Greetings! August jobless numbers looked much more like what you would expect to see in summer months. All fifty one counties had a reduction in their jobless rates which probably suggests that July was a little off too. Twenty nine of our counties were below their State’s rate, twenty one were still above and one was the same.
Some communities that are less prone to seasonality, like Delta, Dickinson and Menominee in the UP are getting to rates not seen in a very long time. This would seem to reflect strength, particularly in the manufacturing sector. I was talking to a woman last night whose husband had gone to North Dakota to weld, and the strengthen numbers in manufacturing counties, may suggest that some of the population lost in the recession could find its way home.
As for the rest of the data, this month there is a new column which is the percentage of establishments in relationship to 20-64 year olds in a community. The theory behind this column’s creation was those age cohorts would be the most likely (not exclusively as we have had business owners in their 70s get loans), to be running the establishments. This glimpse puts Emmet County at the top of this ratio, and having been through there a couple of times recently, I think that it embodies local, and markets that are growing based upon goods and services that are “fresh, natural, local and authentic.” In fact I got to visit Tap 30 the day before their opening, another wonderful addition to downtown Petoskey.
On the Northern Initiatives front, we will begin rolling out our new customer portal next week, holding events in Marquette and Ironwood, and the following week in Petoskey (at Tap 30) and Cadillac. You will find a preview clip of some of the past and present customers who helped us in the introduction of topics for which training videos were produced to include in the portal. http://vimeo.com/104545924 One of the elements of the portal are videos that follow the FDIC’s Money Smart for Small Business Curriculum. Videos in this series include; Insurance, Tax Planning and Reporting, Selling and Succession Planning, Financial Management, Banking Services, Risk Management, Credit Reporting, Organizational Types and Considerations, Time Management and Small Business, and Record Keeping as a Management Tool. The development of the portal and videos was made possible by; Lundin Foundation and Eagle Mine, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Michigan State University, Northern Michigan University, Rural LISC, SBA, Such Video, the United States Department of Agriculture, VAST, Wells Fargo Bank and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Speaking of the Kellogg Foundation, they developed a mini documentary about Northern Initiatives’ impact investing born out of our Foundation sponsored, Program Related Investment. The video and web story can be found on the Foundation’s website. http://www.wkkf.org/what-we-do/featured-work/northern-initiatives-invests-in-small-businesses-to-drive-economic-growth-in-northern-michigan
After a somewhat quiet summer the pipeline took a nice leap in the past two weeks. We look forward to a strong last quarter to push us to a new record in loan volume.
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