1 Loan Closed and 3 Approved in April

A $184,000 SBF loan closed for Allegheny Tool Company of Warren County. The loan was used to purchase business assets. Twelve jobs will be retained and two more jobs will be created within three years.

The Loan Committee approved three loans in April: Frontier Pharmacy, Inc. and Horsepower, Inc. of Erie County; and Tri County Fabrication, Inc. of Lawrence County.
 

The Northwest Commission sponsored an agriculture credit analysis workshop on May 3. Mark Miller, Branch Manager of AgChoice Farm Credit in Meadville, addressed cash flow and repayment capacity as well as presented two case studies specific to the agriculture industry.

• Linda Field with the Pennsylvania Department of Ag presented updates on the Department of Ag programs.
• Courtney Cole of S&T Bank, Bruce Stainbrook of Mercer County State Bank and Bob Brown of FSA presented special considerations in various agriculture industries to include beef and dairy farming. 
• Tom Wilson of the Crawford County Cooperative Extension spoke to the group about dairy resources. 
• Sue Milshaw of Chester County EDC told the group that the Department of Agriculture partnered with Chester County to assist with the agriculture program.  Sue was instrumental in assisting Northwest Commission with the workshop.

The workshop was held in response to the need for training in ag lending. DCED has ag financing available through the First Industries loan program. 

“There were 20 people in attendance, and we all learned something.  Even though some in the group were competitors, it was a good event and probably should be held again because we all learned something from the different organizations that were present.”  –Daryl Coyne

“The workshop was an excellent example of bringing different groups and agencies together to learn how we can work together to support our state’s number one industry.”  -Mark Miller, AgChoice

Upcoming Events:

Small Business Finance Seminar, May 31st (view brochure)
The Northwest Commission is hosting a Small Business Finance Seminar on May 31, 2006 at Cross Creek Resort in Titusville. Scott Dunkelberger from DCED will present various DCED financing programs, including the new “Building PA” program. Steve Drizos from DCED will present private financing programs through DCED.

The Building PA Program is a program that was created to fill the “gap” for building projects that are unable to obtain the mezzanine financing. Building PA provides mezzanine capital for developers of real estate assets in small to mid-sized Pennsylvania communities. The program will focus on three areas: Industrial Buildings, Commercial Buildings, and Multi-Use Buildings.

We strongly suggest that you attend the seminar to learn about the State’s financing programs. We also ask that the seminar be promoted to real estate developers who may benefit from the new Building Pennsylvania program.

• May 16, 2006 Customer Service Seminar Warren/Forest Higher Ed Council basics of customer service
• May 23, 2006 Entrepreneur Boot Camp for Veterans The Ambassador Conference Center Starting or expanding a small business from a Veteran's Perspective
• May 23, 2006 How May I Help You Gannon University Yehl Ballroom Seminar for hospitality employees
• June 17, 2006 Techniques for Serious eBay Seller Corry Higher Education Council Experienced eBay selling techniques

Point of contact: Lynn Rough x109

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Government 101 Training June 14th
This introductory class gives you a brief overview in how to do business with the government. Topics such as set-asides, bid leads, registration, and how to work through the government opportunities are customized for this half day training event. Please feel free to join us for our next training on June 14, 2006 here at the Northwest Commission office from 9a.m until noon. Please register in advance by contacting Lori Moore at extension 104.

Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC) Training
Eleanor Holland of the DSCC Small Business Office will be joining us on June 27th at the Regional Training and Conference Center in Meadville. Registration will begin at 8:30 and the training will run from 9:00a.m until noon. Learn what the DSCC buys and what opportunities there are for your company. Please register in advance by contacting Lori Moore at extension 104.

Bid Lead Changes
Attention all PTAC Clients, your Bid Leads are going to change. Starting the last week of May clients will now have their own personal web page called mybidmatch with the past 30 day’s opportunities. You will no longer be reliant on bid lead emails. By bookmarking your personal page you can come back at anytime to see if there are new postings or review past opportunities. If you like the email system don’t worry, you will still receive email notifications of a new lead with the link to your very own site to review the opportunity. Please be on the lookout for the first of these your leads to be sent through mybidmatch at the end of May so you can bookmark your own personal link. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact any member of the PTAC team.

Point of contact: Aubri Minerd x121, Bill Kenyon x107, Lori Moore x104

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Our next quarterly TAC meeting will be held on June 15,2006 at the Business Innovation Center at 10:30.

Point of contact: Bob Skarada x111

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On April 27th, the Northwest Commission participated in a broadband summit in Warren County.  With over 90 in attendance, the audience listened to why a broadband project is important in Warren County, how sectors can work together to be successful, learned from other areas on how they have been successful, and learned of funding sources at the state and federal levels. 

The Clarion County Commissioners officially named members to a county-wide task force which includes two members of the Northwest Commission staff.  The task force is similar to the Venango County Technology Task Force that has directed the creation of a public-private partnership to expand telecommunications infrastructure throughout the county.  Clarion County is looking to complete a similar project.

Northwest Commission staff was invited to discuss a broadband strategy proposed by a regional consortium of Intermediate Units 4,5,6 & 28 with representatives of IU4 & 5. This new strategy encompasses the entire Northwest Commission region and also includes the counties of Butler, Armstrong, Indiana and Jefferson in regions of the Commissions’ counterpart LDDs.

The consortium is in the very beginning of the development phase of this very progressive project and has reiterated that nothing is carved in stone yet.

The recent meeting on May 10^th allowed the IU4 & 5 consortium members to reaffirm they are in favor of addressing and incorporating the needs of business, government, health care and others’ immediate concerns throughout this enormous project. 

The Commission’s supportive role early in this strategy will be to create specific maps of all education, government, health care and commercial entities in the consortium’s combined region and to identify those that are either ready for a broadband commitment, preparing for broadband and could soon be committed or interested but not committed.

The idea is to aggregate the collective purchasing power of the ‘commitment level’ key broadband customers and to attract a telecommunications company or companies to the region. 

The next Technology Advisory Group meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 19th beginning at Noon.
 

Point of contact: Robert Nurss x122

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