Building a Homelessness Prevention System: A Toolkit for Launching, Operating, and Managing an Evidence-Based Program

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Montana population growth slows, though some hot spots remain

  Kalispell, East Helena among fastest-growing cities in the state.

• One Small Town’s Special Sauce for Economic Revival

  A community foundation chose to take a chance on downtown rebirth.

• Building a Homelessness Prevention System: A Toolkit for Launching, Operating, and Managing an Evidence-Based Program

  This what Santa Clara County, California, did. And rigorous evaluation shows that their model is working.

• How to Craft a Memorable Employee Experience to Keep Good Workers From Quitting

  The way to fix low employee engagement is to create the right experience for your workers.

• Airbnb claims $472M boost on Montana’s economy with 6,500 jobs made

  Airbnb reported guest spending reached $280 million, showcasing the evolving travel industry in the state. As tourism season approaches, the focus is on how Airbnb continues to grow and influence the local market.

• Montana Pitch Tank Events – Whitefish 6/5, Billings 6/12, Bozeman 6/26

  Our friends at Frontier Angels, Scaling Montana, Two Bear Capital and Rock 31 are sponsoring a happy hour / pitch event for MT based start ups and investors. They would love to see your support- these are free events with food and drinks

• The Economic Benefits of Paying Workers to Move

  A new study finds that Tulsa’s effort to lure remote workers with $10,000 has returned four times that investment back into the local economy.

• Pennsylvania’s website redesign looks to open ‘no wrong door’

  Gov. Josh Shapiro mandated better online services in 2023, and since then a massive effort has been underway to revamp the commonwealth’s website around life events, not agency functions.

• Tourists spent nearly $5 billion in Montana last year

  Report from Institute of Tourism and Recreation Research shows more tourists spent less in 2024

• Liquidity really is a big deal for tech companies. A well-written investment policy is crucial for capital preservation
  “A tech startup needs to focus on the prudent use of capital, until there is a proven business model.”
  Jeff Minick | National Transformative Technology Group Executive | Bank of America
• “The Citizens” – Weekly reporting on the harms of Big Tech. Follow for personal stories, features and debate.

  Tech fascism is not inevitable: community is the alternative

• Report details how states can implement reliable, effective generative AI

  The NASCIO report underscored the importance of an incremental, regulated approach to generative AI before states rush into using it.

• Montana State University Mountains and Minds Magazine Spring 2025

  Montana State University has posted the content from the most recent issue of its flagship magazine, Mountains and Minds. The magazine focuses on President Waded Cruzado as she retires after 15 years as the university’s leader. As with all MSU News Service stories, this content is available for you to use in your publications free of charge.

• Bozeman, Montana based Next Frontier Capital’s First Investment, SiteOne, Sells to Eli Lilly for $1Billion

  On May 20, 2015, Next Frontier Capital authored our very first investment memo arguing to make a $400,000 investment in SiteOne’s seed round. Ten years and one week to the day.

Big Sky Economic Development

• Big Sky Economic Development touts $1.5B in construction spending in Billings, Montana

  Among those projects is the $37 million College of Veterinary Medicine at Rocky Vista University, which broke ground last week. That project is being built by Langlas and Associates, Inc.

Montana Business

• $24,000,000 – Lolo, Montana Ranch: 2,000-acre property with ski runs, wildlife habitat hits the market

  With its carefully crafted professional ski runs, adjacent access to millions of acres of public ground and proximity to a significant population center, Lolo Ranch has all the raw ingredients for a world-class destination or lifestyle development catering to an emerging class of residents looking for a recreation-centric lifestyle surrounded by spectacular scenery.

• Hackers stole data on 40,000 people during Lee Enterprises cyberattack

  The company confirmed in a letter filed with Maine’s attorney general that the personal information of 39,779 people was stolen in the cyberattack, including Social Security numbers. The data breach mostly affects former and current employees at the company.

• When AI Goes Rogue, Quantum Computing, and more! LMG Security

  Join Us Live for Cyberside Chats! When AI Goes Rogue: Blackmail, Shutdowns, and the Rise of High-Agency Machines

• Recycling forest waste into futuristic plastic

  As Dr Carrick put it: “By scaling bio-based plastics made from naturally abundant forestry and agricultural residues, we are presenting a sustainable, scalable, and functional alternative to traditional fossil-based plastics.” The race is now on to get Renol into more hands – and into more products – at industrial scale.

• onX is hiring! Manager III, Data Engineering

  onX is hiring! We are adding a Manager III, Data Engineering to the team. This job will be located in Austin, Bozeman, Charlotte, Denver, Minneapolis, Missoula, Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle.

Housing

• Low-cost device could allow homeowners to test their own tap water for lead

  If your home has old lead water pipes, there’s a chance that harmful concentrations of lead may be present in your water. An experimental new device could soon allow homeowners to check for themselves, instead of waiting for the city to do so.

Hellgate Venture Network

• Hellgate Venture Network with Chris Tilleman of TeraDact – 6/19 – Missoula

  Networking for the Missoula area start-up and small business community offering peer support for current and aspiring entrepreneurs.

YOUR CAREER

• 10 ‘New-Collar Careers’ Paying Six-Figure Annual Salaries In 2025

  A new category of hiring is gaining traction in the American workforce that leaves college degrees in the dust and gives more attention to skilled employees without a traditional four-year college degree. They’re called “new-collar careers”—not white- or blue-collar careers.

• Missoula County Career Opportunities

  HVAC Engineer Environmental Health Specialist I Animal Control Officer Probationary Deputy Sheriff and more…..

Energy and Transportation

• Waymos are getting more assertive. Why the driverless taxis are learning to drive like humans

  “From an evolutionary standpoint, you’re seeing a lot more anticipation and assertiveness from the vehicles,”

• The household auto fleet is a money pit

  What if wealth wasn’t a driveway full of cars—but the freedom to not need them? For households with two cars, that’s nearly $25,000 per year—a recurring expense that too often escapes scrutiny.

• Novel charging module brings EV top-ups to the curbside

  We’ve seen a bunch curbside chargers that enable apartment dwellers to join the electric revolution without having to always top up away from home, but the one from Rheinmetall AG is about the least obtrusive. The street-level charger replaces concrete curbs with a Level 2 charge point.

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

• MSU Ends Remote Work: Employees Say Move Feels Rushed and Unclear

  MSU Employees Face Return to Campus as Remote Work Ends, Sparking Concern and Mistrust

• MSU achieves impressive global ranking amid record research activity

  Montana State University has been ranked among some of the top schools in the Center for World University Rankings for 2025.

• Montana State University ranks among top schools in global rankings

  MSU ranked in the top 3.7% of the 21,462 universities reviewed worldwide for the rankings, which were published on June 2.

2025 Legislature and Politics

• Billionaire Idaho Rancher Who Has Clashed With Forest Service Could Oversee Agency

  Michael Boren, an Idaho rancher and tech billionaire who has a history of clashing with the U.S. Forest Service, has been nominated to oversee the agency. If confirmed he would be in charge of nearly 200 million acres in western states, including more than 9 million in Wyoming.

• Economists Raise Questions About Quality of U.S. Inflation Data

  The Bureau of Labour Statistics is cutting back its collection of data on consumer prices, raising questions about the reliability of federal economic statistics under President Trump. If you don’t like the numbers then just change the way they are calculated…..

• Wyoming Legislature to consider abolishing property taxes through constitutional amendment

  After creating a complicated web of residential property tax exemptions, Wyoming lawmakers are now weighing whether to eliminate property taxes entirely.

• Oakland, California Unveils Ambitious Plan to Build City-Owned Open Access Network

  Once the East Bay city of 436,000 completes network construction, it would be one of the largest publicly-owned open access networks serving a major metro area in the nation – and may serve as inspiration for other large cities to follow suit with a model that’s been proven to bring affordable local Internet choice in monopoly-dominated markets.

• A New Angle – Sarah Vowell on Who Is Government?

  This week we’re speaking with Sarah Vowell, an author with Montana roots of many bestselling books. She’s a historian, actor, journalist and a regular contributor to This American Life. Sarah recently contributed an essay to Michael Lewis’s edited volume, Who Is Government?

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