On October 19th from 11 am to 2 pm, Chippewa Valley professionals and noteworthy community figures had the opportunity to tour the Chippewa Valley Innovation Center (CVIC) in celebration of Manufacturing Month. The CVIC is an incubation center for entrepreneurs and startups who have an in-progress business plan and need a physical address to continue their business journey. The facility allows them to accept customers and form their business plan while they save to purchase their own business space. "Showing people what the CVIC does is an important step towards giving startups, especially manufacturing startups, the reach that they need to succeed. The CCEDC will continue to support these efforts." states Charlie Walker, CCEDC President and CEO. Manufacturing Month focuses on the education and advocacy for young, aspiring manufacturing professionals. The Chippewa County [...]

On October 9th, Martino’s Pizza held their annual Pizza and Prevention event, fronted by Ron Haas, owner of Martino’s and CCEDC Board Member. Martino’s Pizza and Prevention Event is a collaboration between the restaurant and the Stanley and Boyd fire departments. Martino’s donated 100 percent of their proceeds for that day to the two stations, and firefighters volunteered to work in the restaurant and make pizzas. Since its inception over ten years ago, Martino’s has raised thousands of dollars for the fire departments. This year, they raised $8,500. “It was a busy night and a total success,” stated Haas. “The community really does come together for events like this, it’s a really cool thing.” Emergency personnel are incredibly important to the safety of our community, and events like this help them get the [...]

As some of you may know, Manufacturing Day is on October 1, and it kicks off Manufacturing Month (October). Manufacturing is a highly critical industry, and it is more widespread than you think. Manufacturing is looking towards the next generation of workers for help, and Manufacturing Day was established nationally to teach the next generation about the workforce and the many, many avenues one can take. According to the Manufacturing Institute, companies currently have 900,000 open jobs nationwide, and that will go up to 4 million by the end of the decade. The establishment of Manufacturing Month has helped with this, and the CCEDC works hard to honor the manufacturing industry in the Chippewa Valley not only during October, but all year. If you live in the Chippewa Valley and you are either [...]

Did you know that the state of Wisconsin has 64,000 farms and agriculture makes up for 12 percent of the workforce? Well now you do! Agriculture is extremely important to the health of the state's economy, and our farmers work hard to put food on people's tables. The industry generates $104 billion to the economy annually, making development in other areas possible. The CCEDC is proud to support Agricultural Tourism Week and Wisconsin's farmers. We understand that the economy is dependent upon key industries, like agriculture, and we strive to do everything we can to support them.

On September 21st, we held a BEAR Lunch & Learn in our conference room, and invited John Lake to come and speak about an entrepreneurship implementation program called EOS. Attendees learned about the six key components of a successful business, how to manage issues, and how to get the right people in the right seats. Lake also talked about the ways that an issue can be diagnosed, and what the best practices are for identifying, discussing, and solving these issues. Out next BEAR Lunch & Learn is the first of four workshops that focus on improving, growing, and transitioning a business, and it's taking place on October 5th at 11:30 am. Stay tuned for event updates and details!