MATR Newsletter – September 20, 2021
The state with the best education wins!

Come Home Montana

• Montana Career Opportunity – Bookkeeper – Cascadia Management Group

  Cascadia Is Growing! If you find yourself to be an organized number fanatic who would thrive with the freedom of a flexible schedule, we want to hear from you!

• Request for Proposals 56Strong Program Facilitator Nine Month contract

  The contractor will serve as the lead facilitator and coordinator for
  planning and implementing this new state-wide program. The ideal candidate would be
  considered warm, welcoming, and a connector.

Montana Department of Commerce

• Export trainings available from ExportMontana at the Montana Department of Commerce

  As the world of international trade continues to be somewhat uncertain, perhaps you’re thinking now would be a good time to learn more about exporting, research new markets, tweak the website, etc. Below are some trainings, both live and on-demand, that can help with your needs.

Great Falls Development Authority

• Great Falls Economic Development Top 10 for 9-19-21

  Here is our Top 18 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.

Kalispell Chamber of Commerce

• Governor Gianforte Touts Montana’s Business-Friendly Climate on Kalispell Visit

  Governor promotes fewer regulations and encourages competitive business environment at Sept. 14 chamber of commerce luncheon

Housing

• Billings homebuilder launches project to help businesses around the world

  “We’re trying to go into some of the most impoverished areas of the world, and develop entrepreneurs who are trying to start businesses but they don’t have access to capital,” said Greg McCall, McCall Homes co-owner. “They have great ideas, but they just happen to live in a country that is so impoverished that they don’t have the same opportunities that we have here.”

• This collaboration aims to make dream homes for the 99%

  These cheaper custom homes combine prefab, virtual reality, and the touch of an architect.

Visit Montana

• The Best Hiking Apps to Keep from Getting Lost

  Download one of these trail-mapping apps to make sure you can always find your way in the great outdoors, even when you’re offline.

Funding and Building your Business

• A new law in Maine requires large companies to pay for recycling packaging waste

  This month, Maine passed a law that makes companies pay for the packaging waste they create, and nearly a dozen states are now on track to follow suit.

Incubators and R&D

• Landmark study presents evidence Alzheimer’s disease begins in the liver

  An impressive new study is presenting robust evidence showing the toxic proteins thought to be the cause of Alzheimer’s disease may be produced in the liver and travel through the blood before landing in the brain causing neuron damage.

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

• Rural Perspectives: Enhancing Education and Training Support for Rural Residents

  Knowing that employment opportunities and the workforce industry will continue to shift to fields that require more technical skills, there is a need to support individuals in accessing postsecondary education and training to obtain relevant degrees and credentials.

• Montana Learning Center awarded $360,000 NASA grant

  MLC says NASA funding has supported their efforts for years, helping provide a variety of programs that not only encourage engagement with STEM professionals but also help students develop their collaboration and communications skills and build other skills necessary for success in today’s education and work environments.

Careers

• You’re not a leader if you’re not doing this one important thing

  A managing director of creative agency Eleven reflects on her career and says, “Understanding that you don’t know everything, and you can learn from someone else, opens your eyes to so many growth opportunities and ways to advance, not only professionally, but personally.”

Come Home Utah

• Rural Utah Is Training for Work from Home – Is your rural Montana community telling its story so people will be able to consider moving there with their remote job?

  “Business recruitment is a great strategy for an urban center. But for rural, it’s broken,” said Paul Hill, Utah State University Extension associate professor. “It’s been broken for a while and a lot of traditional economic development directors, they’ve been stuck.”

Transportation

• Michelin’s airless passenger car tires get their first public outing

  The advantages are pretty clear: firstly, you can never be brought to a stop by a puncture or blowout – Michelin says about 200 million tires every year hit scrapyards early thanks to these.

• World-first resurfacing project mixes graphene into freshly laid UK road

  Made up of a single sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern, graphene offers incredible strength and flexibility, and by incorporating it into materials like asphalt scientists hope to develop road surfaces that last far longer, and therefore cost less to maintain.

• Cars Increasingly Ready for Autonomous Driving

  The share of newly registered passenger cars worldwide produced without provisions for assisted driving systems has become smaller and smaller in recent years.

Energy and Climate Change

• A Climate Conversation featuring former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and former U.S. Senator and Ambassador Max Baucus. – 10/28 – 7PM – Online

  The Baucus Institute brings global thought leaders in the areas of economic development, foreign policy and politics to Montana for public discussions about issues of critical importance to the future of our country. Thanks to the generous support of donors, Speakers Series events are free and open to the public.

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