Bear Paw Development Corp Of North Montana Hill County Courthouse

Programs: Economic development program activities. Bear paw development corporation works with local and tribal government officials, and private interests, on individual projects in a number of areas, including community planning, value-added agriculture and infrastructure development. Collectively, our organization's activities in 2017 resulted in the investment from outside sources of more than $6. 3 million into the economy of our rural area of northern montana.

bear paw development's brownfields program that started in 2009 has been funded by a total of $3,000,000 in grants from the epa. $1. 5 million of this amount is associated with performing environmental assessments on properties in the bear paw district that are contaminated or perceived to be contaminated. $1,500,000 is associated with the establishment of a brownfields revolving loan fund to make low or no interest loans to businesses and other entities wishing to cleanup contamination on their property. To date, 60 assessments and 8 cleanups have been completed.

administration of loan programs for economic development. Through bear paw development's loan department, $1,766,356 was loaned to small businesses in 2017 for start-up or expansion opportunities. These loans were for businesses that could not receive financing from conventional bank sources. This loan activity resulted in the creation or retention of 31 jobs.

small business development center activities. Bear paw development corporation serves as the host for one of ten small business development centers located throughout montana. Funding through a variety of sources allows bear paw development to hire an individual responsible for assisting small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs with assistance in developing business plans, finance strategies, and marketing opportunities. In 2017, the sbdc at bear paw development counseled 89 distinct clients, which resulted in over $1,506,000 in financing from local banks and other sources. This funding helped to start 12 new businesses, while creating or retaining 51 jobs. St. Mary rehabilitation working group activities. Bear paw development corporation serves as fiscal agent for this group of concerned entities in the milk river basin that has organized to expedite the rehabilitation of the st. Mary conveyance works and canal system, which delivers water for irrigation, recreation, and municipal use to a broad area of northern montana. The group consists of representatives from municipalities, conservation groups, irrigation districts, and others, and works with the state and federal officials, in an attempt to secure funding for this aging infrastructure, which was developed nearly 100 years ago.