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Week in Review (August 26th)

Dear Friend:

The past several months were not exactly easy at Midwest Partnership as the organization went through a longer than anticipated transition between directors. Fortunately Sarah Gomez was here and did a great job keeping everything going in the interim. She has been a major asset the past several years and her experience here has made things much easier for me as I’ve gotten acclimated to the position. That is why I am happy to announce that Sarah has been promoted to fill the opening in our Economic Development Coordinator position! Her loyalty to Midwest Partnership and enthusiasm for taking on a leadership role made this an easy decision for us to make and we know she will do great things for our region as we move forward.

And now onto the other events of the week…

Week in Review

 Business Recruitment
o Followed up with potential business looking to build in Greene County.

 Entrepreneurship/Small Business Assistance
o Spoke to a gentleman about the prospect of redeveloping a few abandoned buildings in Orient and the types of funds available for such projects.

 Public Relations/Partnership
o Met with Dave Johnson from MidAmerican Energy to discuss the many programs they have to offer for economic development activities and business assistance. We also discussed potential projects and the role MidAmerican could play in helping us to
o Attended the White Pole Road Development Corporation’s monthly meeting. The group has a number of great activities in the works and are planning on holding another Al Bell Festival in the next year. They are also in the early stages of plans for a White Pole Road bike trail. Learn more about them at http://www.whitepoleroad.com/.
o Met with Terry Torneten from ISU Extension about the various resources they have available and the ways we could coordinate to develop workshops and other beneficial programs to provide training opportunities in our communities.

 Research
o Sarah and I each attended an Iowa Department of Economic Development workshop to learn about the new features of the Synchronist and LOIS systems. These programs offer a lot of information that plays a major role in how we market our region to prospective businesses and how we respond to our current businesses’ needs.
o Sarah attended the Xtreme Strength Summit held by the Iowa Soybean Association’s Ag-Urban Initiative. Several speakers presented information and research about the ag industry and its role in an increasingly urbanized world. Understanding and properly addressing these issues will always be important to our rural economy.
o Contacted businesses to ensure site and building information was correct and up to date in our LOIS database.

 Online/Marketing Material
o We updated several sections of the website and are putting new materials together to replace some of the more out of date reports that are showing up in there. We’re also gathering information to fill in the blank pages and will be consolidating some elements to streamline the site. My goal is to make the site more attractive and user friendly.

 Schedule for Next Week (tentative and subject to change)
o Attending the Audubon County Board of Supervisors meeting.
o Attending the Jefferson Mainstreet meeting.
o Meeting with Greene County Extension Office.
o Attending the Adair County Board of Supervisors meeting.
o And anything else that crosses our path…

Hope the first week of school has gone well for all, have fun at the football games this weekend!

Sincerely,

Chad Schreck, Executive Director