MATR Newsletter – October 2, 2023
The state with the best education wins!

Thanks to everyone who submitted items on MATR during our time away from the keyboard.   Always appreciated as so much is important to the future of Montana. 

I encourage everyone to submit those articles, events etc. so that we can all benefit.

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• Montana ‘Year to Career’ Initiative to Create Microcredential Job Pathways

  Twelve Montana colleges are currently being transformed over the next two years to become “engines of sustainable economic growth and regional talent suppliers,” according to EDL.

Come Home Montana

• Tahoe’s abusive relationship with tourism must be reformed – Ideas for Montana?

  It does not have to be this way. The following needed reforms may be perceived as radical, but so is the scale of the problem. Local governments and agencies have the authority to reverse much of this exploitation. What has been lacking is the will. Actual solutions include:

• Wealthy Millennials Are Moving to Montana at the 3rd Highest Rate in the U.S.

  The Millennial generation—those currently aged 27 to 42—is America’s largest, and as they move solidly into their peak earning and spending years, they are quickly asserting their economic power.

• Montana’s complicated relationship with tourists: Input sought

  A 2020 study from the tourism institute found that, compared to pre-pandemic years, Montanans deemed visitors to be slightly less polite, less patient, less environmentally responsible and less sensitive to the “Montana way of life.”

• Montana Career Opportunity – Product Solutions Manager – Blackfoot Communications

  The position will play a pivotal role in driving product success by collaborating with cross-functional teams to develop and deliver innovative solutions that meet the needs of Blackfoot’s customers, with a specific focus on the healthcare and banking industries. The Product Solutions Manager will serve as a subject matter expert on Blackfoot’s evolving voice/network products and value-added white glove services for Premiere Enterprise customers.

• UM Enrollment Up Again, Largest Growth Rate in 14 Years

  This growth in enrollment is powered by 1,373 new first-year students, which is the largest incoming class at UM in seven years.

• Montana ranchers give tourists the ‘Yellowstone’ experience with new side hustle

  LandTrust founder Nic de Castro described his land-sharing platform which gives travelers the option to rent access to land for outdoor recreation.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• The childcare cliff is here, Missoula providers are looking for support

  Pandemic relief funds for child care are expiring, once again leaving providers to fend for themselves in an unstable industry.

• ‘1923’ may not return to Butte, Montana despite writers’ strike ending

  The Montana state legislature did not continue tax incentives that first attracted the “1923” series that filmed much of its first season in Uptown Butte in 2022.

• City of Billings Awarded $1MM Small Community Air Service Development Program Grant

  “This SCASD grant is a very effective tool in our community’s ongoing air service development effort. We were successful in bringing American Airlines service to Billings with the last SCASD grant and I am looking forward to the new air service this grant will generate,” shared Jeff Roach, Director of Aviation and Transit for the City of Billings.

• Montana Counties say they’ll buck governor on collecting full school property tax

  County commissioners say they believe state law requires them to bill taxpayers at a lower rate than Gov. Greg Gianforte’s Department of Revenue has directed.

• Get Ready to Apply for the Made in Montana Tradeshow

  The exhibitor application for the 2024 Made in Montana tradeshow will be available online starting October 3, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. All applications must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. on October 26, 2023.

• On Oct. 1, USDA will Begin Using Most Recent Census Data to Determine Eligibility for Rural Development Programs

  Rural Development will also unveil updated online program eligibility maps.

• TED Talk – The secret to successfully pitching an idea

  Have a great idea but sure how to sell it? Investor and teacher Mar Hershenson has you covered. Whether it’s sharing a new product with a client or vying for a promotion, these three steps will help you tell an irresistible story and get the “yes” you’re looking for.

• Montana isn’t so far from the men north of Richmond

  We need higher paying jobs and we are going to have to partially rely on our natural resource industries to create many of those jobs. Let’s recognize that and move ahead. We can do it the right way.

Flathead Valley Community College

• Flathead Valley Community College Receives $4 million for Future Entrepreneurship Center 

  The college’s second major gift from Kalispell businessman Paul Wachholz will help advance business and entrepreneurship studies for FVCC students

Great Falls Development Alliance

• Montana Career Opportunities – Director Regional Small Business Development Center (SBDC) -Great Falls Development Alliance

  Director Regional Small Business Development Center (SBC)/Small Business Advisor   Dynamic, self-motivated leader sought to join our passionate, creative, fast-paced, and results-driven economic development team in Great Falls, Montana.

• GFDA Top Ten for 10-1-23

  We hosted two business delegations from outside the US interested in opportunities for investment and development in our region.

Prospera Business Network

• Prospera Pulse – Montana Businesses Can Receive Grant Funding for Cybersecurity

  Prosperity Party Silent Auction Now Open!

  Do not need to be present to win.

Montana Business

• Making jewellery sustainable with regenerative mining

  A startup is recovering materials from mine tailings and restoring surrounding ecosystems

Housing

• ‘There is a romanticism to Montana’: State still riding the real estate boom, but how long will it last?

  Finding solutions to the housing shortage and helping home buyers navigate the real estate market are important considerations in keeping the Montana market stable.

Visit Montana

• Decades in the Making: New University of Montana Art Museum Opens to the Public

  “The new museum building will be transformative for the MMAC and the University,” said Chacón, who has led the institution since 2019 and spearheaded the long-awaited construction. “It’s an opportunity for the University to make this valuable resource available to the citizens of our state and visitors to the region.”

• Old Faithful Inn at $424: Who can still afford a Yellowstone road trip?
  Camping isn’t for everybody, and lodging in the gateway communities and parks themselves has far outpaced inflation. Visitors and officials weigh in on whether the middle class is being priced out.

TechLink

• How to Use the TechLink Technology Marketplace – Technology Available at No Cost

  The marketplace is a robust resource for business innovators, offering over 7,000 federally developed technologies across a diverse range of industries and categories that meet both commercial and government needs.

Biotech

• “Inverse vaccine” reverses autoimmune diseases like MS, diabetes & arthritis

  It could pave the way to a treatment for these diseases that doesn’t require suppressing the entire immune system.

Funding and Building your Business

• This Is Exactly What to Do After You Lose Your Temper and Yell at Someone, According to a Clinical Psychologist

  A psychologist explains how to reconnect and move forward after you’ve lost your cool and snapped at someone.

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

• “Early childhood teachers are hard to find. Oakland schools have a plan to ‘grow their own,’

    “Once a week on Wednesday afternoons, Berkeley City College professor Joya Chavarin travels to Oakland High School to teach a class of 11th and 12th grade students all about child growth and development—a college-level course. “It’s a subject that fascinates many of the students, who pepper Chavarin with questions about why their toddler cousin likes to bite or how babies learn multiple languages. The students are part of a new pre-apprenticeship program in Oakland Unified School District, training for careers in early childhood education—which generally refers to schooling within the first 8 years of life—a field that has struggled in…

• College course on ‘soft skills’ spreads in eastern Montana

  From time management to conflict resolution, a new class at Miles Community College seeks to hone interpersonal skills at the high school level.

• Montana ‘Year to Career’ Initiative to Create Microcredential Job Pathways

  Twelve Montana colleges are currently being transformed over the next two years to become “engines of sustainable economic growth and regional talent suppliers,” according to EDL.

• New cyberinfrastructure core facility supports Montana State University researchers, faculty

  RCI’s services fall into three general categories: storage, computation and server hosting.

Government News & Events

• 25 States Agree To Quadruple Number Of Heat Pumps In America – What is yours doing?

  “Heat pumps and heat pump water heaters are core decarbonization technologies that allow buildings to switch from burning fossil fuels for heating and hot water to using electricity instead,” the group told the press in New York City. “Making this switch can reduce home heating emissions in every US state by 35 to 93% while saving lives through improved air quality and protecting residents from volatile gas commodity prices.”

• Amazing! Every Word Of What This Presidential Candidate Said About Energy Was Wrong

  He’s a billionaire, and could potentially either surprise us or be enough of a contender to get a cabinet seat in the next Republican administration.

American Prairie

• What a chicken-size bird can tell us about a shrinking prairie

  What’s more revealing than a head count is where the curlews migrate and nest, hence the tracking project, Carlisle said. Curlews used to breed as far east as Indiana. Now, the southwest corner of North Dakota marks the easterly edge of their breeding territory.

Careers

• What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness

  If you think it’s fame and money, you’re not alone – but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, you’re mistaken.

Transportation

• The Mayor Who Prioritized Pedestrians Before It Was Cool

  “I felt I had to step up to help cure a sick city,” said Lores, from his office decorated with more than a dozen urban planning awards. “Cars were at the heart of the illness. We needed a livable city, where cars and people can cohabitate.”

• Forget Autonomous Cars, Autonomous Long Haul Trucking Is The Key To Real Emissions Reductions

  Newly released data indicates that the latest electric medium duty and heavy duty trucks are increasingly ready to handle a lot of North America’s freight-hauling needs.

• NBC News Video – Roundabouts on the rise across the U.S. in push to create safer roadways

  Studies show they drive down serious injury and crash fatality rates.

VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things

• Why Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Says Its Copilot A.I. Assistant Will Be ‘as Significant as the PC’

  “This is as significant as the PC was to the ’80s, the Web in the ’90s, mobile in the 2000s, cloud in the 2010s,” said Nadella. “Just like you boot up an operating system to access applications or use a browser to navigate websites, you will involve a Copilot to do all these activities and more.”

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