, when the state's startups pulled in anywhere from $50 million to $80 million per month in financing, according to data provided by CB Insights FundingFlash.
2011 Montana Legislature
- Forward Cody sees bright business future
"If the way the phone has been ringing the past month is any indication of people looking to be in a place where they can afford to do business, I think we'll be busy," Klessens said. "We're going to see a lot more activity from people wanting to relocate here."
Education
- Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer Revises Revenue Projections Higher by about $119 Million
"This is a balanced budget that invests in education to create a workforce that is prepared for higher paying jobs with one of the largest savings accounts in history and provides historic tax relief to businesses and homeowners to create jobs, today," said Governor Schweitzer.
MAPS™ : Media Arts in the Public Schools
- Poll: Most want easier way to fire bad teachers
It's not just bad teachers that people want set loose. Nearly as many in the AP-Stanford poll -- 71% -- say it should be easier to fire principals at schools where students are performing poorly.
- "Out-Migration: How State Spending Drives College Graduates Away"
Just weeks before the legislative session, one group calls for a cut to higher ed spending.
- Los Angeles Schools to Seek Sponsors
Facing another potential round of huge budget cuts, the Los Angeles school board unanimously approved a plan on Tuesday night to allow the district to seek corporate sponsorships as a way to get money to the schools.
- Early Learning Challenge Fund Gets Another Chance & Washington Gov. Proposes Early Ed Cuts
In Washington, D.C., the new Senate version of the omnibus federal spending bill contains $300 million to launch the Early Learning Challenge Fund, an initiative that resembles the Race to the Top because it is designed to spur innovation and progress in child care, preschool and pre-kindergarten, according to reports out of Washington, D.C.
Other Economies
- Media Arts in Public Schools (MAPS) Develops Montana Health Department Documentary
The idea behind the organization is to provide young people in high school the opportunity to learn how to create and produce documentary films, by providing the teachers, the training and the state of the art equipment required and to provide employment for young up and comers at the same time.
Community
- The Future of Des Moines, Iowa: Sparking a tech boom
Communities need to invest in things that provide a support structure for entrepreneurs: promoting a culture of risk-taking, relationships with universities and big companies that techies can spin off of, providing access to capital, and a vibrant social scene, for starters.
- Des Moines metro economy again rated in top tier
Metro areas dependent on car manufacturing or hard-hit in the housing boom and bust struggle the most, said Brookings. Cities that rely on government, health, education, or oil and gas are recovering better.
- California calling European tech start-ups
"My advice to European start-ups: You should move here."
- VC and PE Firms Are Going Nuts for Brazil, But Trying to Keep It Quiet
Brazil is booming, thanks to growing demand for its natural resources, like wood, steel, oil, minerals (and Brazilian supermodels).
- Turning Fairfield, Iowa into a Rural Renaissance City
Once a culture of entrepreneurship was established in the city, it became self-perpetuating and spilled over into the social and civic fabric of the community.
Connectivity & Communications
- TEN New Grant announcements
- Benefits of lofty goals: Britain halves its child poverty rate; US rate hits 20-year high
Remarkably, their success in reducing child poverty continued even during the recession, as child poverty fell again in the last year, in sharp contrast to the pattern for the United States, where child poverty has now reached its highest level in 20 years.
Energy and Climate Change
- The Internet Goes to War
Do sixteen year old hackers now control the fate of humanity from their laptops?
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- A Cap-and-Trade Program That Works - California to adopt 'cap and trade' to combat climate change
Northeastern states have developed an efficient way to reduce greenhouse gases. So why won't the feds follow suit?
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- TechShop's "Innovation Cathedral" Comes to San Francisco--Serving Craftsmen and Entrepreneurs on the Gold's Gym Model
"Our mission is to engage, enable, and empower people to build their dreams."
- Crown of the Continent E-Notes, Issue 2
Featured in this issue:
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