Annual Dinner February 8, 2006
Our Annual Dinner will be held on February 8, 2007 at Cross Creek Resort in Titusville, PA. The cost for attending is $35, and we plan on making the evening quite enjoyable for our guests.

Last year we held our very first annual dinner, which was a huge success! Staff are planning the event again this year, and invitations will be mailed out by the second week in December.

We hope you’ll join us as we celebrate the year’s accomplishments, and announce the winners of the ‘partner of the year’, ‘business of the year’, ‘board leadership’ and - new for 2007- ’local government of the year’!

December Board meeting
Our next board meeting will be held December 1, 2006 at 10:00 AM at the Warren Holiday Inn in Warren, PA. If you would like to join us, please RSVP you attendance to Lori Moore at 814.677.4800 x104.

"Lessons in Planning" November 2, 2006
The Northwest Commission co-sponsored with the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors "Lessons in Planning: Maximizing Partnerships to Benefit Planning in Your Community", a workshop/reception for local governments, planners and economic development officials. This event was well attended and we are excited to keep the momentum from this workshop moving as we work more closely with local governments across the region.

Talk’n Turkey
At the time the Pilgrims first celebrated Thanksgiving, turkey was a dietary mainstay. In fact, they ate so much turkey that it probably wasn't much of a treat. Turkey meat from wild and domesticated birds was also a staple in the diet of many Indian tribes.

More than 45 million turkeys will be prepared and enjoyed during Thanksgiving. According to the National Turkey Federation, 95% of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving. Another 22 million birds are consumed at Christmas and 19 million at Easter.

The above information was obtained from Honeysuckle White® .

We, at the Northwest Commission, offer many wishes for a safe, hearty and happy Thanksgiving!

The Northwest Commission partnered with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and First Energy in attending CoreNet Global held in Orlando, Florida November 12-15, 2006

Denise McCloskey and Lisa Hamrick attended the show and networked with the country's top site selectors and real estate brokers during the 4 day conference. While marketing northwest Pennsylvania as a place where "You Can Make It Here", Commission staff participated in the 'Arrive in Style' program giving us the opportunity to talk about our region to fifteen conference participants. Over 2,200 were registered for the CoreNet conference. It was a great opportunity for us to mingle and network with prospects and partners.

The Northwest Commission also assisted with two (2) prospects recently. We collected information for a food processing company interested in the region, as well as provided information to a site selection firm looking for an industrial facility within northwest Pennsylvania.
 

A $60,000 EDA/RLF loan closed for Erie BW Wings, Inc. of Erie County. The loan was used to purchase machinery and equipment. Eight jobs will be created within the next three years.

The loan Committee approved one loan in October: Micro Weld America, Inc. of Erie County.

Entrepreneur Club Event was a great success!
The third Entrepreneur Club Event was held on November 15, 2006 at the Arlington Hotel in Oil City, PA with over twenty people attending. Forte Marketing provided an interactive presentation on marketing on a tight budget. Kool Kat Promotional Products presented and brought examples of promotional products. Attendees also brought their own marketing examples and shared them with the group. The Entrepreneur Club is for regional businesses to network and discuss issues and concerns with other business owners and professionals. The next event will be on January 17, 2006 at FICDA (Franklin Industrial Complex) in Franklin. We encourage anyone interested to attend and to spread the word!

Click here to view upcoming events, where you can contact Ethel Rodebaugh to register for any of them.

Government 101 Training on November 8th a Great Success! Thirteen attendees representing nine different companies throughout Northwestern Pennsylvania attended this introduction to government procurement. This introductory class, conducted at the Northwest Commission, provided an overview of how to do business with the Federal, State and Local governments. Topics such as set-asides, bid leads, registrations, and how to work through the government opportunities were customized to attending companies for this half day training event. Our next schedule Government 101 training seminar is scheduled for January 10, 2007. Please feel free to join us for our next training here at the Northwest Commission office from 9 a.m. until noon. Please register in advance by contacting Lori Moore x104

Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC) Training November 14th and 15th
Kelly and Bill attended the DSCC Training, Knowledge and Opportunities (TKO) course in Columbus, Ohio. This is a free seminar that is offer by DSCC (open to companies wanting to business with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to Learn how to find opportunities, find drawings and submit quotes through their DLA Internet Bid Board System (DIBBS).

Notable seminar information: If you are a manufacturer you may go to http://www.dscc.dla.mil/offices/smbusiness/ for a link to download the DSCC Manufacturing Capability Survey and return fax it to (614) 692-4920. This will put you in their database of company capabilities.

The Defense Supply Center Columbus will conduct 5 of these 2-day free Training Knowledge Opportunities seminars in 2007. As the largest purchaser of military spare parts, this training will help answer most questions you may have and will also provide you with some good contacts.

Training schedule for 2007 is as follows: 20-21 March, 15-16 May, 17-18 July, 18-19 September, and 13-14 November.
Seating is limited - make your reservation on line at: www.dscc.dla.mil/News/events/tko/

Government Contracting Web Address of the Month:
http://www.usabid.com/resources/help/profiles/ This USABID site provides you with help in reviewing, interpreting, and responding to bid opportunities.

An RFP was issued for revision of the five county Long Range Transportation Plan. The quarterly Transportation Advisory Committee meeting will be held on November 16, 2006 at 10:30 at the Business Innovation Center in Oil City.

The international marketing program has had a busy fall season! We are very happy to see a lot of activity in regards to companies traveling overseas and utilizing the offices of the State’s Authorized Trade Representatives who assist  with meeting itineraries and in-country logistics. This enables our clients to truly focus on business without worrying about pre-qualification of their meeting appointments, or being stuck in traffic! Below, you can read about Pennsylvania companies taking advantage of the help that is readily available to them!

Two Erie county companies traveling to India Nov. 13-17, 2006!
Best wishes and much success from the export team to Spinworks, Erie and VertMarkets, Erie! Both companies have signed on to participate in the State’s Trade Mission to India, and will be traveling to Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore and take advantage of pre-scheduled business appointments, pre-arranged logistics through the State’s Authorized Trade Representatives.

The State’s Authorized Trade Office in Australia is arranging an individual meeting itinerary for R. Conrader, Erie for their visit to Australia and New Zealand, Nov. 23 - Dec. 7, 2006. In order to access in-country assistance from the State’s foreign offices, companies are welcome to travel on their own, there is no need to be part of an official trade mission! Best of luck and safe travels in the world down under!

Bon Voyage! Three regional companies are traveling to Frankfurt, Germany Nov. 29 - Dec. 2, 2006!
The international marketing program of the Northwest Commission is organizing a trade show in Frankfurt, Germany. EuroMold2006, is the world-leading trade fair for mold making and tooling, design and application. It is the international meeting point of the industry sector and a nice fit for our region’s existing tool and die, molding industry cluster.

Dorte Heffernan, Manager of International Marketing, is excited to take X-Cell Tool and Mold, Erie; Joint Venture Tool and Mold, Meadville and Greenleaf Corporation, Saegertown to Frankfurt, Germany to exhibit as the only Pennsylvania companies at this world class event!

Erie County company traveling to Santiago, Chile December
3-6, 2006!
Another Bon Voyage goes to Rogers Brothers, Albion! This Erie county company has signed on to participate in the Food and Transportation Mission to Santiago Chile. Our best wishes and great success from the international marketing team!

Mercer County company traveling to Puerto Rico December
6-7, 2007!
Regenex Corporation, West Middlesex has signed on to travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico to participate in the State’s first ever Commercial Mission. This is an exciting opportunity to grow your business in one of the most stable and open business environments in the Caribbean. Again, the international marketing team wishes to best of success and a safe return!

Seth Vogelman, the Commonwealth’s Authorized Trade Representative for Israel and the Middle East will be traveling throughout the northwest region to meet with companies one-on-one on December 5, 2006 to discuss their individual market potential and objectives. If you have an interest in meeting with Seth Vogelman, please contact Claudia Garcia to schedule an appointment.

LTAP offers safety and maintenance courses (transportation related) to local governments across the state at little or no cost. The courses make the work that municipalities do more efficient, which saves money and makes the transportation network safer.

PennDOT is currently coming up with a schedule of LTAP courses that will be offered in northwest Pennsylvania. Once PennDOT has the courses scheduled the Northwest Commission will market the courses to the local governments in the region.

The MTAP fall computer training program will wrap up with the successful completion of the November 9th QuickBooks class in Greenville, Mercer County at the Neighborhood Network Education Team (NNET) computer lab. The fall program included many of the same application software topics covered throughout last summer in a more condensed and bundled format and allowed more time for questions and answers on specific software related topics.

We are readying our MTAP survey which will be mailed out this month in order to acquire current information on municipal computer and software usage. This survey will help us formulate what types of classes are needed/ sought and where the classes should be held depending on the feedback received.

The Northwest Commission will be awarding (6) recipients with an MTAP “Internet Access and Website Development Grant.” The grant is for a total of $1,000 that must be used for attaining broadband internet services (DSL, Cable modem, Satellite or wireless connectivity) for a municipal office and or to develop a municipal web site to post community information (ordinances and regulations). The six recipients will be notified within the month of November.

Commission staff recently had an opportunity to speak at the Mercer County Tax Collector’s Annual Dinner in Greenville. Tax collectors (property and income), particularly this year - from Mercer County, have represented the vast majority of MTAP computer class participants. The MTAP program was the highlight topic. By a show of hands over 40 people (previously unfamiliar with the program) said they would be interested in attending future MTAP classes. The annual dinner was a great forum to elaborate about the programs the Commission offers.

After receiving feedback from past MTAP class participants, the number one reason for not signing up for classes were the travel distances to class sites. In an attempt to satisfy the traveling masses, we will be contacting new and different training locations to bring MTAP a little closer to your municipality.

Thank you to those who attended the "Community Broadband Planning Workshop" November 2nd!

The workshop consisted of an 8:30 a.m. ‘executive’ session for Commission Staff, Commission Board Members and the TAG group to discuss economic prosperity issues in the region. Guest speaker Andrew Cohill initiated discussion on where community leaders envisioned the region heading economically. Answers to those economic questions will help Design Nine (Andrew Cohill) develop an action plan report and pre-cost analysis associated with a community broadband infrastructure -  essentially how much we are willing and able to spend in time, effort and money.

The 10 a.m. ‘general’ session included the aforementioned attendees and Legislators/aides, County Commissioners, city and municipal officials, planners, engineers and representatives of the regional Telecommunications/Internet industries and other stakeholders. Cohill presented on general points of what a Community Broadband Infrastructure is (in concept), how it may look, how it might be built, who might get involved in the process and how much it might cost. Later in the presentation Cohill spoke about possible funding strategies and sources including an infrastructure that can make money through leasing agreements with service providers to sustain and perpetuate infrastructure build out and the possibility of return on investment within months of laying fiber not years.

The afternoon session was discussion driven – primarily who could lead such an initiative and whether or not to create a co-op fashion infrastructure authority to do just that.

The major difference between a ‘community broadband infrastructure’ and many of the other strategies investigated are the initial inclusion of residential consumer services and an infrastructure designed to allow competing service providers to share a world-class fiber-wireless telecommunications system.

Overall, the sessions proved beneficial in the spread of knowledge by educating more stakeholders on why broadband is and will be a necessary part of contemporary life and economic vitality.

This is one of many proposals the Commission and its partners have been exploring in correlation with the ‘Connect NW PA’ broadband assessment study of 2003.

The Northwest Commission is working with Clarion University of Pennsylvania to organize a one day GIS Conference at the university on November 17, 2006. The conference will be made up of break out sessions, hands on GIS experience, poster displays, vendor exhibits, etc.

Northwest Commission staff attended the Warren, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, and Forest County Township Conventions to present on the Community Development programs/services that are available to the local municipalities.

The Commission hosted an Introduction to ArcView 9.1 on October 2-3 and an Intermediate ArcView 9.1 course on October 23-24. Twenty five (25) individuals from many different organizations (EMS, Planning, Local Government, Private Business, Regional Development Agencies, etc.) attended the training course.

Northwest Commission staff attended an Local Development District (LDD) GIS User Group meeting on October 12, 2006 in Altoona. The purpose of the meeting was to get together with GIS users at the other six LDD’s in the state to see what they are using GIS technology for and what type of funding they use to sustain the program