On April 25, 2013, the CDFI Fund announced the 2012 New Markets Tax Credit Awards. One of the awards went to Dakotas America who received a $60 million NMTC allocation to revitalize low-income and distressed communities.

Linda Salmonson, chairman of the Dakotas America board of directors, said that the organization has been a strong and successful voice for community development in North and South Dakota. “In low-income rural communities, Dakotas America has proven our effectiveness in dealing with economic challenges,” Salmonson said. “Even more importantly, we have shown the power of partnership to meet those challenges with innovative solutions that bring positive outcomes to families and communities throughout the Dakotas.”

The NMTC program attracts private-sector capital investment into low-income areas to help stimulate economic growth and create jobs. Dakotas America has already placed $130 million in NMTC allocations throughout North and South … Read More »

The 2013 Mid-America Economic Development Council (MAEDC) Best Practices Conference is in Sioux Falls on May 15 – 17, 2013.

Registration opens soon, but you can book your hotel room now. The conference timeline is Wednesday, May 15th (early afternoon) through Friday, May 17th (mid-day). You won’t want to miss session topics including:

How Federal Legislation and Funding Affects Economic Development in Your Community
A Presentation from a National Site Selection Real Estate Firm
Talent Retention and Attraction
Mid-America Success Stories
Oil/Gas Exploration

Hotel Information:

A limited number of hotel rooms have been blocked for the nights of May 14-16, 2013 at the discounted rate of $109/night (single and double rooms).

To book your hotel room, please call 1-800-HOLIDAY by April 23, 2013. Be sure to mention that you are with the Mid-America Economic Development Council (MAEDC) Best Practices Conference to receive the discounted rate.

The site of this year’s … Read More »

Dakota Resources was proud to be part of the planning team bringing the 2013 Midstates Community and Economic Development Conference to South Sioux City, Nebraska, held at the Marina Inn on April 4.

The conference was designed to bring together community and business leaders, volunteers, professional developers, and elected officials from the three-state area to share experiences and new ideas for community and rural development.

The workshops offered revolved around leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity, and strategic partnerships. Each workshop session included a real business or community sharing its story of success and lessons learned.

Conference workshops

From the Chair Gloria Pluimer

As Chair of Dakota Resources for 2013-2015, I am humbled and honored to serve such a distinguished Board of Directors.  For anyone associated with Dakota Resources, you understand the success of this organization is in the quality of Board members, leadership–with Beth Davis at the helm, staff and the numerous partners. Take some time to peruse the Dakota Resources website and you will understand how this organization is able to provide the quality programs it does to stimulate financial and human investment in rural communities in South Dakota.

A key component of Dakota Resources is the development of collaborative partners.  One will see the words “collaboration” and “partnership” in a variety of forms throughout the Dakota Resources website and promotional materials.

Wikipedia identifies partnership as an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. Collaboration … Read More »

collaboration Enterprise From the Chair Rural South Dakota Rural Enterprise South Dakpta

Community Members Supports Rural Development in South Dakota

Tightly knit, friendly, supportive and engaged are some of the words that define rural communities, but what about creating prospering business and well-functioning strategies? Dakota Resources, together with the Bush Foundation and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, launched the Regional System Engagement Pilot January 25 in Aberdeen, SD.

The purpose of the engagement is to help community and state leaders and researchers in South Dakota explore ways to improve community problem solving capacity, community vitality measurement, and leadership support through the testing of an innovative weaving of systems mapping tools – to help all of us better understand, manage, measure and thereby lead complex community change initiatives. The combination of tools includes (1) the well-researched and documented community capitals framework (CCF) for community vitality analysis, strategy and measurement (provides the ability to ascertain … Read More »

Bush Foundation economic development regional system engagement pilot