MATR Newsletter – January 12, 2022
The state with the best education wins!

Corona Virus Information

• Yale team develops clip-on monitor to detect coronavirus exposure

  Engineers from Yale University have developed a wearable device that can help individuals assess whether they have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The cheap device can clip onto a person’s clothes and capture aerosolized viral particles in the surrounding environment.

• US orders private insurers to start covering at-home Covid tests

  Insurance companies and health plans will cover eight free tests per-person per-month, and there is no limit on rapid or PCR tests for people who have been determined to have a greater testing need by a medical professional.

Come Home Montana

• Montana Career Opportunity – Credit Analyst – LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (DBA MISSION WEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS)

  Mission West Community Development Partners is a regional public/private economic development organization that serves the 3-county rural/tribal Western Montana trade area. We are a certified Community Development Financial Institution.

Montana Department of Commerce

• MFFA, Commerce Announce New Financing Program for Montana Businesses to Receive Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation, and Renewable Upgrades

  “The annual energy savings for C-PACE projects are designed to exceed the annual assessment payment, so property owners save money from the start of the program,” MFFA Executive Director Adam Gill said.

• Montana Housing Newsletter

  At Montana Housing, we are certainly serious about our work and our mission, but this year was also about rejuvenating our working relationships, kindling comradery and cheering each other on with each little success. And we certainly have a long list to cheer about:

Big Sky Economic Development

• Big Sky Economic Development – January 2022 Trainings & Events

  Startup Roadmap – January 20th

Kalispell Chamber of Commerce

• Discover Kalispell Chamber Weekly Update: January 10, 2022

  Our Business Matters Luncheons will be learning opportunities for you to share Employer of Choice models, tools and strategies to attract and retain top talent. See details below and register today.

Prospera Business Network

• Prospera’s 2022 Emerging Companies Roundtable is currently accepting applications. Sponsored by City of Bozeman Economic Development 2/15 – 6/14 – Online

  All participating companies have more than $1M in revenue and/or 10+ employees and are growing.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Now Is the Time to Write Your 1-Page Strategic Plan

  I see CEOs running around talking about strategy in a way that is completely unintelligible to their average employee.

• J.K. & David Simmons release song “All Aboard Montana” in support of Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (North Coast Hiawatha) rail restoration

  It supports restoring the North Coast Hiawatha rail line. David is a musician. J.K. is known throughout the world in major motion pictures, including Spiderman. Both graduated from the University of Montana, where their father, Donald Simmons, was the long-time director of the School of Music.

• 3 ways remote work could remake America

  If projections about remote work hold true, the resulting migration could shift economic centers, disperse housing market pressures, and transform the politics of small communities.

• Butte Local Development Corp officials push for meat processing plant in Whitehall

  “There’s definitely a great job-creation element to it and being able to increase that role for more people to work locally and just the big picture stuff of being able to keep more Montana cows in Montana,” said Butte Local Development Corp. Director Joe Willauer.

• The Wharton School – Corporate Governance: Maximize Your Effectiveness in the Boardroom – STARTS ON March 23, 2022 – Online

  The Corporate Governance: Maximize Your Effectiveness in the Boardroom program is designed to give participants a deeper understanding of corporate governance and help boost their effectiveness on a corporate board.

The Telecommuting and Gig Workforce in Montana

• Montana State University Remote Work Certificate Program – 2/7-3/4 – Online

  Participants receive assistance with finding a remote job, with building their business and connecting to a network of other remote workers.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Broadband Funding: ‘It’s Like History Repeating Itself in a Good Way’ – What is Montana Doing? MEDA Broadband Working Group

  In rural parts of New England, where many are unserved or underserved by monopoly providers, a variety of broadband models have taken shape even before now. Many more are predicted to gain momentum with this latest financial boost.

Housing

• Nowhere to Build but Up

  An old way of doing municipal business—generating development fees by opening farmland to development—is no longer paying dividends. Mississauga, Ontario serves as a cautionary tale for the bottom line of sprawl.

• A Real Opportunity to Break the Cycle of Homelessness – Social Impact Financing and Housing First

  The successes achieved by a Denver program combining housing and supportive services demonstrate what can be achieved — and how to do it without busting city budgets.

Montana Business

• BNSF taking over Montana Rail Link operations as lease ends

  The letter also states MRL is thrilled BNSF is committed to retaining MRL’s entire workforce and that both companies will be in touch with union leadership to start negotiations.

Visit Montana

• Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) Rendezvous 2022 – 5/12-14 – Fort Missoula in Missoula, Montana

  RSVP now for BHA’s 2022 North American Rendezvous! Save the date – May 12-14, 2022 – to join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers at Fort Missoula in Missoula, Montana, for a weekend of great food, cool people and awesome opportunities!

Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana

• Why Startups Need Hierarchical Structure

  According to his latest research, startups with flat organizational structures often fail.

Funding and Building your Business

• Small business owners share their best advice for starting your own company

  These past two years have been banner years for people launching a new company.

Idaho News & Events

• Boise, Idaho to provide free, full-day kindergarten for all next year

  Currently, BSD only offers tuition-based full-day kindergarten at 20 of the district’s 32 elementary schools. Board members voted unanimously this week to expand full-day kindergarten across the district and to make it free.

• Idaho Governor Little gives State of the State address, lays out budget recommendation

  Democratic leaders from both the House and the Senate were highly critical of the thrust of Gov. Brad Little’s proposals for the state for next year, particularly with regard to his plan for the state’s biggest-ever income tax cuts.

STARS Montana Early Education Program

• Federal Aid Is Propping Up Child Care. It Isn’t a Long-Term Fix.

  Child care providers and advocates warn that the federal money, which expires in 2024, won’t solve the industry’s fundamental, long-term challenge: how to provide quality services and pay workers a competitive wage while keeping prices affordable.

2023 Montana Legislature and Politics

• League of Women Voters hosts webinar series celebrating Montana’s Constitution – 1/12 – 7PM – Helena and Online

  The Constitution is not just for defending Montanans’ rights, but also for aggressively asserting them, says Nelson. “My intent is to encourage my audience to develop their own vision of the Montana Constitution and its important rights and allow them to use it as a template for important decisions in daily life.”

• Missoula County recruiting 600 election judges for June primary, November general

  “It takes a community effort to conduct fair and organized elections,” said Seaman. “Election judges are champions of the election process who play a crucial role in ensuring the strength and integrity of the voting process by upholding election law and providing friendly customer service.”

Government News & Events

• Steady, the tech platform cofounded by Shaquille O’Neal is the company that guaranteed-income pilot programs use to get people cash

  Steady, the tech platform cofounded by Shaquille O’Neal, has a community of 4 million members made up of contractors and gig workers in need of more income stability. But it’s also helping policy makers measure the effect of direct cash assistance.

Tell Us Something

• 60 Minutes – Story Telling Is More Important Now Than Ever – New oral history project records conversations between people with opposing political views

    A new program from the creator of the oral history project “StoryCorps” is asking Americans with opposing political ideals to do the seemingly impossible: talk with each other.

Transportation

• Snowstorm That Stranded Thousands Prompts Questions About Auto-Centric Development – The End of Carcatecture

  After thousands of motorists spent over a day on a snowbound Virginia highway, experts are warning that auto-centric sprawl will worsen the impacts of extreme weather events.

• Here’s what you won’t be driving in 2030

  The living room on wheels

• In 2021, Petroleum Vehicle Drivers Nearly Erased Most of 2020 Climate Wins

  The authors of the report note that America has now erased most of the progress it made in 2020 towards achieving the critical targets set out under the Paris Agreement, and leaders will now have to act urgently to recapture those gains.

• Electric pickup trucks, new charging stations ‘a game-changer in Montana’

  Montanans and visitors driving electric vehicles will start finding more places to charge up across the state as gas station operators and power companies install fast-charging stations with help from state grants.

Energy and Climate Change

• Solar Power Will Account For Nearly Half Of New U.S. Electric Generating Capacity In 2022

  In 2022, we expect 46.1 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity to be added to the U.S. power grid, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.

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