July 2022 | Top Stories:
Census Bureau's My Community Explorer | Oakland County Attraction Trade Missions | Business Forward Workshops | Heart of Holly Fund | Introduction to the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority | Webster Contaminated Tank Removal | Oakland 80 Career and Education Navigator Program | Hiring Through an Equity Lens Employer Workshop | Veterans Small Business Bootcamp | August Veterans Resource Fairs
A Message From Ingrid Tighe
Oakland County Economic Development Director
Dear Colleagues,
The summer is in full swing, and I hope you are enjoying BBQs, family, friends and a little R&R. While you make the most of this season, we also hope you take advantage of the exciting opportunities and programs we have for our Oakland County communities this month.
Before anything else, I would like to take a moment to support Downtown Holly – one our Main Street communities – and an important part of Oakland County. On June 21, 2022, Holly experienced a fire that destroyed or badly damaged several buildings in historic Battle Alley. To help rebuild, Main Street Oakland County and Main Street Holly have launched a crowdfunding campaign at Patronicity.com/HeartOfHolly. Furthermore, Oakland County Economic Development is supporting Holly officials and businesses in the aftermath of this tragedy. Thank you for any support you can give Holly in the coming year.
Here in Oakland County Economic Development, we aim to help all our communities succeed. With that in mind, we would like to share a new data explorer tool launched by The Census Bureau, My Community Explorer (MCE) – this tool highlights demographic data that measures individuals and households and their capacity to absorb external stresses of the impacts of a disaster. We encourage all our community leaders and business owners to use it to identify underserved communities so you can make data-based decisions.
If you are looking to set new educational and professional goals, Oakland County, in partnership with several regional educational institutions and community organizations, launched a new effort in July to help Oakland County residents obtain a post-secondary degree or certification. With the help of our new Career and Education Navigators, Oakland County residents can find paths to meaningful careers, get into and complete college or training programs, and reduce obstacles to education such as the cost of books, registration fees, and access to childcare.
Our Business Forward team will also be hosting several small business workshops: How to Start a Childcare Business on July 27; Grow Your Business with the Oakland County Diversification Through Federal Contracting Program on July 28; and a Veterans Services Small Business Bootcamp on August 3. Oakland County Veterans, we hope you will also join us for two Veterans Resource Fairs next month: August 11 in Southfield and August 18 in Holly.
|
 |
|
Data Corner |
The Census Bureau's My Community Explorer
The Census Bureau has recently launched its latest data explorer tool, My Community Explorer (MCE). MCE is an interactive map-based tool that highlights demographic and socioeconomic data that measure communities and can help inform data-based solutions. This tool is designed to help users identify underserved communities as directed by the President's Executive Order 13985 on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce.
ECONOMIC PROFILE
 SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
 BUSINESS PROFILE
 Information in the MCE is drawn from four key datasets:
Community Resilience Estimates (CRE)
The CRE use 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) one-year estimates microdata and Population Estimates data to measure the capacity of individuals and households to absorb the external stresses of the impacts of a disaster.
American Community Survey (ACS)
An ongoing survey that provides vital demographic and socioeconomic information on a yearly basis about the population.
County Business Patterns (CBP)
Data on industries, number of establishments, average annual payroll per employee and employment for a geography.
Nonemployer Statistics (NES)
Data on the number of firms and average annual receipts at the state and county level for self-employed persons.
Business
|
 Early May: DRP Mission to Sweden for the 2022 SelectUSA Investment Summit
Oakland County Business Attraction Team Travels Around the Globe Building Stronger Economic Base Back Home
Oakland County Economic Development attended the world’s largest Investment Summit to date, with record levels of participation with over 3,600 attendees from 70+ international markets and 51 states and territories, all gathering to take advantage of in-person networking and informative programming on key industry topics affecting the FDI community.
Other Recent Oakland County Trade Mission Activity:
May 14 - 21, 2022: Participated in an attraction mission to Seoul, South Korea with the Detroit Regional Partnership (DRP) and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Meetings were focused on attraction, bringing businesses to Oakland County, as well as industry association meetings and meetings with companies with a presence in our region.
June 8 - 11, 2022: Attended the Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC) in London, England, to explore trends and best practices in commercial real estate across topics including site selection, sustainability, geopolitical strategy and the future of corporate real estate.
June 20 - 23, 2022: Joined the DRP's mission to Toronto and the Collision Show along with Ann Arbor Spark. The Collision Show is a premier technology event that brings together Fortune 500 companies and ground-breaking start-ups. Also met with Toronto companies interested in investing in Southeast Michigan.
June 26 - 28, 2022: Emerging Growth & Innovation attended the Battery Show held in Stuttgart Germany. Meetings were held with companies to determine level of interest to expanding their North American presence and highlighted the advantages of Oakland County. Battery suppliers were interested to learn more about the possibility of placing batteries where the local electrical gird is not adequate to support EV charging stations.
June 26 - 29, 2022: Oakland County's attraction team was part of the Michigan Delegation, led by Governor Whitmer, at the Select USA Summit held by the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration in Washington D.C. There they promoted foreign direct investment to the United States, in specific to Michigan and Oakland County.
Oakland County’s Business Forward Continues Their Educational Programming for Small Businesses
How to Start a Childcare Business, July 27 from Noon - 1:30 PM
Learn how to get started in this essential industry. Safe and reliable childcare is in high demand. You can make a difference in the lives of Michigan families by starting or expanding access to childcare in your community. Participate in Business Forward’s webinar to learn about the current resources available to open a childcare center or childcare family home.
Topics include:
- Childcare centers vs. childcare homes – which is right for you?
- Licensing guidelines
- State of Michigan financial resources
- Estimated start-up costs
- Great start to quality guidelines
- Marketing and advertising
Questions? Contact: BusinessForward@oakgov.com | 248-858-0783
To register or learn more, visit: tinyurl.com/423adu77
|
Grow Your Business with the Oakland County Diversification Through Federal Contracting Program, July 28 from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Have you been interested in selling to the federal government and diversifying your customer base? Do you have a product and/or service that the government buys? Oakland County’s Diversification Through Federal Contracting Program is here to help provide your business with the resources to win federal contracts. Join us for this online event.
Topics include:
- Finding contract opportunities at no cost to your business
- Assistance with writing a winning grant proposal
- Direct federal contract consulting support – meet with a trained industry professional to provide business consultation
- Federal contracting training events
- Access to regional small business resources
Questions? Contact: BusinessForward@oakgov.com | 248-858-0783
To register or learn more, visit: tinyurl.com/yn6wuctd
|
Community
|
Main Street Oakland County® and Main Street Holly Launch Crowdfunding Campaign to Rebuild Historic Battle Alley Following Devastating Fire
On June 21, 2022, Downtown Holly had a six-alarm fire that destroyed or badly damaged several buildings in historic Battle Alley. The Battle Alley Arcade Antiques shop has been reduced to rubble. The Holly Hotel, Andy’s Place restaurant, and the Holly Moose Lodge have been severely damaged. Smoke and water damaged several other small businesses.
To begin the rebuilding, Main Street Oakland County and Main Street Holly, an arm of the Holly Downtown Development Authority (DDA), have launched a crowdfunding campaign at Patronicity.com/HeartOfHolly
This crowdfunding campaign will be used for a variety of projects, including facade grants to offset the costs and repairs to the surviving historic buildings; matching funds for grant applications for the long-term repair and restoration of the infrastructure of the impacted area; street and sidewalk paving; building grants for new construction, and small business grants for those impacted by the fire. Design professionals need to be hired to work with the community to create a vision for the future, as many new items need to be purchased to replace what was lost, such as public art, pedestrian furniture, flower containers, trees, and trash receptacles.
Main Street Holly is a 501c3 non-profit organization and donations are tax deductible. Insurance will not cover everything, and a team of architects and engineers are already at work evaluating needs and repairs.
If you prefer to give offline by cash or check, please make the check out to Main Street Holly. Mail or deliver the donation to Main Street Holly, 300 East Street, Holly, MI 48442.
If you have questions or inquiries, please contact Main Street Holly’s Executive Director, Nick Klempp, at (248) 634-9571 or nklempp@hollyvillage.org
NOTE: In addition to launching this crowdfunding campaign, Oakland County Economic Development is supporting Holly officials and businesses as they rebuild. Main Street Oakland County and Michigan Works Oakland County will provide some of the resources needed by Downtown Holly and the small businesses now and in the future.
An Introduction to Oakland County’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and Utilizing Tax Increment Financing
A Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA) is established by a local unit of government to help promote economic growth. Brownfield Redevelopment involves the evaluation and cleanup of properties that are contaminated, blighted, and/or functionally obsolete. This program lays the foundation for redevelopment in a community.
Some of the results of Brownfield Redevelopment include making the property and surrounding area environmentally safe and more enticing for investment.
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) provides an incentive for developers to invest in a property with environmental and/or other challenges. The developer works with the BRA to prepare and implement a work plan to identify the contamination problems and resolve them.
TAX INCREMENT FINANCING: FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES
A BRA provides an opportunity at the local level to address brownfield properties of concern. When a BRA has designated a property as being eligible, local and school property tax revenues can be used for approved activities, such as environmental response, demolition, lead or asbestos abatement, infrastructure improvements, and site preparation for redevelopment.
The impact to the taxing jurisdictions is minimal during the brownfield redevelopment phase due to increasing property values. Ultimately, when the TIF ends, all taxing jurisdictions receive increased tax revenues that may not have been realized without this incentive.
TAX INCREMENT FINANCING: FOR DEVELOPERS
A Brownfield TIF provides reimbursement to developers for eligible redevelopment activities. The incentive begins when the redevelopment achieves increased taxable value.
INITIATING A BROWNFIELD PROJECT
The first step of any Oakland County Brownfield Project is to reach out to Brad Hansen at Oakland County’s Department of Economic Development to discuss a potential project: hansenb@oakgov.com
Once a draft Brownfield Plan is ready for formal review, it will get placed on the Oakland County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (OCBRA) agenda. The 2022 OCBRA Board includes Peter Webster, BRA Chair; Anne Jamieson-Urena, BRA Vice Chair; Ingrid Tighe, BRA Secretary and Oakland County Economic Development Director; Michael Spisz, Oakland County Commissioner; David Woodward, Oakland County Commissioner; Solon Phillips, Oakland County Corporation Counsel; and Grant Trigger, RACER Trust.
After the OCBRA approval, other organizations and groups review the project, including the local unit of government where the project is located, and the Oakland County Board of Commissioners. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) administers the reimbursement of State school taxes for eligible non-environmental and environmental activities.
For more information, visit: OakGov.com/BrownfieldRedevelopment
|
Recent Brownfield Redevelopment in Action: Contaminated Tank Removal Brings Former Pontiac Elementary School a Step Closer to Becoming the Webster Community Center
The site clean-up and redevelopment of the former Webster Elementary School in Pontiac took a big step forward on June 27 with the removal of a contaminated 20,000-gallon underground tank. Community members applauded as a crane operator lifted the tank, which used to store fuel oil, out of the ground.
“We applied for and received a $425,000 grant from Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy last year to clean-up the property,” said Brad Hansen, program manager for Oakland County’s Brownfield Initiative. “This EGLE grant will also help remove other contaminants such as asbestos and lead-based paint.”
Micah 6 Community, a Pontiac-based non-profit, is investing $21 million to transform the former elementary school located on West Huron Street into the Webster Community Center which will provide social and recreational services, including six Head Start classrooms, a food co-op, art classes and therapy, performing arts programs, a WIC (Women, Infants, Children) office, a walk-in clinic, a small business incubator, and community event rooms.
“We are excited to kick off the environmental remediation piece of this project because this represents another step closer to a completed community center offering services, activities, and opportunities for people of all ages in our community,” Micah 6 Community Executive Director Coleman Yoakum said. “We are grateful that Oakland County and so many others for walking along side this project and serving our neighbors in this way.”
Micah 6 Community expects to complete the renovations of the building and property by December 2023. Tenants will include Oakland Livingston Human Services Agency, Honor Community Health, SMART, Rochester University, Art Experience, Pontiac Community Foundation, Oakland County Sheriff PAL, Sprout Fresh Food Store, Kaleo Kids, Accent Pontiac, and Pontiac Theatre IV.
|
Workforce
|
Career and Education Navigators to Connect Residents with Financial and Other Support to Advance Careers Through Education/Training
Oakland County, in partnership with several regional educational institutions and community organizations, launched a new effort to help Oakland County residents obtain post-secondary degrees or certification.
Career and Education Navigators will help individuals find paths to meaningful careers, get into and complete college or training programs, and reduce obstacles to education such as the cost of books, registration fees, and access to childcare. To connect with a Career and Education Navigator, call 1-888-559-4360.
To learn more, visit: OakGov.com/Oakland80
Veterans
|
Veterans Services – Small Business Bootcamp, August 3, from 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Oakland County Veterans Services is partnering with Business Forward to offer Small Business Bootcamp – a day-long series of business workshops to help Veteran entrepreneurs move their Business Forward. Join us at the Jon Grant Community Center, 29260 Grand River, Farmington Hills.
Topics include:
-
How to start a business and writing a business plan
-
Marketing your business
-
Resources for hiring Veterans
-
Business finance 101 and gaining access to capital
-
Small business resources for Veterans
-
Gaining certification as a Veteran-owned business
-
And more
Our nation’s Veterans have served us well and Oakland County seeks to return the favor.
Questions? Contact: BusinessForward@oakgov.com | 248-858-0783
To register or learn more, visit: https://tinyurl.com/2546xyvw
|
 Two Oakland County Veterans Resource Fairs in August
August 11, 2022 | 9:00 AM - Noon
Southfield High School | 24675 Lahser Road, Southfield
Register at: eventbrite.com/e/oakland-county-veterans-resource-fair-tickets-376808523437
August 18, 2022 | 9:00 AM - Noon
Holly Resource Center | 300 East Street, Holly
Register at: eventbrite.com/e/oakland-county-veterans-resource-fair-tickets-376820138177
All Veterans, active duty, guard and reserves, and their families, are welcome to receive giveaway items, which include, housing counseling, career planning, training programs, boxes of food, information on community resources, and more.
Questions? Contact: Tyrone Jordan at jordant@oakgov.com | (248) 285-8016
Did you find this publication helpful? Subscribe at:
public.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIOAKL/subscriber/new?topic_id=MIOAKL_950
|
