Community developer.

              COMMUNITYDEVELOPER
Work Ready continued on page 2
November 2011
Dignitaries celebrating Major County’s Work Ready status included Norma Noble, Oklahoma Dept. of Commerce; Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb; Gerald Harris, Northwest Tech Center-Fairview Campus; Pat Regier, Fairview Chamber; and State Senator Bryce Marlatt.
New Areas Certified ‘Work Ready’
Major County & Blackwell celebrate achievements, designation
Two more areas recently celebrated becoming Certified Work Ready Communities.
In a stirring ceremony that had all the feel of a pep rally, community, education, and business leaders formally announced Blackwell’s certification status at a ceremony held at the Blackwell High School auditorium on September 30.
Playing to a crowd that included the entire student body, the high school band successfully created a thrilling and victorious mood. It was a thrilling way to set the tone for the dignitaries making the certification announcement.
Dave Lopez, Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism, and Norma Noble, Deputy Secretary of Commerce for Workforce Development, joined Blackwell officials and regional educational partners in recognizing the community’s efforts and achievement.
PHOTO CREDIT: JEANE BURRUSS
In this issue:
MONEY
funding news
pages 3, 10, 12
business focus
pages 4, 8-9, 11-12
financial management
page 10
RURAL
rural news
pages 1-4, 9
WORKFORCE
workforce connection
pages 1-2, 5-8, 13
COMMUNITY
oklahoma commerce news
pages 3, 7, 11-12, 15-16
upcoming events & important dates
page 14
ideas & resources
pages 5-6, 8, 10, 13
achievements & honors
pages 1-2, 4COMMUNITY DEVELOPER
Work Ready continued from page 1
2
Blackwell earned Work Ready Community status in about a year. Jeff Seymour, executive director of the Blackwell Area Chamber of Commerce, credits the partnership of area educational providers, including Blackwell Public Schools, Blackwell High School, Pioneer Technology Center, and Northern Oklahoma College.
“Not only does this certification put a ‘stamp of approval’ on the hard work of Northern Oklahoma’s education partners to prepare our workforce for the rigors of tomorrow’s global economy, it also continues to put Blackwell on the map for future business development,” said Blackwell Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Eric Webb.
As a further demonstration of the Blackwell High School’s commitment, all seniors will take the WorkKeys assessment, giving them a chance to earn a Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) in addition to their diploma.
Days later in Fairview, Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb addressed a large crowd of lunching community leaders from across Major County, praising their accomplishment of earning Work Ready certification for the entire county.
As an advocate for small business in Oklahoma, he’s well aware of the value of skilled talent. As a state leader engaged in economic development, he also understands the value of being able to quantify the skills of an area’s labor force.
Proving that businesses value the CRC, one of the largest employers in the area, Fairview Fellowship Home, encourages employees to earn their CRC. Those that do, get a pay raise of up to $2.00 an hour and the opportunity for additional training.
Lamb commended the leaders from local chambers and the Northwest Technology Center’s Fairview campus who led the county-wide effort that resulted in the designation.
Blackwell and Major County join a group of 14 counties in northeastern Oklahoma as the most recent areas to be certified. (See cover story in the September issue of Community Developer.)
Secretary of Commerce Dave Lopez congratulates Blackwell Asst. Supt. Eric Webb on the community’s earning Work Ready status as Norma Noble, Oklahoma Dept. of Commerce, looks on.
PHOTO CREDIT: JEANE BURRUSS
ABOUT WORK
READY COMMUNITIES
Every state in the nation is competing to attract industry and grow existing businesses. What it takes to compete effectively is a skilled and available workforce. And quantifying the skilled workforce available to employers is just what Oklahoma’s Work Ready program does.
Building on the state’s Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) initiative to expand skill assessment and certification efforts for individuals, Work Ready links workforce and economic development efforts within counties and regions, giving them a competitive advantage by certifying their workforce.
Existing and potential employers view the Work Ready designation as an objective and verifiable “seal of approval” of the local talent pool.
Leaders from economic development, education, and workforce development recognize the value of such certification and have stepped up to lead efforts in their areas. In fact, the rapid success of Work Ready is, in large part, due to the desire to certify entire Workforce Investment Areas.
Created by the Governor’s Council for Workforce & Economic Development and managed by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, Oklahoma Work Ready is nationally-recognized for its innovation and success. Launched in 2008, there are now 66 counties (86 percent) participating in the program.
Learn more or download an application at www.OKcommerce.gov/workready or
call 800-879-6552.NOVEMBER 2011
3
RURAL
Communities REAP Benefits of CDBG
Projects include water, sewer, streets, and more
Nineteen Oklahoma communities will receive grants totaling nearly $1.3 million dollars from the Community Development Block Grant-Rural Economic Action Plan (CDBG-REAP) program. The Commerce Department’s Community Development division recently made the award announcements which will benefit more than 35,500 Oklahomans.
The CDBG-REAP program partners with Oklahoma’s Councils of Governments (better known as COGs) to make a greater impact on each area of the state by matching – dollar for dollar – federal CDBG funds with state REAP funds for eligible projects.
CDBG-REAP funds an array of projects. Some of the eligible activities include water and wastewater infrastructure, fire protection, streets, making public buildings more handicap accessible, and 911 emergency systems.
The Congress, through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, provides funding for state CDBG programs. The national objectives of the CDBG program are to increase the availability, accessibility, and affordability of decent housing, to promote suitable living environments, and to expand economic opportunity.
Each year, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce invites public input to update its State Plan for the design and implementation of its CDBG programs. The agency makes CDBG funding available to eligible incorporated towns, cities, and counties using a competitive grant process with an established set of threshold and rating criteria.
To learn more about CDBG, visit www.okcommerce.gov/cdbg or contact Steven Hoover at Steven_Hoover@OKcommerce.gov, 800-879-6552, or 405-815-5268.
To learn about COGs in Oklahoma, visit
www.oarcok.org
2011 CDBG Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) Grants
RECIPIENT PROJECT TYPE BENEFICIARIES AMOUNT
Buffalo Refurbish sewer lagoons 1,200 $56,460
Burbank Rehab sewer system; upgrade manholes 155 $122,352
Burns Flat Overly streets with asphalt 192 $42,255
Chouteau Influent Pump Station Improvements 1,931 $49,370
Coalgate Replace water lines 20,015 $133,345
Colcord Improve water system 819 $25,000
Custer City Improve water lines & valves 393 $50,000
Davenport Construct new Senior Citizen Center 281 $105,000
Goodwell Upgrade sewer lagoon 1,192 $56,460
Kansas Water line extension 685 $50,000
Latimer County for RWD #2 Replace standpipe 1,020 $69,830
Lincoln County for Town of Agra Construct addition to fire station 1,088 $44,414
Mangum Buy firefighting equipment 2,924 $30,057
McCurtain Resurface streets 466 $69,830
Muskogee County for Town of Summit Overly streets with asphalt 226 $47,725
Orlando Improve electrical system 229 $64,169
Pond Creek Construct two wells for water system 896 $123,700
Roland Overly streets with asphalt 2,842 $70,000
Stephens County for RWD #4 Add new well; upgrade functioning well 156 $90,00
TOTAL FOR OKLAHOMA 36,710 $1,299,967COMMUNITY DEVELOPER
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MidAmerica Industrial Park Turns 50
MidAmerica Industrial Park is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011!
For five decades, MidAmerica has been in the business of growing new businesses that create jobs throughout northeast Oklahoma.
Located in Pryor (in Mayes County), just 38 miles northeast of Tulsa, MidAmerica is the largest rural industrial park in the United States. It began as Gene Redden’s vision of what could be done with a decommissioned World War II ammunition base.
The Oklahoma Ordnance Works Authority, a self-sustaining public trust, was created to own and operate MidAmerica, one of only three industrial parks in the entire state at the time. It ranks as the largest industrial park in Oklahoma and doesn’t rely on the support of state or federal tax monies.
“Gene R” became its first Administrator. During the ’60s and ’70s the park flourished, growing by leaps and bounds in both the number of jobs and the number of employers – manufacturers mostly.
Redden served as Administrator until his death in the late 1980s. Then, Sanders Mitchell, who had joined on in 1977, was selected as the next Administrator, a position he still holds.
Mitchell has carried on the tradition of success Redden established.
MidAmerica Industrial Park has evolved into a 9,000-acre manufacturing, processing, and distribution center. The park has a 365-acre airport with a 5,000-foot runway and its own water and wastewater treatment plants. It’s within close proximity to US Highways 69 and 412, I-44, the Kerr-McClellan Navigation System, and Tulsa International Airport.
Te remain one of the premier industrial parks in the country, MidAmerica continues to add amenities and features. For example, Rogers State University will relocate its Pryor campus to the industrial park in an effort to develop a more highly educated workforce and enhance economic development of the region.
“The campus will not only allow us to significantly expand higher educational opportunities for Mayes County residents,” RSU president Dr. Larry Rice says, “it also will provide us the capability to design courses tailored to the needs of existing and prospective employers at MidAmerica.”
Today, the park is home to more than 80 employers – including many divisions of Global and Fortune 500 companies – which employ in excess of 4,500 Oklahomans.
MidAmerica’s semi-centennial is a great opportunity to congratulate the staff and board of MidAmerica on their many successes and promising future. All Oklahomans can proudly brag on them.
To see some of the companies located at MidAmerica, click www.maip.com/tour.phpNOVEMBER 2011
5
WORKFORCE
Jobs Aren’t Enough
…to turn lagging economies into prosperous communities
By William Fulton
The recent flap over a public radio show on economic development has once again raised the most fundamental question in the business: Do economic developers create jobs or simply move them around?
Here are the facts: The national radio show This American Life aired a segment in May on economic development, including a visit to a conference put on by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). Because the show depicted the council and what it represents in such negative tones, long-time IEDC President Jeff Finkle wrote a lengthy letter of complaint, saying he felt like a guy who invited the show’s producers to a dinner party at his house, and then watched them insult the guests. Ira Glass, producer of This American Life, apologized for the segment’s snarkiness. In the end National Public Radio, which co-funds the show, apologized too.
All this was good copy, as we say in the newspaper business. In particular, Finkle deserves credit for successfully calling out the radio show for its highly negative story and eliciting an apology -- something that almost never happens. But the whole controversy obscured one valid criticism of the profession:
The way job creation is used as the first, last and only measure
of success.
The problem, as the radio show correctly identified, is that there is enormous pressure on politicians and the economic development experts who work for them to take credit for jobs created -- and, in some cases, jobs only supposedly created. Sometimes economic developers differentiate between good jobs and lousy jobs, mostly by looking at the hourly or annual wage scales of the jobs -- but usually the headline simply telegraphs the number of jobs a state or locality has produced. As the radio show pointed out, at times politicians go to hilarious lengths to take credit, as when Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon held a press conference to celebrate the creation of eight jobs.
So in the same way that teachers are expected to deliver test scores rather than educated children, economic developers are expected to deliver jobs rather than prosperous communities. Hence the focus on poaching jobs from somebody else’s turf and the spotlight on poaching big companies rather than small ones.
As we all know, there’s far more to the economic development profession than jobs. Over the past 20 years, as smokestack-chasing has subsided, economic developers all across the country have done a great job of focusing on growing jobs locally rather than poaching them. But even this approach doesn’t really convey how economic development works. Ultimately, successful economic development can’t be measured only by the number of jobs or even the number of high-paying jobs that have been created.
Everybody needs a “job” in the sense that everybody needs a source of income capable of sustaining them. But prosperity today is so much more than providing everybody with a conventional job.
Entrepreneurs need an entire ecosystem to support them -- financiers, lawyers, strategists and a growing workforce. Communities need wealth retained in their hometown to endow their future needs.
Different types of people need different types of jobs -- white collar, blue collar, professional, technical. As I wrote in this space in May, the next generation increasingly realizes that their future lies in the so-called “1099” economy, where temporary work is becoming the norm. They have no expectation of a traditional career path or even a traditional job.
These are the subtleties of economic development in the United States today that cannot be captured by measuring what we traditionally call “jobs.” They are measured by other things: venture capital available to local companies, skills in the workforce, the value of local philanthropic endowments, the number of startups (successful and unsuccessful) and overall household income.
The end result of all these activities is a prosperous community where people have money in their pocket and a commitment to spending it in a way that benefits both themselves and their hometown. Yes, sometimes this means smokestacks, and yes, most of the time it means jobs. But the underlying truth of that NPR segment is that there’s a difference between jobs and prosperity. If economic development is about nothing but jobs, then stealing jobs and taking credit for jobs that don’t exist will be the inevitable result.
If, on the other hand, economic development is about the enduring prosperity of communities, regions and states, you are much likelier to build a solid foundation for the future.
Reprinted with permission from www.governing.com/columns/eco-engines/jobs-arent-enough.html
William Fulton, GOVERNING’s economic development columnist, is mayor of Ventura, Calif., and author of Romancing the Smokestack: How Cities and States Pursue Prosperity, a compilation of his GOVERNING columns.COMMUNITY DEVELOPER
6
Oklahoma Young Professional Groups
Community and economic developers: Take note!
This is the third article in a short series highlighting YP groups throughout Oklahoma.
Young Professionals (YPs) are primarily 20-somethings/30-something “knowledge workers” employed in fields that require computers, science, or design skills at a high level.
YPs are mobile and value a superior quality of life. They look first for a desirable environment to live in, and then they find or create jobs.
It makes good sense for cities to stem the “Brain Drain” by attracting and retaining YPs because companies want to locate where they can attract their ideal workforce.
Read about these local YP groups in Oklahoma:
Ardmore Young Professionals Organization (AYPO)
AYPO launched in late 2006 with the full support of the Ardmore Economic Development Authority and Ardmore Chamber of Commerce.
Ardmore’s businesses – including Dot Foods, IMTEC Corp., Michelin North America, Mercy Memorial Health Center, the Noble Foundation, and Southwest Silicon Technologies – see the benefit in having “rooted” employees who value their community and encourage them to participate and join AYPO.
For more information, visit www.ardmoreyp.com
Tulsa’s Young Professionals (TYPros), Tulsa
Launched in 2005 by the Tulsa Metro Chamber, this YP group now has more than 6,300 members – three of whom serve on the chamber’s board of directors.
The group organizes around a leadership team and nine “crews,” which include a Government Relations crew focused on getting YPs involved with local and state politics and an Entrepreneurship crew dedicated to making Tulsa a “destination city for the best and brightest entrepreneurs…revitalizing Tulsa’s passion for creativity, intellectual capital, and job creation.”
In addition, the group’s Colleges & Universities crew works with area educational institutions to promote Tulsa and the benefits of staying in Oklahoma after graduation – reminding them that a low-cost of living means that here, “you work to live, not live to work.” The crew also works with area businesses, encouraging them to establish internships for students and recent graduates. The crew posts internship openings on its new www.internintulsa.com website.
For more information about TYPros, visit www.typros.org
Greater Enid Young Professionals (GEYP), Enid
GEYP officially kicked off in early 2009 and partners with the Greater Enid Chamber of Commerce.
These young professionals look to better themselves as individuals, as well as promote the growth and stability of Enid by connecting young professionals to civic opportunities; assisting local employers with recruitment of new talent; showcasing and enhancing Enid’s amenities; and working closely with local organizations.
The group meets every fourth Tuesday for networking and hosts quarterly luncheons (better known as City Chats) with the city manager. For more information about Greater Enid Young Professionals and its upcoming events, visit www.enidyp.com
Edmond Young Professionals (EYP), Edmond
The members of Edmond Young Professionals (EYP), an initiative of the Edmond Chamber, seek to advance their careers and build relationships with local community and business leaders.
A key goal of EYP is to broaden the base of activities and organizations available to young professionals by organizing a framework for social, cultural, educational and community service activities.
For more information about Edmond Young Professionals, visit www.edmondchamber.com/eypNOVEMBER 2011
7
Census Bureau and BLS Add Something New
Quarterly employment patterns by race, ethnicity and education level 181, 17 are males between the ages of 55 and 64 who have average monthly earnings of $17,543.
With the ability to delve that deeply into the numbers, think of the kind of insights that are possible for employers, economic developers, and others.
If you have questions about QWI or any U.S. Census Bureau product, your source for answers is the Oklahoma State Data Center, housed at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. For more information, contact 405-815-5182 or Steven_Barker@OKcommerce.gov
Detailed statistics on your local community’s workforce have been available for a few years now, using the Census Bureau’s online quarterly workforce indicators (QWI).
The QWI tool, found at http://lehd.did.census.gov/led/datatools/qwiapp.html, is part of a joint effort between the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to report the characteristics of all employees covered under the unemployment insurance program. (Data do not include the characteristics of the self-employed.)
Many community and economic developers have used QWI to identify and monitor workforce trends by geography (county, metro area, and workforce investment area), age group (8 different age subsets), industry (down to the 4-digit NAICS level), and gender.
To that mix, the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) have now added workforce data by race, ethnicity, and education level. Much of Oklahoma’s data is available going as far back as 2000.
There are still a few states without published data available, preventing the program from having a national comparative, but you can still compare local trends against Oklahoma as a whole or benchmark your community against competitor areas regarding business development and attraction purposes.
So what are some of the things you can discover? Try this on for size.
During the 3rd quarter of 2010, Washington County had 18,460 employed persons (not counting self-employed) with average monthly earnings of $3,407. Of those 18,460, 3, 473 have a bachelor’s degree or above and have average monthly earnings of $5,437.
1,598 of those 3,457 are males whose average monthly earnings is $7,323. And 537 of those 1,598 work in the mining, quarrying and oil and gas industry and have average monthly earnings of $10,918.
Looking further into that industry in Washington County, we find 181 new hires, 6 of whom are Hispanic with average monthly earnings of $6,341. Out of that same COMMUNITY DEVELOPER
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Benefits for Businesses: Increase your bottom line through your employees Reduce employee turnover, overtime and errors Improve e ectiveness of your training dollarsFor more information, call Jeane Burruss at 405-815-5256Oklahoma has become the first state to license KeyTrain work skills soft-ware for general statewide use. The license allows every business in the state to get interactive work and life skills training for employees at no cost.Businesses will get both the traditional KeyTrain program for math, reading and other skills and the Career Ready 101 curriculum for “soft skills” like customer service and work habits.Pelco Uses KeyTrain to Boost ProductionPelco Products, Inc. - In the two years since Pelco embraced KeyTrain for new hires and most of its existing sta , turnover has dropped from 30% to 10% and production is up 25 percent, said Je  Parduhn, co-owner and controller. The 26-year-old family-owned company employs 150 and has $25 million in annual revenues. “We're hiring the right people, and getting our employees up to speed where they should be,” Parduhn said. Pelco plans to conduct its own testing on site and use KeyTrain software to develop employees . Previously, administrators from Francis Tuttle Technology came to the plant to oversee it. What is KeyTrain?KeyTrain is the complete interactive training system helping your employees with work skills, based on ACT's WorkKeys® assessment system and the National Career Readiness Certi cate.Employee Training at No Cost to BusinessesNOVEMBER 2011
9
MONEY
Impact of the Recovery Act on Rural Communities
And cities, too
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released a report on the impacts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, called The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Working for Rural Communities.
The report on rural areas is available at www.usda.gov/documents/USDA_ARRA_RD_Report_v10_LoRes.pdf
From better infrastructure, to loans to farms and businesses, to expanded services by improved public safety facilities, this report details results of the Recovery Act in rural America.
A similar report from HUD, From Recovery to Reinvestment: The Impact of the Recovery Act on American Cities, covers similar information for urban areas. Find it at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=UrbanRecoveryReport.pdf
Wondering about all that ARRA money and where it’s gone? You can track the money – by state, by zip code, by agency, etc. – at www.Recovery.gov
U.S. Enacts Invention Reform Bill
Among other improvements, overhauled system will help speed patent process
Innovation and creativity are keys to a strong and sustainable economy.
In September, the America Invents Act became law. It is historic patent reform legislation that will help American entrepreneurs and businesses bring their inventions to market sooner, creating new businesses and new jobs.
This reform will speed up the patent process so that innovators and entrepreneurs can turn a new invention into a business as quickly as possible.
Passed with strong bipartisan support, the America Invents Act represents the most significant reform of the Patent Act since 1952. It will give a boost to American companies and inventors who have suffered costly delays and unnecessary litigation, and let them focus instead on innovation and job creation.
These reforms were also a key recommendation of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which has been a strong advocate for patent reform as a way to support job creation and strengthen America’s competitiveness in the global economy.
To read about key elements of the Act – including reducing litigation, tackling the current patent backlog, increasing patent quality, and strengthening Intellectual Property protections abroad – visit http://tinyurl.com/3v5qf92
Visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office online at www.uspto.gov
Other resources:
Oklahoma Inventors Congress
www.oklahomainventors.com
Inventor’s Assistance Service
http://ias.okstate.edu
Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science &
Technology (OCAST) www.ok.gov/ocast
Oklahoma Food & Agricultural Products Center
www.fapc.okstate.eduCOMMUNITY DEVELOPER
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OTHER FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
For current listings, visit
www.OKcommerce.gov/funding
6 Strategies to Promote Economic Security for Families
Everyone deals with money every day. We often wonder how to manage money when it seems there’s never enough. CareerBuilder’s survey of 4,500 U.S. workers reports 77 percent of working adults live paycheck to paycheck. That’s nearly eight-in-ten workers!
Assets matter economically, socially, and psychologically in ways that income alone does not.
Many families — and not only those with low incomes — have no way to cover day-to-day expenses if their regular income drops or disappears. Job loss, medical crisis, or car breakdown can put a family into debt, or deeper into debt. Such families are “asset poor.”
Asset-building offers families ways to avoid or get out of debt and be prepared for emergencies and for opportunities such as college or homeownership.
The ASSET Initiative was launched to extend the benefits of asset building strategies to more families. This approach to overcoming poverty enables families to address financial issues and plan for long-term stability. They learn about and use sound family budgeting and money management practices.
Asset building strategies to promote economic security include:
1. Financial Education – curricula for staff, parents,
and even children is available on-line at no cost.
Visit www.mymoney.gov
2. Savings – the path to financial security starts
with savings. Create a personal wealth strategy by
setting short- and long-term goals such as a
3-month nest egg. A Beginners Guide to Securing
Your Financial Future is available at
www.dallasfed.org/ca/wealth/index.cfm
3. Getting banked connects parents and staff to
banks and credit unions. Visit
www.joinbankon.org
4. Managing credit and debt – take control of your
finances. Visit www.creditbuildersalliance.org
5. Tax credits and filing assistance – help working
families and individuals keep more money in
their pockets. Use free IRS-sponsored tax
preparation services and apply for tax credits.
Visit http://tinyurl.com/6cfwetk
6. Accessing public benefits – helps families lessen
crises due to job loss, illness, disability, or divorce.
And it supports working families with low
earnings. Public programs reduce the severity
of poverty by increasing disposable income. Visit
www.benefits.gov
The ASSET Initiative is a natural fit for promoting by all of these programs. Building assets results in an overall benefit to individuals, families, mothers, fathers, children, and the community. It’s a difference maker in moving these entities to long-term self-sufficiency.
Become a partner of the initiative. Educate yourself and others. Take on asset building strategies. Link to the AFI Resource Center at www.idaresources.org
For more information, contact Wanda DeBruler, AFI Regional Consultant, at 405-641-5090 or wanda.debruler@idaresources.org
The ASSET Initiative is supported by the Assets for Independence program, a collaborative effort within the Office of Community Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACF has more than sixty-five programs whose missions are to benefit children and families.NOVEMBER 2011
11
Commerce Staffers Tour Oklahoma Business
M-D helped create the weatherization industry
In late September, twelve Oklahoma Department of Commerce associates toured Oklahoma City manufacturer M-D Building Products. This was the first in a series of business tours for Commerce associates. “Tours of employer facilities give us context for what we do and why it’s important,” explained Dave Lopez, Secretary of Commerce and Tourism.
“I thoroughly enjoyed touring the corporate headquarters and plant,” Senior Research Analyst Jennifer Lovell said. “We learned the company’s history, their implementation of lean manufacturing, and why they decided to keep production in the United States.”
While open to all Commerce employees, the tours are geared to those associates who don’t have the chance to work with businesses in the field. Associates get the chance to talk to business leaders directly, learn about operations, and discuss Commerce’s role in supporting the business or industry.
“Having this tour gave me a chance to hear directly from the vice president of operations. We learned what
Derek Turner explains one of the production processes at M-D Building Products’ manufacturing facility in Oklahoma City as Commerce associate Melvin Mungai listensworks for their business and what doesn’t,” says LaRonda Molina, Director of Human Resource and Organizational Development at Commerce.
M-D Products recently completed construction of a new 80,000 square foot warehouse and distribution center at their Oklahoma City headquarters located in the Santa Fe Industrial Park between Northeast 36th and 50th Streets.
Founded in 1920 as Macklanburg-Duncan, the Oklahoma City company develops, manufactures, and markets a range of residential and commercial weatherproofing products, including door and window weather-stripping, garage door weather-stripping, pipe insulation, and a complete line of interior caulking products.
L.A. Macklanburg built his first form of weatherstrip to keep the dust from coming under his front door. He then built a brass-folding hand-crank weatherstrip machine and took his product to the Oklahoma State Fair in July 1920.
Polypropylene pellets are the primary ingredient for M-D’s rolled foam insulation
PHOTO CREDIT: TAMARA PRICE-OMONDI
PHOTO CREDIT: TAMARA PRICE-OMONDICOMMUNITY DEVELOPER
12
COMMUNITY
Commerce, Durant Partner to Help Company Expand
Eagle Suspensions to add 30 new jobs
The Oklahoma Department of Commerce recently awarded $500,000 to the City of Durant to support the expansion of Eagle Suspensions through railway and drainage improvements.
In addition, the company will invest approximately $1.6 million toward the project.
The grant funding comes from the Community Development Block Grant - Economic Development Infrastructure Finance (CDBG-EDIF) program.
The company’s expansion will add 30 new jobs with 23 of them being made available to low to moderate income applicants.
“I’m very pleased the company and community leaders were able to work together to secure this funding to help the company with its necessary expansion,” Durant State Senator Josh Brecheen said. “Having Eagle Suspensions in southern Oklahoma is good not only for our local economy, but for the entire state.”
Eagle Suspensions specializes in handling steel bars that are used to manufacture a complete range of leaf springs for all sizes of trucks.
The plant builds 3,500 different part numbers and is the most versatile facility of its kind in the world. Their finished products can weigh anywhere from 5 to 500 pounds each.
They are used on everything from classic cars to huge off-road trucks and equipment. They also produce specially designed truck and trailer springs for the U.S. military.
“Since 2006, Eagle Suspensions has created 175 jobs in our community and now with this grant they’re going to be able to create even more which is great news for the area,” said Durant State Representative Dustin Roberts.
Due to increasing production demand, the company must expand its railroad spur in order to get more products in and out of the facility. The existing railroad spur, completed in 2007, can no longer meet the needs of the company. Work will also include updating the drainage system around the company.
The CDBG-EDIF program helps eligible cities, towns, and counties with the financing of infrastructure improvements for business expansions and start-ups. The purpose of the program is to stimulate long-term job creation and investment. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce manages the federally funded CDBG-EDIF program in the state as part of its continuing commitment to promote job creation and to diversify the state’s economic base.
Commerce sets aside around $3 million a year for infrastructure financing grants from the total CDBG federal appropriation they receive. Normally, 5-7 grants are awarded in this category each year.
To learn more about CDBG-EDIF or to get an application, visit www.OKcommerce.gov/cdbg
or call 800-879-6552. Or contact Karen Adair at
Karen_Adair@OKcommerce.gov or 405-815-5363.NOVEMBER 2011
13
Teaming Up to Support Children, Youth & Working Families
Two new toolkits on workforce readiness available
Communities across America are seeking innovative ways to spark economic growth and ensure a skilled workforce for tomorrow.
Corporate Voices for Working Families, a nonprofit business membership organization, has published two new resources that offer valuable guidance for local officials, employers and others teaming up to support children, youth and working families in their communities.
Opportunities in the Workforce Readiness Pipeline: A Community Engagement Toolkit for Business is designed to assist business and local leaders in developing successful, sustainable partnerships to ensure that more young people in their communities have the highest quality education and supports they need to be successful today, and as the workforce we will depend on tomorrow. It offers practical advice and hands-on steps to investing in community improvement, and features case studies from leading corporate citizens.
Building the Business Case for Investing in Tomorrow’s Workforce profiles private-sector commitments to support education and workforce training for lower-skilled employees, and documents the substantial payoff to companies that have done so. Case studies include CVS/Caremark, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and the Johns Hopkins Hospital system.
Corporate Voices’ community-business engagement tools are produced through the Ready by 21® National Partnership, a team of national organizations committed to helping communities implement Ready by 21—a set of innovative strategies to improve the odds that all children and youth will be ready for college, work and life. Ready by 21 helps leaders to build broader partnerships, set bigger goals, use better data and take bolder actions.
The tools may be accessed at http://tinyurl.com/3jkochx
Learn more about Ready by 21 at
www.readyby21.org Upcoming Events & Important Dates
For more information and the latest updates, visit www.OKcommerce.gov/Events
COMMUNITY DEVELOPER
14
DATE / TIME EVENT / CONTACT LOCATION ADDRESS / CITY
Nov 2 Veterans Entrepreneur Rose State College SBDC 1720 Hudiburg Dr
8 am-5 pm Conference (registration required) Prof Training & Educ Ctr Midwest City
www.osbdc.org
Nov 8 Veterans Entrepreneur Cameron University 2800 W Gore Blvd
8:30 am-3:30 pm Conference (registration required) CETES Center Lawton
www.osbdc.org
Nov 11 Oklahoma Department of Commerce closed in observance of Veterans Day
Nov 16 Shipping & Documentation OSU-Tulsa 700 N Greenwood Ave
9 am-4 pm Workshop (registration is required) North Hall, Rm 250 Tulsa
www.OKcommerce.gov/events
Nov 21 Deadline for written comments Oklahoma Department of Commerce 900 N Stiles Ave
by 5 pm on the State Consolidated Plan Oklahoma City
Steven_Hoover@OKcommerce.gov
Nov 24-25 Oklahoma Department of Commerce closed in observance of Thanksgiving
Dec 2 Governor’s Council for Workforce & OSU-OKC 900 N Portland Ave
9 am - Noon Economic Development meeting 3rd Floor Conference Rms Oklahoma City
Linda_Emrich@OKcommerce.gov
Dec 26-27 Oklahoma Department of Commerce closed in observance of Christmas
2012
Jan 2 Oklahoma Department of Commerce closed in observance of New Year’s Day
Jan 16 Oklahoma Department of Commerce closed in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Jan 31 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) applications available online
Apr 30 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) applications submission deadlineNOVEMBER 2011
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Community Developer newsletter is published monthly by
the Community Development Division of the Oklahoma
Department of Commerce. Subscriptions are free.
Manage your electronic subscription preferences at
www.OKcommerce.gov/optout.
To change your mailing address information or add or remove
a print subscriber, complete this form and fax this page to
Kirk Martin at 405-605-2951.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPER is a product of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR: Vaughn Clark
Editor: Kirk Martin
LAYOUT/DESIGN: Michael Burke, Gotham Advertising and Design
EDITORIAL BOARD:
Bryan Boone / David Crow / Dustin Pyeatt / Kelli Yadon /
Marshall Vogts / Rhonda Harding-Hill / Sonya Bell / Steven Hoover / Tim Milligan
CONTRIBUTORS:
Charlotte Conant / Jeane Burruss / Shawna McWaters-Khalousi / Steven Barker / Steven Hoover / Tim Milligan
PHOTO CREDITS:
Tamara Price-Omondi – page 11
Jeane Burruss - Cover, page 2
The Oklahoma Department of Commerce is the primary
economic development arm of the state and is designated by
the Oklahoma Legislature as the lead agency for rural economic development. Our Mission is to increase the quantity and
quality of jobs available in Oklahoma by:
• Supporting communities;
• Supporting the growth of existing businesses and entrepreneurs;
• Attracting new businesses; and
• Promoting the development and availability of a skilled workforce.
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15
Memorial Scholarship Offered for Best Essay by HS Senior
Stipend honors Ted Allen & David Walker
A $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to the high school senior who writes the best essay on the importance of affordable housing for low-income people.
To be eligible, students must be related to an employee of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, a Community Action Agency, the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency, or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Eligible applicants must have at least a 3.0 grade point average and plan to attend an accredited four-year university, college, or junior college with plans to complete a degree.
The scholarship contest memorializes Ted Allen and David Walker, two HUD employees who lost their lives in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
The Oklahoma Weatherization Housing Advisory Council sponsors this scholarship and will present the award in August 2012.
To receive an application packet for the Ted Allen/David Walker Scholarship, contact John Jones at John.Jones@kibois.org or call 918-967-3325.
All materials are due no later than January 13, 2012.(PRSRT STD)
US POSTAGE PD
OKLA. CITY, OK
PERMIT NO.41
900 North Stiles Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK 73104-3234
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