Register to Attend Upcoming Pitch Night Competitions
and Support Entrepreneurship!
All events are free. Emmet Entrepreneur Challenge asks for suggested donation of $5 at the door to go towards People's Choice Award.
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GreenLight East Jordan Winners
Hannah Sanderson, Business Attraction & Growth
Four East Jordan Entrepreneurs win Startup Capital Totaling $14,500!
Seven entrepreneurs, business owners and three students pitched their business model for a share of seed dollars to put towards their business at GreenLight East Jordan Business Model Competition on October 10, 2018.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Baris & Cigdem Atmaca, of
Socks Kick
accepted the Grand Prize of $10,000 plus an additional $500 from the audience selected People’s Choice Award. Socks Kick was one of the many contestants who pitched their business idea for a share of $14,500 in startup funds, at GreenLight East Jordan held at Castle Farms in Charlevoix on Wednesday October 10, 2018.
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National Manufacturing Day coming to Northern Michigan
Carly Bortz, Administrative/Communications Assistant
High schoolers, parents and community can tour local manufacturing facilities during the week of Nov. 5-9, 2018
During the week of Nov. 5-9, 2018, area students, parents and community residents will have the opportunity to tour some of the region’s most unique and important manufacturing facilities. Tours will take place at numerous plants in Charlevoix and Emmet Counties, during school hours.
National Manufacturing Day
is a national effort to promote manufacturing jobs to high school students as a post-secondary career path option and to create awareness about the important role of manufacturers in communities. By working together during and after MFG DAY, manufacturers will begin to address the skilled labor shortage they face, connect with future generations, take charge of the public image of manufacturing, and ensure the ongoing prosperity of the whole industry.
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On-Street Bike Parking Coming Soon
Amanda Baker, Downtown Development Coordinator
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The Elk Rapids DDA plans to install on-street bike parking similar to that pictured thanks to a local grant from Cherry Capital Cycling Club.
It might be true that big dollar projects get all the media, but we all know that big fish are harder to catch. While Federal and State funded grants offer more money, they also require more input in time and investment, sometimes pushing the eligible projects out of reach for smaller communities. That’s why it’s important to work within your network to leverage grant opportunities from your local sources.
The Elk Rapids DDA recently received a $1200.00 local grant from the Cherry Capital Cycling Club to replace aging bike racks located on River Street. This project is being undertaken as part of a larger overhaul to create a more “bike centric” community including marked bike routes, parking, and accessibility.
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Just a Single, Please! More Housing Help
Janet Koch, Community Development
What would you say if I told you there’s a way, available right now, to help alleviate the housing shortage?
For those of you who are paying attention, that’s how I started
my article last month
. But it’s true again this month! What could this other way possibly be? Single room rentals.
Single room rentals are not studio apartments or efficiency apartments and they’re not necessarily short term rentals of the Airbnb variety. Single room rentals means that homeowners are renting a room to a non-family member. This can be a win-win situation as it brings in additional income to the household and provides housing for someone in need.
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Stop Fixing Potholes and Build Peaks
Jessica Lovay, Office Manager/Grant Administrator
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When a visitor is coming to your town for the first time what do you want them to experience? What do you want them to tell their friends and families about? What do you want them to remember? What can you do to make them a repeat visitor?
Every one of those questions is applicable in every community around the state, and country. What can we do as community members, educators, economic developers, business owners, local units of government, and everyone in between to make our communities the best they can be and thrive? We can “stop fixing potholes and start building peaks,” Dan Heath co-author of
The Power of Moments
describes in this quick
YouTube video
why we need to stop fixing potholes and start building peaks when it comes to creating better experiences.
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Reflections from Charlevoix CEC Conference
Buck Love, Business Retention & Growth
On October 3-4, 2018 over 115 people from all over Michigan and various states met in Charlevoix MI to hear 26 leading community and economic development experts engage small group breakout sessions.
These sessions addressed best practices to grow stronger more vibrant communities that would attract and support new and existing business ventures. Topic areas ranged from Redevelopment Strategies for Downtowns, Recruitment of young Entrepreneurs and preparing Community Resources (Housing & Workforce!), Tourism Impact & Marketing Ideas, Tools for Analysis and Guiding Business Owners.
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Strategic Plan Still Sitting on the Shelf?
Andy Hayes, NLEA President
NLEA Team took part in Strategic Doing Workshop hosted by MSU Extension which taught the practice of collaborative leadership to move action items forward.
Like many organizational planning sessions, a group is hired to come in and help write a strategic plan and after hours of work the question still remains, “how do we implement this?” Oftentimes a plan either doesn’t have a sense of purpose, or it wasn’t specific enough for anyone to carry out.
To add to this lack of purpose, meetings are often ineffective: 73 percent of employees do other work in meetings and 75 percent of individuals have no formal training to run a meeting.
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