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Executive Committee
Tuesday, August 27
3:30 p.m.
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Board of Directors
Thursday, September 19
8:15 p.m.
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Investor Update Meeting
Thursday, September 26
Pine Mountain Resort
7:30 - 9:00 a.m.
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Housing Focus Group Session
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The Central Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Regional Commission will convene a focus group on the topic of housing in the Dickinson County area as a key step in better understanding and updating a local housing analysis. This effort is supported through the State's Regional Prosperity Initiative, a group that Lois Ellis serves on as a voting member.
The objective of the focus group session is to discuss and understand housing realities that the Dickinson County area faces by viewing demographic, economic development, and housing-related data, and through group discussion about individual experiences as they relate to housing challenges and opportunities.
A variety of stakeholders have been invited to attend the session on
Wednesday, August 28
, including municipal and county staff, economic development organizations, community organizations, developers, lenders, landlords, and large employers in order to get a broad and multi-dimensional view of this topic.
Members of the Infrastructure and Housing Development Task Force of the Alliance will be participating and look forward to hearing the comments and input of the focus group attendees. An updated housing analysis report is expected later this year and will help developers understand where housing opportunities align in our area. Please reach out to
Lois Ellis
if you have questions on this topic.
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Heavy Metal Tours Prepares for Manufacturing Day
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National Manufacturing Day is October 4 and the Heavy Metal Tours committee along with Bay College West, the Dickinson-Iron ISD, Northern Initiatives, Michigan Works! and several area manufacturers have put together an engaging program for area 9
th
graders.
The Heavy Metal Tours campaign provides a variety of ways to educate students and the community about the skilled trades and technical career opportunities that exist locally. Manufacturing Day at Bay College West will include 300 freshman students from area schools, participating in a series of 30 minute, hands-on activities, that simulate the skills needed by our area’s manufacturers.
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Alliance Participates in FlivverFest 2019
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Alliance volunteers staffed a booth at FlivverFest on Saturday, July 27 to engage with area residents and returning alumni. The booth provided games and a prize drawing for Flivver gear, while asking participants to provide a “wish list” item they would like to see in the area. The group was able to collect 50 entries and Carl Caylor won the random drawing for the Flivver gear prize package. Congrats to Carl!
A special thank you to Russ Kassin, Shana Thompson-Hegy, Theresa Caylor, Lisa Harry and Scott Reddinger for volunteering their time to help share a positive message about our community!
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Iron County Economic Development Summit
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All are welcome to attend the 3rd Annual Economic Summit in Iron County on October 18. The Summit will focus on creating a local entrepreneurial ecosystem, local business innovation and fostering regional cooperation. This event will engage, educate, and empower attendees around issues related to economic, tourism, workforce, and community development in the Iron County region.
Participants will represent the Iron County region as well as the U.P. as a whole, with an anticipated audience of business leaders, community leaders, economic development professionals, educators, elected officials, entrepreneurs, and emerging leaders. There is no cost to attend.
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The state budget approval process continues to be an item many stakeholders are watching closely. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has recently remarked that she will support a back-up plan in case there is not resolution before the September 30 end of the state’s fiscal year. Plan B would likely be a continuation budget, allowing for continued state government spending based upon the past year’s approved budget. Something to watch as we turn our calendars to September.
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MEDA Gathering in Marquette
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On August 13-16, over 150 professionals met in Marquette to take part in the Michigan Economic Developers Association Annual Meeting. The group was honored to have Governor Gretchen Whitmer address the conference attendees. The event schedule included many general and breakout sessions that provided key insights on economic development topics. John Jamar, CEO of CCI Systems presented on strategies for broadband deployment in rural communities and Amy Clickner, CEO of the Lake Superior Community Partnership received the Mike Conboy Award for her support and encouragement of professional development in the profession.
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Loyal to Local Welcomes New Participants
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Three new participants have signed up in recent weeks to join the Loyal to Local movement. We thank the following businesses for joining our efforts to raise awareness of the importance of choosing to shop at local businesses.
Bubloni Collision Center
Gallery of Floors
Echo Boutique
There is still time to join Loyal to Local! Please visit
loyal2local.org
to learn more or reach out to
Lois Ellis
with any questions.
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