MATR Newsletter – April 6, 2023
The state with the best education wins!

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body. But rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up,totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming …. WOW what a ride.”
― Mark Frost, The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever

Come Home Montana

• 10 new nonprofit jobs in Montana

  Get this from a friend? Sign up now to receive the MNA Job Flash™! Subscribe »10 new nonprofit jobs Development Officer C.M. Russell Museum – Great Falls, Montana, 59405-2402 View…

The MDT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program

• The Montana Dept. of Transportation Disadvantaged Business Enterprise & Small Business Enterprise

  The MDT Office of Civil Rights encourages and supports small business participation in transportation contracts through the Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program and the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program.

PFL

• The Community School Collaborative and PFL Offers a Rich Array of Workshops for Sleeping Giant Middle School 7th Grade Students

  Students visited eight different ‘stations’ during the day that were tailored to the 7th grade level. PFL employees led the stations and, using hands-on activities, taught students all about the graphics and printing industry.

Big Sky Economic Development

• {SIGN UP TODAY} April 2023 Trainings – BSED

  Explore all of our upcoming trainings & events!

Five Valleys Archery Club

• April Update from Five Valleys Archery Club! Spring Fling 3D Shoot is Coming

  We’re only a couple weeks away from our first 3D shoot of the year, the Spring Fling. Read on to see what we have going on this month.

Great Falls Development Authority

• Female entrepreneurs – we have tools to help your business succeed!

  We have a variety of resources, tools and a team of experts to help you start or grow your business!

Montana Business

• Commerce Awards Over $730,000 in Grant Funding to Revitalize 15 Montana Communities

  The Montana Main Street Program helps communities strengthen and preserve their historic downtown commercial districts by focusing on economic development, urban revitalization and historic preservation through long-range planning, organization, design and promotion.

• China’s population is shrinking. It faces a perilous future. – The Earth’s Population is Booming.  It Might Not Last – Here’s Why

  China will soon no longer be world’s most populous country—a title it has held for centuries—underscoring the daunting challenge it confronts to maintain its global dominance.

• Minneapolis Federal Reserve president coming to Montana State University – 4/11 – MSU campus

  “Visiting communities in the Ninth District allows me to hear firsthand from local business leaders and workers,” Kashkari said in a written statement. “Their insight on different industries and the regional economy is important to the Fed’s work setting monetary policy for the nation.”

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Blackfoot Communications to Invest $76 Million in Fiber-based Broadband in Rural Montana

  “Access to high-speed internet is essential for businesses, education and families, and these grants help us reach underserved communities in Western Montana. As a Montana-based company with nearly 70 years of experience building and operating networks, we look forward to continuing to help strengthen rural communities across Western Montana and connecting more Montana businesses, schools and homes to fast, reliable broadband.”

• Boulder, Colorado Gets Ready to Roll on Citywide Fiber Network

  With the construction of its 65-mile dark fiber backbone nearly complete, city officials in Boulder, Colorado are now ready to move into the next phase of their plan: find a private or nonprofit Internet service provider (ISP) to build out a citywide fiber network to deliver last mile service to the city’s 328,000 residents and businesses.

Housing

• How parking lots across the U.S. are being turned into housing

  And not a moment too soon.

Opportunity Zones

• Five Years Later: What Have Opportunity Zones Accomplished?

  Two recent studies are among the first to attempt a comprehensive account of the effects of the Investing in Opportunity Program, one of the signature place-based policies of the Trump era.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Car-Free Living Takes Off in Car-Centric Cities
  In Houston and Charlotte, developers are leveraging micromobility, transit investments and zoning reforms to create walkable projects that omit the parking lot.
• Parking reform is snowballing

  More cities and states around the country are recognizing the value of eliminating parking requirements.

• Hawaii’s lawmakers mull imposing fees to pay for ecotourism crush – What about your state?

  “We get between nine and 10 million visitors a year (but) we only have 1.4 million people living here. Those 10 million travelers should be helping us sustain our environment.”

Montana Manufacturing Extension Center

• MSU’s Montana Manufacturing Extension Center launches apprenticeship program

  The Certified Manufacturing Associate Apprenticeship is a one-year program that combines on-the-job training with online technical classes on topics like safety, math and measurements, manufacturing processes, and quality control.

Funding and Building your Business

• Don’t miss this Remarkable People Podcast with Temple Grandin!

  “Autistic people tend to think in pictures, and that’s something that businesses can tap into.” – Temple Grandin

  In this episode, Temple shares her unique perspective on visual thinking and its application in the business world. Her insights into autism and the need for different minds in the workplace are informative and inspiring.

Come Home Wyoming

• Don’t give up on your small town. Chugwater, Wyoming

  “I told myself that this town didn’t have anything to offer me. And then I thought, well, you know what, when I apply a lot of intention and creativity into my homestead, amazing things happen. So I was like, what if we applied some of that intention into this little community?”

21st Century Education Initiative – “You Should Care…”

• France’s ‘Universal Cycling’ Program Teaches Schoolchildren How to Bike

  The program aims to reach 800,000 French children by 2027.

• University of Montana Grizzly Esports Grows Gaming Across Montana

  UM’s Grizzly Esports team is the largest program in Montana.

2023 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Missoula measure would eliminate parking requirements near transit stops

  “If we’re going to wait two or three more years to reform something as simple as government parking mandates, we can imagine (housing prices) are going to continue to skyrocket,” Carlino said. “Each year we wait, the higher and higher we can expect rent to go.”

Transportation

• Why Traffic Studies Are ‘Junk Science’ — And Why We Rely On Them Anyway

  “They’re being used to require traffic mitigations that only induce more driving. … You’re getting terrible policy outcomes, and they’re based on analyses that aren’t reliable at all.”

• Robotaxis Are Going to Sound Weird

  Good weird! Skip the small talk in a driverless EV and enjoy the audio cues that will guide you through a ride and keep you safe.

Energy and Climate Change

• With the Ogallala Aquifer drying up, Kansas ponders limits to irrigation

  The Ogallala may hold as much water as Lake Huron, but we can’t see it. And, problematically, that means we can’t see it disappear.

• An email from my younger self – Bill Gates

  I looked up the email because I was talking to someone about the book Weather for Dummies—one of the first titles I mention when people ask me for something to read about climate change—and started wondering when I first got my copy. Sorting through old emails, I was amazed to learn it was in 2008.

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