Commerce Coal Board Grant Helps Fund Business Innovation Center in Colstrip
In 2022, the City of Colstrip was awarded a $375,000 Coal Board Grant to build the Business Innovation Center, a multi-functional professional facility to support small business development and retention. The Montana Coal Board, which is administratively attached to the Montana Department of Commerce, awards planning and project grants to coal-impacted communities.
On April 22, Commerce Director Marta Bertoglio joined Colstrip Mayor John Williams and representatives from the Southeastern Montana Development Corporation, the U.S. Economic Development Administration and federal and state officials at the center’s grand opening ceremony in Colstrip.
Bertoglio later said, “Commerce is proud to have helped fund this project, and we’re eager to witness the positive impact it will have on the City of Colstrip and surrounding region.”
The BIC houses co-working spaces, meeting rooms and rental offices and is available for collaboration with Montana State University’s Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, Accelerate Montana, the Montana Small Business Development Center, Commerce and the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. Training opportunities will welcome students from Colstrip High School, Miles Community College and Chief Dull Knife College.
This facility is the culmination of efforts by the City of Colstrip dating back nearly a decade. As a result of its 2017 diversification strategy, the city was awarded an initial $25,000 Coal Board Grant and used it to develop the concept for the BIC. Grants from the Coal Board, the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the Colstrip Impact Foundation have netted the city over $4.4 million since the project’s inception.
Colstrip and the larger Southeastern region are the heart of Montana’s Coal Country. The state’s biggest electrical generating plants are located in Colstrip, where two large units are still in operation. Two other units closed in 2020, depleting the local workforce and impacting revenues as employees left to find new jobs. Instead of closing, Colstrip is changing and diversifying itself into an energy hub with what city officials are calling a “one-stop-shop” entrepreneurial and diversification facility.
The BIC will be a meeting place for the area’s business talent, helping retain local investment and facilitate opportunities for training and economic development. It’s also the new home for SEMDC, a vital service agency offering comprehensive business solutions, grant assistance, loan programs and community planning.
The seven-member Montana Coal Board was created in 1975, along with Montana’s Coal Severance Tax, through the passage of Senate Bill 87, sponsored by Sen. Thomas Towe, D-Billings. The Board awards impact grants to counties, communities, school districts, tribal governments or other governmental units to assist them with services or facilities that are needed as a direct consequence of an increase or decrease in coal development or in the consumption of coal by a coal-using energy complex.
For more information, visit commerce.mt.gov.
Tags: Article