The Low~Down!

Get the low-down on recent developments happening in Chisago County

Business of the month:

The Lindstrom Bakery

The Lindstrom Bakery has been serving baked goods and other sweet treats to the community for nearly 50 years. In 2023, the longtime owner Bernie Coulombe retired, and the shop was taken over by husband-and-wife team Lindsey and Charlie Schumacher. They worked with Bernie (and continue to work with her) to make sure that the recipes for their award-winning donuts remain just as delicious as they always have been.

Visit their website to learn more or find them here!

....And the results are in!

The City of Rosemount won the RE Journal City/County of the Year Award and here are some key developments that raised the bar:

Breaking ground on a $48 million community recreation center.
Construction on a new Public Works and Police campus.
Completion of a Home Depot distribution facility, a FedEx distribution facility, and a 61,000 sq. ft expansion for Frana Companies.

Congratulations on your well-deserved award, City of Rosemount! ...but watch out - we will be back next year.

Child Care Provider Appreciation Day in Chisago County!

May 10th marks a special day for Child Care providers in Chisago County as it was proclamed "Child Care Provider Appreciation Day". We would like to acknowledge their hard work and dedication to our youth. As you may know, there has been a decline in child care over the past few years creating a deficit throughout the State of MN.

The Chisago County HRA-EDA was approached by Child Care leaders to discuss the lack of child care in Chisago County. The HRA-EDA then established a committee of partners and peers to create the Chisago County Child Care Coalition.

After creating the coalition, a study was completed in 2022 by First Children’s Finance to analyze Chisago County’s child care capacity needs and challenges. According to this study Chisago County has a deficit of 1,449 child care spots for ages birth to five years old. From there four goals were identified to address this shortage:

Identify locations for licensed child care with the intent of expanding and creating new child care slots in the community.
Continuously monitor for funding options that can support child care start-up, expansion and continued support of child care providers in our community.
Explore and establish supportive services and resources to current and potential providers in an effort to recruit
Marketing and educating the community about the child care need and options for starting a licensed child care in hopes of building community knowledge and ultimately increasing the number of child care slots available.

Using these goals as the guidelines to ensure we are opening more child care slots in the county, the coalition has had several successes and there are some exiting developments coming into the county. Funding for this coalition and its efforts came from First Children's Finance, Initiative Foundation and the Chisago County ARPA funds.

Just recently, the coalition has designated funds to in-home providers, centers and those considering going into the child care business. If you would like to learn more or apply for funding, please reach out to our office: 651-674-5664 or info@chisagocounty.org.

The HRA EDA staff attended the Spring Fling Fundraising event for the North Branch Chamber of Commerce. Not only was this a fun "blast from the past", but it was a great opportunity to talk to business owners in the community. We enjoy discussing the history and logistics of their business and offer resources that might be helpful in whatever stage their business is in.

Have You Heard?

If you or anyone you know has thought about being a child care provider - you don't want to miss this opportunity!

Annual SBDC Open House

What a fun, educational day filled with presentations by SBDC consultants, food prepared by SBDC clients and a panel of SBDC clients who utilized the no-cost program. The event was held at the HRA-EDA office located in North Branch and had over 40 people attend. This included every stage of business from conception to succession.

The Chisago County HRA-EDA is a satellite office for Small Business Development Center services. Through SBA funding consultants are able to work with businesses within Chisago County at no-cost.

For more information on the program, visit the SBDC Website.

If this is something you may be interested in, please click here to register and your information will be forwarded to our office in North Branch.

Did you know the state of Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP) program offers grants to help train or retrain workforce? They have assisted in training thousands of workers in communities across the state.

Your business may qualify for one of our training grant programs that help offset training-related expenses, here are a few to review:

MJSP Partnership Grant of up to $400,000 to educational Institutions that partner with Minnesota businesses to develop new-job training or retraining for existing employees. Businesses must partner with an accredited Minnesota educational institution.

Automation Training Incentive Program (ATIP) Grant of up to $35,000 is available to small Minnesota businesses (under 150 full-time employees) in the manufacturing or skilled production industry for the express purpose of training incumbent workers as quickly and effectively as possible on new automation technology. Eligible Minnesota businesses must be located outside of the Twin Cities seven-county metro area.

Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) Grant of up to $200,000 is awarded to eligible Minnesota businesses to provide training for at least three new jobs. Award amount is limited to $5,000 to $10,000 per new employee trained based on wage rates. Eligible Minnesota businesses must be located outside of the Twin Cities seven-county metro area.

Learn more or apply now on the MN DEED website!

City of Chisago City

Chisago City is located on Highway 8 just minutes from I-35 when heading north from the Twin Cities.

Chisago City is a small city full of outdoor fun and exploration. Our location in the state puts us near the Wisconsin border and only 40 minutes north of the metro to keep you close to potential clients and employees. The city is known to streamline the development process to save time and costs. Recently the city purchased land for industrial development and already have offers to consider.

Visit the the City of Chisago City website to learn more.

Issue: May 16, 2024