The Alliance Talent and Education Task Force is collaborating with education partners to create a business speaker bank for area schools starting in Fall 2023. The group is circulating an interest form and collecting names of individuals interested in speaking to students in classrooms about careers at companies in the Dickinson County Area. This information will be shared with all local school districts and teachers throughout the area so they can schedule visits and bring business representatives into their classrooms to interact with students. This project is organized in partnership with The Alliance, the Dickinson-Iron ISD and the Breitung Township Schools. Access the interest form here.

The Alliance had the opportunity to work with both Rural Insights and UPWord on articles in recent weeks. Features are linked below.

On August 13-16, up to 200 economic development professionals from across Michigan will take part in the Annual Meeting of the Michigan Economic Developers Association in Marquette. Alliance Executive Director Lois Ellis serves on the Planning Committee for the event along with Christopher Germain and Mary Myers from the Lake Superior Community Partnership. We are looking forward to a great agenda that includes a welcome by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, sessions about the outdoor recreation economy, housing and other timely topics. Interested individuals are welcome to attend, and more information can be found at https://www.medaweb.org/annualmeeting.

Sponsors from our region include:

InvestUP has launched the Build U.P. housing fund to address the Upper Peninsula’s immediate need for housing and provide the region with a long-term, sustainable fund to solve future housing challenges. Awards from the fund, which will total up to $15 million, are available now.

Over the past year, InvestUP reached out to developers, lenders, municipalities, and subject matter experts to better understand the barriers that stand in the way of housing development. Two consistent challenges emerged: collateral shortfalls by borrowers and the cost of public infrastructure. InvestUP has created two programs to address these issues:

The priority of Build U.P. is to expedite the construction of shovel-ready housing projects in the Upper Peninsula. Developers and U.P. lenders can learn more about the fund on the InvestUP website.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is conducting a survey of businesses across the Ninth District states (MN, MT, ND, SD, WI, and the U.P. of MI) to help them better understand current challenges and how the economy is affecting businesses. Survey instructions are below. You are welcome to share the survey with businesses in your network. The survey is open through Monday, July 24.

Please take this 7-minute survey to help the Minneapolis Fed and our local partners understand the impact that the economy is having on your business. Results are shared with our partners (who sent you this survey), and they can share results with you once the survey is closed. Results are also shared with the general public. 

The Office of Rural Development continues to prioritize outreach and engagement in Michigan’s rural communities to understand what’s most important to residents and community leaders. The office is circulating a statewide survey to gather additional input from rural residents and individuals working in rural communities.

Please consider responding to this survey to share your insights. You are welcome to share the survey link with other stakeholders.

The Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, in partnership with Automation Alley, invites you to an event showcasing some of the most impactful technologies available to manufacturers. This event includes live technology demonstrations and opportunities to speak directly with experts about how each innovation could help your facility. Attendees will also learn about The Center’s FREE Technology Opportunity Assessment and how it helps identify technologies that will provide maximum improvements and return on investment. All are welcome. The Iron Mountain event will take place on Thursday, August 24, from 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM CT at the Bay College West Campus. Please register at The-Center.org.