WEEKLY UPDATE      November 9th, 2007

LOST IN TRANSLATION??? ...we received a number of questions from gringos asking what the brief story in Spanish said last week. In deference to the other foreign nation on our border, here is the same thing, this time in Canadian: “This week, we are all immigrants: The eyes of the world were on Oklahoma this week as a result of the new law on immigration. There will be many ups and downs as we work to integrate our economy into the global one. It is important to remember that global integration will never go away and people do count.” For Okies, what it means is “the new law may cause a few headaches, but we’ll get over it.” QUESTIONS ON THE IMMIGRATION LAW??? ...there have been a lot of questions about the new immigration law, particularly from employers. In order to try and answer some of those questions, Pioneer Technology Center, (PTC) is hosting a workshop on Tuesday, November 13th from 9 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with Bill Wells who helped write the law. There is a $10 fee to attend. To register or for more information, call 580.718.4261 or 580.718.4275. OCTOBERFEST ...that’s German for “October was a real festival of activity at PCDA.” PCDA staff had 40 contacts with new industries. This was exceeded only by the 51 contacts with existing businesses which dwarfed the sixteen meetings we had with consultants. We also had 21 contacts with government officials, (all of whom where there to help) and 15 with our regional partners. PCDA currently has 17 active projects open with one open lead. An open lead either becomes an active project or becomes a “hold in case” file. From the rubber meets the road file, one expansion and one attraction project were completed last month. THIS WEEK ...PCDA staff gave one new company a proposal this week, met with four other companies negotiating three other proposals, responded to one lead, completed the strategic plan, presented to the AmBucs and SHRM groups, hosted another community that came to find our how we do things, and we prepared for a board meeting. That meeting included the approval of a sublease with an out of state company, discussion about a workforce recruitment tool, the state’s biosciences association, the draft PCDA strategic plan, (see below) and more. THAT-A-WAY ...PCDA Trustees are reviewing a draft of the new PCDA strategic plan. This plan resulted from a retreat in August were Trustees looked at the direction of economic development program and added/changed/emphasized/de-emphasized/tweaked and otherwise said “this is what we’re going to do.” Trustees will review the plan for the next thirty days and likely vote on accepting it in December. Briefly, it places a focus on existing industry as the number one priority, puts workforce recruitment and training as a major sub section of that effort, pushes innovation, directs marketing, targets attraction and mandates a sound PCDA. UPCOMING.... Tue. Nov. 13th: Immigration Seminar, 9 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Pioneer Technology Center Tue. Nov. 20th: OK Gateway Regional Partnership, 10:30 am, Cushing Ponca City Development Authority 102 S. Fifth Street, Ste. 3, Ponca City, OK 74601 580.765.7070/580.765.0969-fax Or E-Mail - David Myers CEcD - Executive Director Visit Ponca City Development's Latest News Archives © www.goponca.com - Ponca City Development Authority - Ponca City, Oklahoma