2008 Annual Report Executive Summary

Griggs-Steele County Empowerment Zone

The mission of the Griggs-Steele Empowerment Zone, Inc. (GSEZ) is to increase population while maintaining sustainable rural values and lifestyles, to enhance community facilities and services to support revitalization, to end outmigration and invigorate and diversify the economy. Community input meetings are held annually in order to receive feedback from the stakeholders on which areas of community and economic development the Board and staff should focus their time and resources.

Pursuant to the mission, the most significant accomplishments in 2008 were as follows:
  1. The Board and staff formulated and implemented plans for the future of the GSEZ following the expiration of funding. Staff was reduced to two full-time positions, grant expenditures were reduced, and more time and effort has been placed on completing ongoing projects in anticipation of “maintenance mode.”
  2. The first tenant, Prairie Authority, LLC, moved into the Cooperstown Industrial Building on January 1, 2008, leading to the creation of three full-time and two part-time positions.
  3. M-Power, LLC, the first major locally-developed wind farm in North Dakota, was significantly advanced with financial, technical, and administrative assistance from the GSEZ.
  4. Over $386,500 was invested in six local existing businesses, leveraging nearly $1.7 million. Ten new positions were created in 2008 by businesses that have utilized Empowerment Zone funds, while 28 jobs were maintained.
  5. The GSEZ provided technical assistance and grant funds to establish a community-owned daycare in Hope, ND. Currently fourteen children attend on a regular basis, and it employs three full-time employees.
  6. 6. An alternative model for rural economic development was instituted through the formation of Prairie Authority, LLC, which has acquired two existing businesses through strategically targeting companies for sale on the market, and housing them under a single management umbrella.

 

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