IDEA Competition Extends Registration Deadline

By -

The IDEA Competition announced that it is extending the deadline for the first round of its competition to December 31.  This will allow applicants to take advantage of the newly discounted registration fee of $100, thanks to a generous contribution from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation.
IDEA Competition project coordinator, Michelle Landsverk, is enthusiastic about the extended deadline and the reduced registration fee.  “With the recent donation from Northwest Minnesota Foundation we are able to reduce the cost of entering the competition,” Landsverk said.  “With the reduced registration fee, it only made sense to extend the deadline so more people could take advantage of the cost savings.”
The purpose of the competition is to assist the most promising local entrepreneurs in the commercialization of innovative products, processes and deliveries by connecting them to the best resources available, along with access to the capital it takes to launch a successful venture. 
Since the competition began, over five years ago, the competition has awarded nearly $300,000 to Northwest Minnesota entrepreneurs.  While the competition will have three, $10,000 cash prizes up for grabs this year, many of its past winners report that the money they received was just one of the benefits. Corey and Sue Westrum, from Leonard, MN, were 2010 winners for their business idea, the Insect Inferno.  "The technical assistance the competition provided helped us with marketing, planning, and trying to get our product out there for people to see,” Corey said. “The tools the whole experience gives you are invaluable." 
Information about entering the competition can be found on the IDEA website, www.ideacompetition.org. 

IDEA has been made possible by the generous contributions of the following: 360° Manufacturing and Applied Engineering ATE Regional Center of Excellence, Arvig, Blandin Foundation, Border State Banks, Bremer Banks of Crookston and Warren, Minnkota Power, NID Inc., Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Northwest Regional Small Business Development Center, Ultima Bank Minnesota, University of Minnesota Crookston, and Wells Fargo. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frank and Marg Marvin

By -
Image
In honor of NMF's upcoming 30th anniversary and National Philanthropy Month, we want to celebrate the contributions of our donors! We will be highlighting a donor a day for the month of November. Please be sure to check the blog often to read about the wonderful stories of giving back to the northwest region.  If you are interested in making a difference through the services of our community foundation, our development officers would be happy to assist you. Please contact Caryl Turnow or Lisa Peterson at 218-759-2057 to learn more. Frank and Marg Marvin, Warroad The year is 1931 and a frustrated Dorrance Johnston has a degree in Engineering with no jobs to be found. Persistent and not willing to give up, he offered to work for a year without pay just to get a foot in the door. This is a mere glimpse at who Margaret “Marg” (Johnston) Marvin’s father was. Marg was born and raised in Warroad, and then met her husband Frank Marvin in their shared hometown. Both of their f
Read more

NMF Working to Address the Region's Child Care Needs

By -
Image
Ensuring families have access to quality child care is a high priority task for NMF. Our region has the third largest deficit for child care needs in the state. We are faced with 41% of families not having access to child care spots for their children. This means 41% of families are struggling to find safe and affordable child care for their children so they can go to work. The Center for Rural Policy and Development recently published a fact sheet that provides insight on this issue. The main barriers that they pointed out were the following: Until more can be done to increase wages and/or profits for both center and family providers, the child care shortage will continue Low pay for workforce makes recruitment and retention a major hurdle. Providers feel they can't raise rates because parents can't afford to pay more. Under this scenario, providers can't make a profit or be sustainable. The high startup costs make for very high barriers to entry for the av
Read more

Peacemaker Resources Paves the Way for Lifelong Learning in the Classroom

By -
Image
(Left to right) Caige Jambor, Sharleen Zeman-Sperle, and Stacy Bender-Fayette, SEL Specialists at Peacemaker Resources, work together to plan the upcoming school year. The mission of  Peacemaker Resources  is to "foster communication, compassion and connection leading to respectful relationships and healthier individuals and communities" and they achieve this by bringing their  social emotional learning  curriculum to elementary and middle schools around the state. They were also a recipient of the  NMF Quality of Place award in 2016 .  What makes their curriculum distinctive?   Barb   Houg, Executive Director, says,  " Its preventative approach, its relevance for children of all ages, and its lifelong impact." The curriculum that Peacemaker Resources is bringing into schools includes a number of programs -  STAR (Students Teaching Attitudes of Respect) ,  Girls Lead ,  Cultural Responsiveness ,  SEL (Social Emotional Learning) ,  Mindfulness , and  Tr
Read more