MATR Newsletter – June 16, 2021
The state with the best education wins!

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Come Home Montana

• 11 new nonprofit jobs – Montana Nonprofit Association

  Montana Nonprofit Association’s mission is to provide leadership for Montana’s nonprofit sector and partner with charitable nonprofits to promote a sustainable, networked, and influential sector.

Great Falls Development Authority

• Great Falls Development Authority Wins Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) $1,280,000 Loan Capital Grant

  I’m excited to let you know that the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund of the U.S. Treasury today announced an award of $1,280,000 in grant funds to the Great Falls Development Authority for loan capital!

• Upcoming Business Trainings – June and July – Great Falls Development Authority

  Whether you’re just getting started, looking for new customers, wanting to grow sales through e-commerce, or focusing on workforce.
  We’re here to help.

Prospera Business Network

• Are You a Female Business Leader? Please share these opportunities! – Prospera Business Network

  How Women Rise: An Intimate Look at the 12 Habits That Hold Women Back in Business and Life

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Study shows Glacier, Yellowstone contribute more than $600 million to local economies

  Paying for hotels leads tourism spending

• Here’s What Plunging Lumber Prices Tell Us About Inflation

  The price of lumber has fallen more than 40% since its peak in May and other commodities have followed suit, suggesting that some of the price surges that have alarmed lawmakers and investors this spring may fade with time as the economy returns to normalcy.

• The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work– Are We Ready?

  Our research shows that 41 percent of the global workforce is likely to consider leaving their current employer within the next year, with 46 percent planning to make a major pivot or career transition

• USDA Launches Grant Program to Help Expand Regional Economies and Create High-Wage Jobs in Distressed Rural Communities

  Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) is intended to help rural communities identify and maximize local assets and connect to networks and industry clusters within their region. The new grant encourages a regional, innovation-driven approach to economic development.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• USA Today – Electricity transformed rural America nearly a century ago. Now, millions of people on farms and in small towns desperately need broadband.

  The true scope of the broadband access problem is unknown because federal data is widely known to underestimate coverage gaps.

Visit Montana

• A visit to the Montana Dinosaur Center in Bynum, Montana

  Here at the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center, we believe that the best way to learn something is to experience it. That is why we are one of the only museums in the state of Montana that allows, even encourages, public participation in scientific research.

• 11 Fantastic Things To Do In Vibrant Kalispell, Montana

  On the north bank of Flathead Lake, nestled between two national forests and located in the shadow of Glacier National Park, Kalispell is a gorgeous city in the Flathead Valley.

Funding and Building your Business

• Ed-Tech Networking Platform Connects Education Inventors With Investors
  The Center for Education Reform is raising funds to update edmaven.com, a social networking platform designed to connect ed-tech developers with the capital and tech teams needed to create new digital learning tools.

Regional Business News

• How Megaproviders Keep Health Care Costs High

  We’re overlooking the most pervasive cause of our costly and underperforming system: megaproviders, the expansive health care organizations they say have become the face of American medicine.

Idaho News & Events

• Boise, Idaho Races Into the Lead on Separated Bike Lanes

  For cyclists, the daily commute or casual rides around the county will be safer, soon.The Ada County Highway District says it will make a key change to keep drivers and cyclists apart.

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

• Montana State University faculty and students push for stronger climate action

  A decade has passed since Montana State University addressed its plan to combat climate change, despite a plan to review and update progress regularly. And while sustainability work has continued on campus, many are saying now’s the time to establish a new plan setting clear and ambitious goals.

2021 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Of the people, by the people and for the people: Montana’s 1972 Constitutional Convention

  Ten, twelve? How many lawsuits challenging laws passed during the 2021 legislative session will emerge? The Republican majority’s behavior during the session exemplified extreme partisanship, disregard for citizen input and little appreciation of Montana’s Constitution.

Government News & Events

• DANGER! – Concerns raised as Missoula, Montana’s new Higgins bridge polymer material hits 147 degrees

  It appears that the state transportation department agrees with him that the span is dangerous for paws and bare feet now.

Transportation

• Nuro’s Street-Legal Bots To Deliver Packages For FedEx – Is your community prepared for bots in its transportation plan?

  FedEx and autonomous driving tech developer Nuro are launching a “long-term” partnership that will use its small robotic vehicles that look a bit like toasters on wheels to handle last-mile parcel deliveries.

• Waycare Reports 18% Drop in Crashes in Las Vegas Road Test

  By slowing down drivers 2 miles per hour in strategic areas during high-risk times of day, the startup and its government partners found they could reduce highway crashes in Southern Nevada.

• China’s All-Electric Fleet Is Entering Europe. And the timing is ideal.

  Time will tell whether China’s all-electric entry into the European market will justify a further expansion, into the rapidly-unfolding all-electric infrastructure of the U.S.

• Montana Department of Transportation June 2021 Newsline

  Did you know? 221 active construction projects are planned across Montana this summer.

Cool Stuff That’s Coming

• Self-healing concrete eats CO2 to fill its own cracks in 24 hours

  The idea with self-healing concrete is to intervene in this process while the cracks are still tiny, sealing up the material to prevent not just a catastrophic collapse, but expensive maintenance or a complete replacement of the structure.

Energy and Climate Change

• DIY Home Air Filters Can Be Effective, Safe, Researcher Says

  “You can get an effective room air cleaner that you can make yourself for between $35 and $45,” says Mechanical Engineer Tom Javins.

• University of Montana Research: Rocky Mountain Forests Now Burning More Than Any Point in Past 2,000 Years

  Following 2020’s extreme fire season, high-elevation forests in the central Rocky Mountains now are burning more than at any point in the past 2,000 years, according to a new University of Montana study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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