Providing resources for communities and entrepreneurs to create and retain jobs in Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan & Emmet Counties.

DTE supports Northern Lakes Economic Alliance 2019 summer interns

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DTE supports Northern Lakes Economic Alliance 2019 summer interns

The NLEA summer intern project—featured site marketing packages—is live

Pictured left to right: Andy Hayes, NLEA President; Madelyn Cain, NLEA intern; Carla Gribbs, DTE Energy; Evan Root, NLEA intern; Rick Diebold, NLEA Board of Directors Chair.

Boyne City, September 11, 2019— DTE Energy Foundation provided the funding for Northern Lakes Economic Alliance (NLEA) to hire two summer interns and give them a real-world employment opportunity in economic development.

“This is the fifth year DTE has funded our summer internship program and each year the interns do a meaningful project that is important to the economic development program in our area” stated Andy Hayes, President of the Northern Lakes Economic Alliance.  “We are extremely grateful to the DTE Energy Foundation for their support.

We are still using the work product developed by the interns from the past five years.”

This summer, interns Evan Root and Madelyn Cain, both students of Central Michigan University, built 22 marketing packages featuring 30 priority sites in the NLEA service region (Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan Counties).  This is an important tool for our area to market not only our available sites, but also helps sell the community as a great place to locate.

Local community leaders helped them identify which priority sites to feature in their community and the key information to include. They also worked with local developers and several staff members from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to identify the most useful information for developers.

These packages are meant to be a visually appealing, one-stop-shop for developers to find what is available within the community. Each package features either downtown or business/industrial park specific sites within the communities, along with maps, site information, and a printable pdf version.

Once each marketing package was complete, the interns went back to each community and met again with the leaders to review the package, make final changes, and teach them how to implement the packages on their website. These marketing packages can also assist in the process of becoming an RRC (Redevelopment Ready Community), which is a voluntary, no-cost certification program designed to promote effective redevelopment strategies through a set of best practices.

The 2019 summer intern project will help accelerate economic growth in northern Michigan by giving developers and communities a guide to what’s possible in community transformation. The NLEA service region now has up-to-date packages for their priority sites that can be shared in the form of a link to the complete packages, or in simple sell sheets. Area communities are now better positioned for attracting development, community transformation, and economic progress, due to the generosity of the DTE Energy Foundation.

Follow this link, Featured Sites to view the site marketing packages. To learn more about this project, contact NLEA at 231-582-6482 or email Carly Bortz.

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