May 1—GRAND FORKS — With more than 17,000 open jobs in North Dakota and just one third of a person available for each opening, attraction initiatives for potential workers and collaboration with business site selectors were among the conversations during the second day of the Economic Development Association of North Dakota's spring conference.
North Dakota's modesty is one thing that keeps it from being a target for potential residents and businesses, economic development leaders and site selectors said at the conference.
"We have to be willing to be innovative and competitive," said Brekka Kramer, president and CEO of the Minot Chamber EDC.
The EDND spring conference, held in Grand Forks for the first time in 10 years, brought together local and state leaders, businesses and other community organizations for discussions about economic development. The panels held during the second day of the conference took place in the Olive Ann Hotel's Cloud 9 Suite, which was packed with people from across the state and beyond. Two of those panels, held back to back, focused on talent attraction initiatives for workforce development and how to put North Dakota on the map for site selection.
The former panel consisted of speakers Kramer; Becca Cruger, workforce development director of the Grand Forks Region EDC; and Pat Bertagnolli, executive director of North Dakota Job Service. The panel was moderated by Sarah Michael, a talent attraction specialist from the North Dakota Department of Commerce. Panelists spoke of the North Dakota worker attraction initiative Find the Good Life, which has been in action since June 2022. Other initiatives, such as Minot Wayfinder and Grand Forks is Cooler, also were topics that showed how local initiatives can bring in new residents.
Ways of further pushing these initiatives and gaining attention from those outside the state were discussed, such as utilizing video projects, getting youth involved and making North Dakota more visible. Bertagnolli, who has visited multiple North Dakota communities, said he looks for showmanship and hospitality, as well as an emotion amongst residents when he visits.
"How excited are you to talk about your community and the great things that are going on?" he said. "The emotion I feel in their communities is that this is home."
The panel focusing on site selection featured speakers Justin Erickson, vice president of site selection and economic development at The Brookershire Company in Bloomington, Minnasota; Ty Eschenbaum, partner for A1 Development Solutions in Brookings, South Dakota; Devin Hillsdon-Smith, director of Cushman and Wakefield in Atlanta; and Jerry Szatan, owner of Site Selection Consultants from Chicago. Matt Marshall, a rates and economic development manager from Minnkota Power Cooperative, served as moderator.