Program areas at Missoula Economic Partnership
Business development program:the Missoula Economic Partnership's (mep) business development program serves all stages of business through direct services and cooperation with key partners. Our team also works strategically to identify and recruit businesses that best fit our regional strengths and have the strongest potential to succeed in Missoula. High value manufacturing is one of the sectors mep prioritizes. In a tight labor market, job growth in this sector can have the biggest positive impact on earnings among local residents. High value manufacturing has added three times more jobs than the average among all sectors countywide, far outpacing national trends. Mep helped several of these businesses plan for expansion including paradise dental technologies, felco industries, and diversified plastics through the big sky Economic develop trust fund grant program, with awards totaling $75,000. Mep conducted 33 business retention and expansion meetings with local companies.
Land development program:as a strategic initiative, Missoula Economic Partnership works to maximize the potential of Missoula's commercial real estate assets and development opportunities by engaging different sectors, stakeholders, and the public to leverage collective assets and align collective decisions. Mep responded to more than 3 initial inquiries from businesses considering relocation and mep continues to work with several businesses with continued interest.
Talent development program: mep seeks to enable every person to put their skills to work in our community. We seek to ensure our businesses have access to the talent they need to grow in Missoula. Mep's talent development program brings together stakeholders from the private sector, educational institutions and peer organizations to expand career pathways, incumbent worker training, talent retention, and talent attraction. Mep hosted virtual workshops for employers and local students/job seekers on how to recruit with the university of Montana and Missoula college, and job opportunities in the fast-growing bioscience industry.
Big sky business insight summit (big sky bis): in fiscal year 2022, mep hosted the annual big sky bis, a multi-day conference that convenes cross-sector leaders to define big problems, identify Montana's strengths to address them, and provide insights on how solutions can grow higher paying jobs, strengthen our statewide economy, and improve our overall quality of life. For the first time, the event was held in-person at the university of Montana in the ali auditorium. The 2022 summit addressed housing and childcare as specific challenges to cultivating and sustaining a healthy workforce. Local and regional experts weighed in on how these challenges impact the availability of skilled labor and explored ways to respond through innovation and collaboration.