2007 Annual Report Executive Summary
Griggs-Steele County Empowerment Zone
The mission of the Griggs-Steele Empowerment Zone, Inc. (Zone) is to increase population while maintaining sustainable rural values and lifestyles, to enhance community facilities and services to support revitalization, to end outmigration, invigorate, and diversify the economy. Pursuant to achieving this mission and the Zone’s Strategic Plan, which is updated annually with input gleaned from community meetings, the Board of Directors has stipulated six targeted areas upon which the work of the Zone is focused. They are: Housing, Tourism and Recreation, Energy, Manufacturing, Food Processing & Value-Added Agriculture, and Health Care.
Inherent in the Zone’s Mission Statement are the following primary objectives:
Strengthen the viability of the area through aggregation of the resources and leadership of the several participating communities and other partners for common economic and community development objectives;
Establish and maintain a foundation of essential services upon which to base further economic and community development;
Develop a critical level of economic activity that will reduce, and ultimately, reverse the rate of outmigration; and
Achieve a sustainable level of effective ongoing economic and community development activities.
Pursuant to these objectives, the most significant accomplishments in 2007 were as follows:
The 21,000 sq.ft. Cooperstown Industrial Building was completed, enhancing the opportunity for viable businesses and expansion of existing businesses, as well as residual revenue in support of further economic development activities
An alternative model for rural economic development was instituted which improves the likelihood of successfully attracting businesses, provides a better return to the Zone as well as other public and private investors, and offers incentives for recruiting additional workforce to the area.
Over $200,000 was invested in 24 locally existing businesses, leveraging nearly $1.3 million. In addition to financial investments, the Zone provided nearly 2200 hours of technical assistance to existing and new businesses. These contributions created 15 new full time equivalent positions while retaining 20.
The Zone’s due diligence and initial investment triggered over $1 million of follow-on investment in a major Minneapolis-based service company that has established a division in the region, with the potential of ten or more high-salaried positions.
M-Power, LLC, the first major locally-owned wind farm in North Dakota, was significantly advanced with financial, technical, and administrative assistance from the Zone.
A major research project was completed that demonstrates a high potential market for integrated community services that address the needs of the increasing aging population of the region, thereby reducing the rate of outmigration of this segment of the population.
A “point-in-time” housing study was completed to assist local employers in recruiting additional personnel.
The Zone assisted in the successful, community-supported, re-establishment of the Binford grocery and hardware store that had burned down the year before.
Three foundation accounts were established with leadership and revolved seed funds from the Zone, pursuant to community sustainability.
Two aging multi-unit low-income housing units were renovated with Zone financial assistance, affording full occupancy of the 15 units.
Approximately $170,000 of Zone funds were re-invested in the participating communities in support of capacity building, leveraging $500,000. Over $165,000 was granted to non-profit organizations, leveraging nearly $238,000 more in outside sources.
Due in part to a late start in adopting rigorous sustainability policies, an ingrained “dependency” relationship in which participating communities and businesses viewed the Zone’s resource as an “entitlement,” and less-than-planned annual Federal grants, achieving full sustainability by the close of 2008 is probably not possible. With the strategic investment policies in place and the full support of the Board, full sustainability can be reached in the 2009-2010 time period. A supplemental grant of approximately $4 million will be required to reach a level of internal earnings that will exactly replace the average annual grant awards made to the Zone over the past 10 years.