Lakeshore Industry Cluster Initiative
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Are you interested in improving your company's competiveness? There is a collaborative effort underway to kick off a Lakeshore Industry Cluster Initiative for the Manitowoc, Door, Calumet, Kewaunee and Sheboygan Counties region. The Lakeshore Cluster Initiative will engage businesses in regional industry cluster networks to analyze and leverage assets and opportunities for additional business growth and development. Industry cluster leaders in Manufacturing, Food Processing/Agriculture, Energy and Tourism will be offered the opportunity to lead and direct opportunities that help the region and their individual business goals.
Lead by private sector business leaders, national and global trends will be evaluated and prioritized against our region's assets and unique competitive opportunities. The process will help to identify and target regional assets and resources that can improve the competiveness of each of the sectors. Also to be evaluated is how the Lakeshore region ranks against other communities in respect to "Quality of Place" impressions.
A half-day kick-off event for the Lakeshore Industry Cluster Initiative has been scheduled to launch the process on the morning of Tuesday, August 28 at Fox Hills Resort, Mishicot; (click the link for more information and to register for the event). Contact Bill Chaudoir for more information about the Cluster Initiative.
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NEWREP Business Plan Competition ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Do you have an idea for a great new business or expanding an existing business in Northeast Wisconsin? Are you interested in winning up to $10,000 in cash to put towards that idea? If you answered yes to these questions, plan on entering the 2012 Northeast Wisconsin Business Plan Contest. Organized by the Northeast Wisconsin Regional Economic Partnership, the competition is entirely on-line at the Kauffman Foundation's iStart.org web site. By August 15, entrepreneurs simply need to submit a 250-word maximum Business Concept Statement.
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City Micro Loan Program
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The City of Sturgeon Bay and DCEDC have set aside $140,000 in the City's Revolving Loan Fund to create a Micro Loan Program for exterior facade and storefront improvements for businesses located along the official detour route of STH 42/57. This highway detour is currently scheduled for the spring and early summer of 2013. The purpose of the fund is to offer an incentive to businesses to upgrade the appearance of their facilities in anticipation of significantly increased traffic due to the temporary closure of the bypass bridge. Eligible businesses must be physically located within one block of the official WI DOT detour route of STH 42/57. Interested businesses should contact Bill Chaudoir or Sam Perlman for information and assistance with the loan application.
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Global Trade Counseling
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One of the primary goals of the recently completed Global Trade Strategy for Northeast Wisconsin is to offer direct assistance to businesses with 500 or fewer employees grow their export sales. One of the providers of this individualized assistance is John Winkler with the Small Business Development Center Network. John is available to work with small and medium-sized companies throughout the 18-county region. He is certified to counsel businesses that are seeking to identify their first or next international market. The assistance includes helping a business assess their global strategy and all the elements and steps involved in international sales. This assistance, like all Small Business Development Center counseling services, is provided free of charge. For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact John Winkler directly at (920) 360-4797 or via email: john.winkler@uwex.edu.
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DKBEP Excellence Award
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 The Door/Kewaunee Business Education Partnership has been selected as one of the inaugural winners of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance's "Excellence in Manufacturing & Education Partnerships" awards. The Alliance is working hard to encourage manufacturers to get involved in K-12. The Alliance recognizes the DKBEP's effort in promoting manufacturing careers and will honor the organization at an awards dinner on Tuesday, September 25 at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay. Contact DKBEP Manager Tara Le Clair for more information.
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Woodrow Engineering Gets APMA Seal of Acceptance
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Woodrow Engineering Company, based in Northern Door County, recently learned that the board of trustees of the American Podiatric Medical Association has approved that the Seal of Acceptance be granted to the RITZ Stick and fOOter foot measures. Woodrow Engineering is the largest U.S. manufacturer of foot measures and industry specific, professional scale rulers. The RITZ Stick has been the footwear industry standard since 1914. The fOOter is a collapsible and economical foot measure for consumers. Woodrow's measuring devices can be viewed at www.FootMeasure.com and www.Woodrow.net.
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Ellison Bay Visioning Report
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 The Town of Liberty Grove Economic Sustainability Committee identified businesses in the core downtown district of Ellison Bay, and asked DCEDC and UW-Extension to conduct focus groups with the businesses to gather input for the creation of a vision statement to present to the town board. After holding four focus group sessions in April, ideas from 23 business people representing 17 businesses were combined to determine priorities and visionary insights. The six recommendations in the report were recently adopted by the Town Board and assigned to various committees for implementation. Both the full report and an summary presentation are available online.
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Electronic Marketing Seminars
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On Tuesday, September 18, Steve Robinson from Constant Contact will return to Door County to present a full day seminar on "Supercharging your Facebook Marketing" and "Social Media Marketing for the Off-Season." Mark your calendars now - details will be coming later this month!
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The Door County Job Center will host their Fall Job Fair in the Cherry Point Mall on Wednesday, September 19th, 2-6pm. Past Job Fairs have shown tremendous success with up to 244 job seekers in attendance. They are looking for more businesses to share in the success of the bi-annual event and would love to have you join them! Contact Kim Carley for more information about being an exhibitor.
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