BUSINESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM OF THE MONTH

In 2021 the City of Mandan was awarded a $300,000 BROWNFIELD COMMUNITY-WIDE ASSESSMENT GRANT to support the assessment, cleanup, and revitalization of vacant and underutilized sites throughout the city. Grant funds can be used to complete Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs), Hazardous Building Material Surveys, cleanup planning, and a variety of property reuse planning activities. Funding is available through September 2024.

The program is geared to assist property owners in gaining an understanding of any potential contaminants on a property such as mold, lead-based paint, asbestos, petroleum or others that exist on a property. These assessments may support funding requests for site cleanup or redevelopment.

Possible uses of grant funds are for Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments, hazardous building material surveys and site/area reuse and cleanup planning.

To learn more about the grant contact Andrew Stromme at the city of Mandan.

Cost Of Living Information Released

The 2023 1st quarter Cost of Living Index (COLI) was released in May. The COLI is put together by the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness and is an analysis of average prices submitted by over 270 urban areas across the United States. The COLI compares all 271 submitted urban areas with a score of 100 being average. The information collected is also used to populate the Cost of Living Calculator on the Chamber EDC website. The calculator determines what salary someone would need to earn in Bismarck-Mandan to compare to what that person is earning in any of the other 270 urban areas.

Both the index and the calculator assist the Chamber EDC is our talent attraction efforts. The comparison to other area communities is shown below.