Chamber Executive South Dakota Digest --- September 2014; Deadwood eyes $3.5 million gateway visitor/business center; First Leadership South Dakota class chosen; South Dakota sets aside $1M to recruit workers; Chamber Finance: North Dakota and South Dakota lead the nation for credit conditions; Yankton Chamber Sponsorship: First Women's conference Sept. 12;Chamber Executive Ongoing Education Weekly New Idea: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead - by Sheryl Sandberg, CEO Facebook; South Dakota Chamber Testimony: lawmakers explore highway funding, user fees; Vermillion Chamber news: Workshop held to give better Germanium view; Chamber business: Goldman Sachs is looking to help 10,000 small businesses with a $500 MILLION investment; Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotation (Education)

Deadwood eyes $3.5 million gateway visitor/business center
The public is invited to weigh in on a proposed new visitor center to be located in Deadwood’s Lower Main parking lot. With a potential $3.5 million price tag, the center is designed to spruce up Deadwood’s south entrance, calling more attention to neighboring downtown and providing a more customer-friendly informative start to the Deadwood visitor experience.
Request for proposals on the project were solicited late last year with seven responses garnered. Deadwood’s Parking and Transportation Committee then chose four designs, and 30-minute interviews were conducted with those four companies.
The Deadwood City Commission approved entering into a contract with Chamberlin Architects to develop a master plan for the Lower Main parking lot and Visitor Center at a cost not to exceed $39,520 at a Jan. 21 meeting. A copy of the proposal is on file at the Deadwood Police Department for members of the public interested in viewing it.
“This has the potential to be a game changer,” said Deadwood Parking and Transportation Committee Chairman and Police Chief Kelly Fuller. “This is a three-acre blank canvas. We’re looking at building a new visitor center with the potential to house the Chamber of Commerce. Read more: Black Hills Pioneer


First Leadership South Dakota class chosen
The inaugural class of Leadership South Dakota has been chosen. The program will provide class members with the background information, experiences and insights necessary to assume leadership positions at community, state and national levels. It's being offered by the South Dakota Community Foundation in partnership with Dakota Educational Consulting. The 41 participants are: Read more: Argus Leader

South Dakota sets aside $1M to recruit workers

South Dakota will spend $1 million to help local communities recruit workers, Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced this week. The matching grant program was the centerpiece recommendation to come out of workforce summits Daugaard hosted this year in several of the state’s largest cities.

The state also will revamp the Department of Labor’s online job board in an attempt to make it more usable and provide more real-time data to employers. Read more: Argus Leader

Chamber Finance: North Dakota and South Dakota lead the nation for credit conditions

How is the economy doing? It depends on where you look. In some states, people are practically choking on credit problems, while in others, serious financial difficulties are relatively rare.

For example, more than one out of every 500 homes in Florida is in foreclosure, while foreclosures are virtually unheard of in North Dakota. Similar differences exist for credit ratings, bankruptcies, unemployment rates and credit card delinquencies.

To factor all this in and determine the best and worst states for credit conditions, CardRatings.com looked at the following:

• Average credit scores from Equifax
• Foreclosure rates from RealtyTrac
• Credit card delinquency rates from TransUnion
• Unemployment rates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Bankruptcy rates from the American Bankruptcy Institute

Based on a combination of all these factors, the following are the best and worst states for credit conditions.

The best states for credit conditions

1. North Dakota. The economy in North Dakota continues to thrive, and credit conditions are excellent as a result. North Dakota has the lowest rates of foreclosures, credit card delinquencies, and unemployment in the United States. It has the second-lowest number of bankruptcies per capita, and the third highest average credit score. In other words, by any measure credit conditions in North Dakota are practically unbeatable.

2. (tie) South Dakota. Clearly, some of North Dakota's economic boom is rubbing off on its neighbor to the south. Having top-10 rankings in all the categories of this study lifted South Dakota into a tie for the No. 2 slot. Read more: CardRatings.com

Yankton Chamber Sponsorship: First Women's conference Sept. 12

Yankton area women are going to be celebrated next month at the first Women¹s Business Conference.

The South Dakota Center for Enterprise Opportunity (SD CEO) at Black Hills State University (BHSU) will partner up with several Yankton-area businesses to host this inaugural event in Yankton on Friday, Sept. 12. The event will be held at the Best Western Kelly Inn from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

"We are so honored and excited to be hosting this women¹s business conference in Yankton for the first time," said Helen Merriman, director of SD CEO and scheduled speaker at the conference.

Topics of the conference will include educational and skill building sessions to increase professional development, enhance business communication technique and strengthen business relationships.

Chamber Executive Ongoing Education Weekly New Idea: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead - by Sheryl Sandberg, CEO Facebook

Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in government and industry. This means that women’s voices are still not heard equally in the decisions that most affect our lives. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg examines why women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential.

Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TEDTalk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which became a phenomenon and has been viewed more than two million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.

In Lean In, Sandberg digs deeper into these issues, combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to cut through the layers of ambiguity and bias surrounding the lives and choices of working women. She recounts her own decisions, mistakes, and daily struggles to make the right choices for herself, her career, and her family. She provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career, urging women to set boundaries and to abandon the myth of “having it all.”  She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women in the workplace and at home.

Written with both humor and wisdom, Sandberg’s book is an inspiring call to action and a blueprint for individual growth. Lean In is destined to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can.

South Dakota Chamber Testimony: lawmakers explore highway funding, user fees

Members of a legislative committee tasked with studying how to best fund state and local highways started gathering ideas Wednesday, including considering increasing some user fees as an option to help fund South Dakota's roads.

The Highway Needs and Financing Committee met Tuesday and Wednesday at the state Capitol. Republican Sen. Mike Vehle, chairman of the committee, said the state could look at a 10 percent increase to the license fee for drivers. He suggested such potential legislation as lowering the gas tax from 22 cents per gallon to 20 cents while adding a 3 percent excise tax on fuel over two years.

"I'm willing to look at a lot of other things, but we've got to get started somewhere," he said. Read more: Watertown Public Opinion

Vermillion Chamber news: Workshop held to give better Germanium view

The second Germanium-Based Detectors and Technologies workshop was held at the University of South Dakota this week. The workshop was hosted by USD because of funding from the National Science Foundation, along with contributions from the University of South Dakota, the South Dakota Board of Regents, the Vermillion Area Chamber of Commerce and Development Company. Keller added, because of the growth facility, and psychics department taking lead in organizing the workshop also is why USD hosted the workshop. Read more: Vermillion Plain Talk

Chamber business: Goldman Sachs is looking to help 10,000 small businesses with a $500 MILLION investment

The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program is a $500 million investment to help small businesses create jobs and economic opportunity by providing them with greater access to business education, financial capital, and business support services. 10,000 Small Businesses is designed for business owners with limited resources who have a business poised for growth. Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to growing their business and creating jobs within their community. Learn more about this program and eligibility requirements. Further information: 10,000 Small Businesses  

Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotation (Education)

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”--- Albert Einstein