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BLDC updates committee on accelerator RFP, USDA grants, housing outreach and brownfields work
Summary
BLDC representative Kelly Sullivan updated the Economic Development Committee on an RFP for a Montana Tech-focused accelerator (RFP posted June 17, submissions due Aug. 3), three USDA rural business grant applications submitted June 30, planned fall community meetings on uptown building reuse, and brownfields assessment assistance coordinated with DEQ.
At the July 1 meeting the committee heard a consolidated update from Kelly Sullivan of BLDC covering several ongoing economic development efforts.
Sullivan said an RFP for a feasibility study into a tech-focused accelerator tied to Montana Tech was posted June 17 and that proposals from consulting firms are due August 3; she emphasized this accelerator would target Montana Tech graduates and differ from BLDC's existing Mercury Street business accelerator.
"This would be to focus on the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Montana Tech with tech grads coming out of school, and then maybe we'd like to keep them and have them opening their own firms here in Butte rather than losing them to another community," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said proposal submissions and scoring will be managed through an Airtable application, with support from Courtney McKee of the Headwaters Tech Hub. She described Airtable as an AI platform she had not used before and credited McKee for assistance.
BLDC submitted three USDA rural business development grant applications the day before the meeting, Sullivan said. She said BLDC typically files three to five such applications annually; one submission involves a Butte business that is considering building a new facility and which Sullivan described as potentially transformative, but she declined to provide further public details about that specific project.
On housing, Sullivan said Nancy Derosier (Butte-Silver Bow housing coordinator) is leading a three-part community meeting series in September, October and November focused on redeveloping vacant upper floors in uptown buildings; BLDC will help plan panels and outreach and committee members will be invited to participate.
Sullivan also described a same-day meeting with the new brownfields director and a local building owner to connect the owner with Montana Department of Environmental Quality resources for Phase I and II assessments to begin cleanup planning.
The committee thanked Sullivan for the update and requested that staff provide additional details where projects or funding sources were not yet specified.
