Community Services
Partners in Planning Grant applications are open until Jan. 31
Commerce is currently accepting applications for the 2022 Partners in Planning (PiP) grant through Jan. 31, 2022.
The Main Street Initiative PiP Grant program supports nonprofit organizations and/or local governments in completing a comprehensive plan or economic
development/diversification strategic plan.
PiP will support two types of grants to non-profits and/or local governments in
North Dakota:
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Comprehensive Plans – intended to partially fund the creation of a new comprehensive plan, or for an update to an existing comprehensive plan that is more than five years old.
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Economic Development/Diversification Strategic Plan – intended to partially fund the creation of a new economic development plan or for a comprehensive update to an existing plan that is more than five years old for a community and/or region.
LIFT Committee awards $250,000 to Thaea LLC
Commerce announced today that The Innovation Technology Loan Fund (LIFT) Committee awarded $250,000 to Thaea LLC for the month of December.
“To date, the LIFT Committee has awarded $8.3 million of the $15 million appropriated by the 67th Legislative Assembly for the 2021-2023 biennium,” Shayden Akason, head of investments and innovation at Commerce said. “I encourage eligible companies to apply as the committee continues to review and award new applications.”
Thaea LLC is a technology company headquartered in Fargo that specializes in network management software for internet service providers.
Travel trends and sentiment findings
North Dakota Tourism held an Industry Chat on Dec. 13 where we reported on travel and tourism trends to date. According to Arrivalist data compared to 2019, North Dakota has had a 31.9% increase in trips despite coronavirus hesitation.
In Destination Analysts’ Travel Marketing Sentiment Index, nationwide the impact of the Omicron variant is apparent, although the declines have not dipped to the lows of the Delta-variant period. According to the findings after a two-month period of recovery, the coronavirus has struck back slightly on travel sentiment and behaviors. American travelers’ expected number of overnight trips in the next 3 months has fallen from 2.7 to 2.0 since Nov. 26. However, despite these declines, 30% of American travelers are still heading out for Christmas Holiday trips.
In other trends for travel marketers to note, over 60% of American travelers feel that it is “important” or “very important” for a destination to have a visitor information center and another 48.9% report that they are likely to use this resource in the next 12 months.
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