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around 51 jobs in the greater Marshall County region by utilizing these funds," Amundson said. "Eventually, our goal is to build that fund to over a million dollars and be able to operate our non-profit by the interest in generates while revolving the principal repaid back into our communities and small businesses."
• Joel Price, chair of Faulkton Area Economic Development, recognizes that just bringing people together can help move a project forward.
• "In today's tight financial markets one of the biggest challenges is reaching a critical capital level for capital outlay purchases," Price said. "Trying to put together a package for initial startup, or even for improvements, can be daunting. What our organization has tried to accomplish is to get as many players in the room with the business owner so that a total package can be worked out with more than one financial institution or organization sharing the risk."
• Sharing ideas between economic development partners can be just as fruitful as sharing funding, according to Jensen.
• "With the regional approach we also share good ideas that have worked in our communities" so that other communities can benefit as well, she said.
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• What's a region?
• How big does a development effort need to be to get the most out of the "synergies" of regional cooperation? The "Past Silos and Smokestacks" report suggests that a region should be bigger than a city, and bigger than a county: "(I)t is probably not off base to suggest somewhere between fifteen and thirty counties in much of the Midwest, and perhaps more than that where population density is lower," Drabenstott wrote.
• That happens to be at the level of the South Dakota Prairie Gateway project, (Continued on page 6)
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