Grand Forks Region Top 10 – October 2021

1. Can you keep up with the progress on the Career Impact Academy? We barely can. Last month we received several donations from community partners, and we want to express our gratitude again for helping the Career Impact Academy come to fruition:
             ● City of Grand Forks land: $1.73 million value
             ● Altru Health System $1,000,000
             ● Grand Forks Region EDC $500,000
             ● Grand Forks County $400,000
             ● Anonymous businessman $150,000
             ● Lunseth Plumbing & Heating $125,000
             ● True North Equipment $100,000
             ● Forum Communications $100,000
             ● Edgewood Healthcare $100,000
             ● Northridge Construction $100,000
             ● Construction Engineers $100,000
             ● C.L Linfoot $75,000
             ● JLG Architects $50,000
             ● Opp Construction $50,000
             ● Crary Real Estate $50,000
             ● Lunn family $50,000
             ● Dakota Commercial $50,000
             ● Development Homes $50,000
             ● Grand Forks/East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce $25,000
             ● Retrax $25,000
2. The Northern Valley Career Expo returned after taking last year off. We shuffled 1700 regional high school sophomores through the Alerus doors to visit with over 60 exhibitors and take part in 100 interactive stations and 22 break-out sessions. Click here to see photos of the event. 
3. Congratulations to Airtonomy on winning the GENIUS NY pitch finals along with the $1 million grand prize! Companies were selected from a highly competitive pool of nearly 600 submissions from more than 50 countries. 
4. EDC member company Border States Electric cut their ribbon/wire for their new facility. The location in the industrial park will allow better service to customers as well as improved safety through product storage. 
5. We enjoyed partaking in Governor Doug Burgum’s round table discussionwhen he visited Grand Forks in early October. State and city officials updated one another on industrial development, the Career Impact Academy, and the governor’s Main Street initiative.
6. The EDC was awarded the Economic Development Association of North Dakota’s (EDND) Project of the Year Award in the large community division for their work with Core Scientific. The EDC team coordinated overall business support for the $114 million project including site visits and programs applied. The company is developing a data center in Grand Forks.
7. Congratulations to EDC Director of Business Development Brandon Baumbach on winning EDND’s Economic Developer of the Year in the large community division! Baumbach has been with the EDC since 2016 and has been the lead developer on more than 50 business retention/expansion projects including Mobile Recon Systems, Core Scientific, and supporting multiple expansions of Northern Tier Seed in Grand Forks County.
8. Three Grand Forks-based companies are among the recipients of the North Dakota Department of Commerce’s Innovation Loan Technology Fund (LIFT)totaling $1.8 million. Congratulations to First-i LLC, Mobile Recon Systems, and SafetySpect. 
9. Just when we thought October couldn’t get busier, we somehow squeezed in attending the 15th Annual UAS Summit & Expo at the Alerus Center. UAS Sector Developer Nathan Iseminger moderated two panels and other EDC staff members made strong connections with UAS businesses interested in expanding or relocating to the Grand Forks region.
10. With that, congratulations and best of luck to former UAS Sector Developer Nathan Iseminger as he starts a new position as Project Manager & Business Developer with uAvionix. We are sad to see him go but excited for his next career step.

The EDC is preparing a monthly report on key regional economic indicators. Click here to see September’s Economy at a Glance.