Joel Kotkin in Grand Forks Herald | 'Eide Motors Renovating its Showroom'

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:53:00 -0400

The Heartland Development Bank, which was conceived by Delore Zimmerman, president of the Grand Forks-based Praxis Strategy Group, and Joel Kotkin, a senior consultant with Praxis and an New America Foundation senior fellow, is designed to encourage investment in the Midwest and would use public and private funds to improve emerging population centers through investment in education, public infrastructure and research and development. LINK

Grand Forks Herald Profiles Heartland Development Report

Communications — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 18:51:00 -0500

The numbers ought to halt your coffee cup's rise in midair: The coming drawdown at Grand Forks Air Force Base could end 650 to 950 to 1,000 indirect jobs, plus 800 to 1,200 jobs lost on the base itself. That adds up to a regional loss of $38 million to $56 million a year, a base realignment impact panel last week declared.

But go ahead and keep sipping your brew, because all is not lost. For one thing, Grand Forks and the region can act in the short term to keep growing the economy; one such action item is below.

For another thing, this isn't your father's Grand Forks, where grounding of an Air Force missile wing in the 1990s hit the economy like a fragmentation warhead. Today, the regional economy has diversified and is positioned for more growth.

As a new report on the rural Midwest's economy says, “In many ways, the American Heartland today boasts better prospects than at any time since the early 20th century...”

The report is by Joel Kotkin, a nationally known, California-based writer and consultant on social trends and economic growth, and Delore Zimmerman, president of CEO Praxis, Inc., in Grand Forks. CEO Praxis is… more