MATR Newsletter – September 14, 2020
The state with the best education wins!

Corona Virus Information

• Google and Facebook Look to July 2021 for an Office Return. Can You Do the Same?

  Plans to resume business as usual by next July might be unrealistic. But you can learn from how the big companies are planning for it.

• We Can Solve the Coronavirus-Test Mess Now—If We Want To

  As the saying goes, it’s as messed up as a pile of coat hangers.

Come Home Montana

• Montana Career Opportunity – Chief Executive Officer – Montana Association of REALTORS

  The Montana Association of REALTORS® (MAR) seeks a full-time Chief Executive Officer. This position offers a unique opportunity to represent and support the REALTOR® profession in the state of Montana in partnership with the Board, members, and our affiliates. The position involves a variety of dynamic and challenging responsibilities including:

Montana Department of Commerce

• Montana near bottom in Census response

  To boost participation, Alabama started the Alabama Census Bowl, in which low-responding counties have the chance to win $65,000 for their schools through Census participation.

• Montana libraries help citizens fill out census forms as state hopes for another Congress seat – This is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to make a difference!

  “Montana gets about $2 billion dollars a year from the federal government based on the Census. When we do not count a Montanan who should be counted, that equals about $20,000 over the 10-year period of the census.” Montana Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney

• Governor Bullock Pivots Innovate Montana Symposium to Online Business Success Platform

  The Governor’s Office of Economic Development is working with business leaders in Montana and beyond for the video series. A launch in October has been targeted for the Innovation Hub, and further announcements will follow as more detail becomes available.

• Montana could lose $9.7 million per year with 1% undercount in census

  “We will live with the consequences of this undercount for the next decade.” Kendra Miller Montana Districting and Apportionment Commissioner

• 8 Montana Tribes Share $160K Grant to Support Native-owned Small Businesses

  The $20,000 will go to each tribe’s economic development or business development organization, according to the Montana Department of Commerce.

Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development

• Film industry brings nearly $48M to Montana

  Between January 2019 and June 2020, 117 productions have been filmed.

Great Falls Development Authority

• GFDA’s Top 10

  Here is our Top 21 for this week celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen the Great Falls regional economy — Montana’s Golden Triangle. And, sharing business resources and skill-building opportunities to empower your success.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Bursting at the Seams: Missoula Company Expands – Big Sky Fulfillment Partners with Bonner Mill Site, Looks to Double Staff

  ”The Bonner Mill Industrial Park was the right space for Big Sky Fulfillment to grow. Joining tenants like Planetary Design, Coaster Pedicab, ALCOM and others, Big Sky Fulfillment adds to the thriving hub of businesses based out of the former lumber mill.

• Accelerate Montana September Announcements

  I wanted to highlight two opportunities that you or someone you may know may be excited to take advantage of:

Montana Business

• Montana-based Morrison Maierle Systems Earns World-Renowned Designations

  Channel Futures named Morrison-Maierle Systems as one of the world’s premier Managed Service Providers and one of the top MSPs in Montana with the Channel Futures MSP 501 rankings of 2020. Morrison-Maierle Systems also earned the Cyber Verify AA Risk Assurance Rating from MSP Verify.

Idaho News & Events

• Lines form outside Idaho home for sale. Four potential buyers offer cash the same day

  Trairatnobhas predicts the catastrophic forest fires raging in Oregon, California and Washington could be another selling point for people looking to move from those states.

2020 Montana Politics

• Facebook to give paid time off to employees who volunteer as poll workers

  The extra vacation time comes as part of a wider push by the social media platform to recruit poll workers, including from among its user base.

• We are Looking for Volunteers to Help Us Reach as Many Montanans as Possible. Montana Census Phone Banks on Tuesday, Sept. 15th from 5-8pm and Thursday, Sept. 24th from 5-8pm

  This is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to make a difference!

Careers

• Amazon Announces 100,000 Job Openings Across the US and Canada

  September might finally be the time to get your hopes up for a reason this year!           By Deniz Yilmaz

Transportation

• Is Your Community Walkable? Check. Urban? Check. Rural? Also Check.

  “Urbanism” to me means the following: There are 15-minute neighborhoods where you can meet your needs on foot.

Energy and Climate Change

• Sustainable Missoula: Continuing a tradition of creative reuse

  In case you don’t know, Home ReSource is Missoula’s place for salvaging materials for reuse, offering everything from historic hardware to reclaimed lumber, doors, kitchen cabinets, sinks, windows, light fixtures, tile and more at affordable prices.

• How climate change is fueling record-breaking California wildfires, heat and smog

  “This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “Maybe we underestimated the magnitude and speed” at which these events would occur, he said, but “we’ve seen this long freight train barreling down on us for decades, and now the locomotive is on top of us, with no caboose in sight.”

• Novel Ultrafast Battery Based on Graphene Charges in 15 Seconds

  The new power-source already made its way to a €1 billion contract with a prestigious automotive company.

• “Melting choc chip” blocks could stack up as grid-scale energy storage

  The team says they’re efficient, scalable, safe, inexpensive, and can be used in existing coal-fired power plants.

MATR Newsletter Supporters: