MATR Newsletter – October 5, 2022
The state with the best education wins!

“OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.”  

Steve Jobs’ last words on Oct. 5, 2011

Come Home Montana

• Montana Career Opportunities – Montana Nonprofit Association

  Part-Time Development Associate Arts Council of Big Sky – Big Sky, Montana, 59716 View Job Partnership For Children Clinical Director Intermountain – Helena, Montana, 59602 View Job Executive Administrative and…

• Montana Career Opportunity – Reporter – Daily Montanan

  Join the Daily Montanan and give readers hard-hitting government coverage that connects state policy to Montanans’ lives. You’ll get to cover a state with a mix of people, politics and…

• Montana Career Opportunities – Director of Development and Communications and SBDC Southwest Montana Regional Program Director – Prospera

  Prospera Business Network is the lead non-profit organization advancing and supporting community-centered economic development in southwest Montana. Our focus is helping people start and grow their business – in turn…

C-Pace – Property Assessed Commercial Energy Enhancement program.

• Yellowstone County weighs creating a C-PACE district that facilitates cheap loans for business improvements

  The program, known formally as Commercial Property Assessed Capital Enhancements or C-PACE, was approved last year by the state legislature and is run by the state’s facility finance authority. Counties that want to make use of C-PACE are required by state law to form a special district that would structure the program.

Montana Businesses Seeking Investment or For Sale

• Missoula tech company onX lands record $87M in venture capital

  Founded in Missoula in 2009, onX developed an app that allows users to download topographical maps with other layers before they go out into the backcountry. Then, even when they are out of cell range, they can see land ownership and other layers in relation to where they are standing.

Housing

• Montana housing task force offers ideas in draft report

  “Everyone on both sides of the aisle would agree that the housing crisis is likely the largest issue of the next session (of the state Legislature),” explained state lawmaker Ellie Boldman, a Democrat who represents Senate District 45 in Missoula and who is a member of the task force. “We are clearly, as a state, going to have to work together to solve this problem.”

Montana Business

• Town Pump matching $1 million for Montana food banks

  As Montana’s food banks deal with record demand in the wake of soaring food costs and other everyday expenses, the Town Pump Charitable Foundation said in a news release Tuesday it is matching $1 million to help raise $4 million during its annual fundraising campaign for food banks.

• Charter schools fail at astounding rate, report says

  The study, Broken Promises: An Analysis of Charter School Closures from 1999-2017, also shows how initial investment in developing charter schools was often squandereed. Nearly $1 billion of the overall $4 billion given through the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program, “was given to schools that never opened as well as to many that were opened and then closed,” according to the research.

Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana

• Why a Failed Startup Might Be Good for Your Career After All

  Go ahead and launch that venture. Even if it fails, the experience you gain will likely earn you a job that’s more senior than those of your peers, says research by Paul Gompers.

Funding and Building your Business

• Founder-Friendly Investors: How Private Equity and Venture Capital Are Helping Founders Level Up

  Inc.’s annual Founder-Friendly Investors list offers an inside track on the PE and VC firms that help founder-led companies grow.

The Creative and Cultural Economy

• Montana-based feature film addresses important topics – ‘The Year of the Dog’

  “He’s a sensitive dog, and you will have to become sensitive, too. Lean into that connection.” Nova Vento Ent. has unveiled an official trailer for an indie true story film titled The Year of the Dog, which is not a documentary but a feature based on real events.

• MPG Ranch Education & Volunteer Opportunities

  Located south of Missoula, Montana, and set up as a biological research station, MPG is a living laboratory with hopes to restore the landscape to be as native-species rich and bio-diverse as possible.

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

• Montana State Graduate School to host virtual recruitment fair Oct. 26-28

  The fair will feature separate Webex meeting rooms for most of the university’s graduate programs. Sessions are 50 minutes long and will feature live presentations about the programs and their research opportunities, followed by time for prospective students to ask questions.

Transportation

• Better Grid Management Could Start With Electric Vehicles

  Research by Pecan Street in Austin, Texas, shows that electric vehicles can be used as an effective device to smooth electric demand while getting recharged when electricity is cheaper and more plentiful.

Energy and Climate Change

• Earth’s future depends on the Amazon. This month, it’s up for a vote.

  In Brazil’s upcoming runoff election, President Jair Bolsonaro could be voted out. Here’s what that means for the rainforest.

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