Chamber tells SEDA it helped create jobs, secure grants and build a recruitment pipeline

At the Stillwater Economic Development Authority meeting on Jan. 27, Carrie Moore, representing the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, presented a quarterly report summarizing the chamber’s economic development work from late February 2024 through Dec. 31, 2024.

Moore said program outcomes included results from the Chamber’s Small Business University: respondents reported eight jobs created among attendees, two new storefront businesses on Main Street and two-thirds of respondents reported increased monthly revenue; the Small Business University also helped participants secure more than $200,000 in grant funding. Moore highlighted one project in which the chamber helped Stillwater Milling Company secure a grant of more than $500,000 as part of a larger investment.

The chamber reported building a recruitment pipeline by limiting projects to prospects that rank Stillwater among their top three community choices; that pipeline, as reported to trustees, represented more than $600 million in potential opportunity. Moore also said Kingspan has begun site work and renovations locally and has hired about eight employees. The chamber noted its Grow Stillwater website is live, it is preparing a recruitment video and plans to attend the Site Selectors Guild and other conferences to attract investment.

Trustees and councilors asked about employer outreach; Moore said one-on-one employer surveys tap confidential information and that results were mixed depending on an employer’s engagement level. Moore posed a forward-looking question to council: how should success for economic development be defined in the contract renewal scheduled for June.

Trustees received the quarterly report; no funding action was required at the meeting.