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Hundreds meet to reassess Alabama's job training pipeline; Summit focuses on future job fields
Written by Brad Harper
Mar 26, 2013
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Magazine taps Alabama Department of Commerce for award, citing Airbus
March 26, 2013
MONTGOMERY, Alabama - The Alabama Department of Commerce has received a "Top Five Award of Excellence" from Expansion Solutions Magazine for successfully recruiting, retaining and assisting growing companies in the aerospace and defense industries in 2012.
The magazine, launched in 2002 and designed to inform key site selection consultants and corporate real estate brokers about progressive communities and their benefits, has announced its sixth annual "Top Five "Awards of Excellence" awards. These awards recognize economic development organizations that have shown exceptional progress and potential in the area of development.
Alabama scored an enormous economic development win in the aviation/aerospace realm in 2012. The state is poised to be part of a major aerospace corridor after its successful recruitment of Airbus to Mobile Brookley Aeroplex. Airbus unveiled plans in July to construct the Mobile facility, expected to employ as many as 1,000 people by 2016. Construction is slated to begin this summer, with assembly of the A320 family of passenger jets to start in 2015 and first deliveries expected at Mobile Brookley Aeroplex in 2016.
The City of Guntersville, Alabama, also received an award from the magazine as a Top Five Agribusiness organization.
more...
[madeinalabama.com]
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Grant Funds Business Incubator at Old Armory in Linden
By George McDonald
Story Created: Mar 25, 2013
A $250,000 dollar grant breathes new life into the old National Guard Armory in Linden - and could help bring new jobs and businesses to Marengo County.
The grant will help the county commission buy and convert the Fort Hill McManus Boggs armory into a business incubator.
The incubator will encourage and support promote economic development and job growth by providing expertise and resources to beginner small businesses.
"Hopefully I'll be one of them ones inside that building working," said Linden resident Antonio Carr. "It'll give a lot of us that don't have jobs opportunity to go in and work and maybe start their own career one day."
more... [wncftv.com]
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Birmingham an 'emerging downtown' according to Forbes
Brent Godwin Online editor-Birmingham Business Journal
Mar 26, 2013
Birmingham's downtown resurgence has earned it a spot in the Forbes list of "15 Emerging Downtowns."
Forbes cites the growing number of downtown residents, Railroad Park and Regions Field as well as the employment density relative to the size of the city as reasons that Birmingham is emerging.
Other Southern cities Memphis and Atlanta also made the Forbes list.
more...
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Alabama Launchpad Participant Soluble Therapeutics to begin demonstrating flagship product
Yann Ranaivo
Reporter-Birmingham Business Journal
Mar 25, 2013
A Birmingham start-up that specializes in determining the ingredients needed to sustain the shelf life of drugs plans to soon start visiting pharmaceutical firms in biotech hub cities around the country to demonstrate its patented instrument.
I recently met with John McCarter, the business development director for Soluble Therapeutics, and he informed me of the latest plans his small company is initiating to find more potential buyers in the HSC, a box-like robot used to significantly speed up the process of determining the inactive ingredients in drugs.
McCarter didn't disclose names, but said Soluble, which participated in the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama Foundation's Alabama Launchpad competition in 2009. is targeting six companies for demonstration visits. He said his business, based at incubator Innovation Depot in downtown Birmingham, will seek out even more firms once the demonstrations are up and running.
"We're trying to get as many as we can schedule," he said. "We have a list of six companies right now, but throughout the course, I'd like to do another 10-15 demos on top of the six we already have scheduled."
more...
[Birmingham Business Journal]
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Internet and telecommunications for Airbus: Who will pay for it?
By John Sharp | jsharp@al.com
on March 25, 2013
MOBILE, Alabama - Hooking up Airbus to a telecommunications and Internet network is going to be costly.
Who wants to pay for it?
City, county and airport officials fresh off a trip to Hamburg, Germany last week are now mulling over the potential scenarios of getting a $10 million to $15 million fiber optics system installed at Brookely Aeroplex before major construction begins on a $600 million final assembly plant for Airbus' single-aisle, A320 planes.
"The question is whether the private sector will participate," Bill Sisson, executive director with the Mobile Airport Authority said today. "If the fiber is not there, we will not be able to be competitive to attract the service providers who want to surround Airbus."
more...
[al.com]
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Dual enrollment scholarship program needs more students
by Jim Cook
Posted: Monday, March 25, 2013
Not as many students as expected have participated in a Wiregrass Foundation dual enrollment scholarship program, but officials hope more students will use the program as it becomes better known and established.
The Wiregrass Foundation established a scholarship program about a year ago to pay the cost of tuition for local high school students to take dual enrollment courses at Wallace Community College. Currently about 53 students from local high schools are using the scholarships to take classes providing both college and high school credit. The classes are taught at Wallace, or at students' high school campuses by instructors working with the college.
Barbara Alford, Wiregrass Foundation president, said the number of participants in the program is less than what was budgeted by the grant funding the program. Alford said she expects participation to increase now that students know the program exists and have the chance to factor it into their plans to take courses.
To qualify for the program, students must have a 3.0 grade point average, attend Dothan City or Houston County Schools and be on free or reduced lunch. The grant will cover two dual enrollment classes per student.
more...
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Jobs now and in the future
By Wayne Vardaman
Executive Director of the Selma-Dallas County Economic Development Authority.
March 25, 2013
Trained workers should have no trouble finding jobs in Dallas County.
At a recent Economic Development Authority board meeting, two industries reported job openings.
Jim Bruce, Riverdale Mill manager, reported that in the last two years, International Paper filled 234 job openings. In the upcoming five years, they expect to hire an additional 230 people with 50 jobs expected to be filled this year.
Due to quick promotion of workers, IP added theory training to on-the-job training. Workers not only learn what to do on the job, but are also taught the "why" behind what they do.
Gerald Worthington, president of Bush Hog, stated that Bush Hog is hiring welders and machine operators. Ten new workers were hired last month, and they are currently seeking 10 more experienced workers.
more...
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Birmingham makes list of 'Best Cities for Consumer Banking', ranks fifth
By Alex Walsh | awalsh@al.com
on March 25, 2013
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A new survey names Birmingham one of the nation's top ten cities for consumer banking.
The survey was conducted by NerdWallet, an online start-up that aims to provide consumers with useful information about the financial products available to them. The operation was founded in 2009 by CEO Tim Chen, a former hedge fund analyst and Credit Suisse employee.
Six factors were considered before giving Birmingham an overall ranking of fifth-best consumer banking city in the nation. NerdWallet looked at bank and credit union failures within the area per person; the number of banks and credit unions operating within the city per person; the total number of branches per person; savings account interest rates; checking fees; and bank utilization (the percentage of residents with a savings account).
Birmingham residents appear to benefit from a highly competitive consumer banking market. There are 29 different financial institutions operating within the area for every 100,000 residents, the highest ratio of any top 100 city. And that high institution volume may be pushing up interest rates -- savings accounts in Birmingham earn the highest interest yields on average of any city in the study.
more...
[al.com]
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