This week was the Internship & Career Fair held at PoHi for Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. The "Career" part of this event was for the Seniors. Mostly. For Sophomores and Juniors who are pretty sure they know what they want to be when they grow up, this is an opportunity to chat up businesses in their areas of interest. And those students still exploring options, a chance to ask questions. And with over 45 local companies, organizations and military recruiters participating this year, it was a packed house, errrr, gymnasium.

It is that time of year: time for companies to apply to the Oklahoma Innovation Expansion Program. Jeremy Stoner presented to a group of businesses, most of them new to the program. Those who are part of these fantastic numbers already plan to apply for the program for upcoming capital investment projects. The applications open next Monday, March 31st and will close on Friday, April 11th.

Business on the Balcony is back for its sixth year! If you want to meet local business people, get to know the City Central tenants or are just new to town and looking for your tribe, this is the place to be. On the Balcony. Tuesday, April 8th is the first B on the B for 2025. 7 to 9 a.m. Yes, A.M. In the morning; at sunrise; before work. A little bit of breakfast; and a whole lot of networking. Bring your business questions and some business cards and let's see what we can create; On the Balcony.

You might have heard of the Business Plan Competition Pitch-off that PCDA holds each year to offer incentives and support to start-up and young new businesses in Ponca City. PCDA Staff and Trustees are proud to announce another small business support program called PHASE II, which supports second-stage funding needs. Sunny Creek Trading Post, with the assistance of Janet Schwabe, the PTech Incubator Manager, applied for and received a grant from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry (ODAFF) to purchase new equipment. Here was the "but for" that triggers PCDA programs......

The Kaw Nation has their Kanza Human Development Division in the City Central Building. KHDD's mission is to nurture growth from cradle to college and beyond for their tribal members and extended community. This office assists with tutors, employment and training, summer camps, college readiness and education resources such as school supplies to support their members and beyond. Kanza participates in Ponca Works Job Fairs and other Kaw Tribal services have events in the building. Make sure to check out their website for all the details.

Congratulations to our new Mayor Elect Kelsey Wagner. And good job Ponca City for getting out there and voting. With almost 2000 votes for Mayoral Candidates Kelsey Wagner and Diane Anderson, Ponca City showed how much they care about community leadership. Make sure to check out Mayor Elect Wagner's Thank you video by clicking below.

Mayor Nicholson will preside over his last meeting on Monday, February 24 and swear-in our new Mayor. Come out to his Celebration Reception at 4 pm that day and stay for the meeting to watch him bang the gavel one last time.

One of the legacies of Mayor Nicholson will be the Santa Fe Depot Restoration Project here in Ponca City. Mayor Nicholson has been at every meeting, championed the passenger rail coming back to Ponca City and been loud and proud about bringing the depot back to life and service.

Make sure to attend the Ground Breaking Ceremony for the Depot Restoration on Monday, Feb 17 at 1:00 pm. Kudos to the City of Ponca City and especially the Grant Department gurus Rhonda Skrapke & Kacey Flanery.

Oklahoma Innovation Expansion Program (OIEP) representative Jeremy Stoner will present information at the PCDA hosted meeting at Pioneer Technology Center on Thursday, February 27th. Be in the Conference Room at 11:30 to grab some lunch and get a funding tutorial on the OIEP opportunities for your company. Lunch is on PCDA. The project is up to you. Check out this information sheet and RSVP for the luncheon presentation to Kat by Wednesday, February 26th at 580.765.7070 or [email protected].

PCDA would like to congratulate Century Products for receiving the 2024 Industry of the Year Award last week at the Ponca City Chamber Banquet. This company is growing by leaps and bounds and staff could not be more proud. Staff is also excited to announce an incentive agreement with Century Products, LLC. This collaboration will support Century Products' $2.5 million expansion project, which includes the acquisition of new equipment....... 

The Ponca City Main Street organization became a City Central Tenant very early after the building opened in May 2019. With offices on the second floor, across the hall from PCDA, Main Street is always available for their downtown merchants to drop by or have one of their investor meetings in City Central.

Find out more about Ponca City Main Street, their Downtown Streetscape Project partnership with the City of Ponca City and much more by clicking below or follow them on FB.

Phase I of the Icon Theater building has been completed. Waldorf Riley Heating & Plumbing won the bid in December to complete work on the Icon Theater HVAC units. Phase II will be roof work to be conducted by American Roofing.

PCDA, as a public trust, put both of these projects out for public bid. Trustees and staff are please with the timeliness of this project and hope to announce some approximate opening dates for Icon Theatres in the near future. Read the complete press release below....

PCDA is pleased to announce that Log10 LLC, a microbiology lab specializing in the production of probiotics, has acquired the spec building it has called home since 2015. This milestone underscores Log10’s commitment to Ponca City and highlights the company’s significant contributions to the local economy and industrial ecosystem.

Log10 LLC was originally recruited to Ponca City by PCDA in 2015 and found its home in a state-of-the-art spec building designed to attract manufacturing companies. Over the past decade, Log10 has transformed the building into a cutting-edge facility with more than $10 million invested...

PCDA would like to welcome Bealls to Ponca City! With over three quarters of a million dollars of improvement to this shopping center location, Bealls willl provide Ponca City with another option for department store merchandise. If you would like to apply for a job with Bealls, managers will be accepting applications and conducting interviews in February here at City Central. Stay Tuned for more information.

PCDA would like to congratulate Century Products for receiving the 2024 Industry of the Year Award last week at the Ponca City Chamber Banquet. This company is growing by leaps and bounds and staff could not be more proud. Staff is also excited to announce an incentive agreement with Century Products, LLC. This collaboration will support Century Products' $2.5 million expansion project, which includes the acquisition of new equipment....... 

With over 125 interns placed throughout the Ponca City community, Staff thought it would be fun to catch up with some of them at their work locations.

First up is Elizabeth Coffman. This PoHi Senior is stretching her artistic capabilities at A+ Printing and Oklahoma Labels. Make sure to click the link below to read all about how A+ is showing her a future in art and design while teaching valuable customer service and media management skills.

If your business is interested in hosting an intern next year, please contact Cristyn Casey, Internship Coordinator at

Ponca City High School, STEM Room A203

(580) 718-4878, [email protected]

As you may or may not know, The City Central building at 400 E. Central Ave is owned and managed by PCDA. Currently at 100% occupancy, staff cannot really market office space, though we encourage everyone to check out other office buildings downtown like Eastin Properties and Jodi Cline's building at 4th and Grand.

Recently, the City of Ponca City opened their court offices in City Central to remain open during their building renovations. Court hours are Monday thru Thursday, 8 to 6 and Fridays 8 to 11:30 am.

Our 30 hour, Soft Skills Certification workshops are Monday-Friday from 9am-3:30pm 

January 20-24 in our Work Ready office

February 3-7 in our Work Ready office 

There is room for more participants than usual, so if you are between jobs, this could be your next job opportunity. Give them a phone call at 580.718.4237 to get signed up or ask any questions you might have. Work Ready Ponca City is located in City Central, 3rd Floor Suite 307.

OUT WITH THE OLD!! New Year, New You! Stock up now! BOGO ____. Whatever the sale, let that be your January Slogan for your business. This is a great time to purge old inventory, mark down things to move and bring new people in the door. What is your marketing theme for the first quarter of 2025? 25 things for sale? Collaborating with another business? Use the news and/or politics. Stock up before the Inauguration. Everything changes; start now.

Make 2025 a great year for your business. Start now.

There are many activities this time of year and only with consumer support, will these businesses be around next year during Christmas. The Poncan Theatre hosts the Evans Children's Performing Arts Group and is showing first-run movies. Find out more at their website www.poncantheatre.org.

A new venue downtown is The Alley with karaoke nights, open mic nights, live music and private party availability. Find out more at their website TheAlleyPC.com.

And don't miss the Ponca Playhouse production of "The Little Prince" coming up January 24th. Find out show times and get your tickets at PoncaPlayhouse.com.

There is always something to do in Ponca City. And this is just the downtown Main Street area. You just have to know where to look.

The City Central building is close to 100% capacity. One of the newest tenants, Sunny Creek Farm Hub Store, continues to grow adding a third day each week. Now Open Mon, Tues & Wed. 10 to 6 pm. Sunny Creek is one of 18 farm hubs in the state of Oklahoma selling hyper local (within 30 miles) and local (Oklahoma/Kansas) products.

Sunny Creek is always seeking new producers for the store. Stop in and chat with Liz or Val about your homemade products that may be a fit for the Farm Hub Store. Check out the locally made sourdough and baked items, jellies, farm eggs and much more.

PCDA commissioned a housing study for the Ponca City area this year. If you want to read the whole thing, check it out here. Basically, it confirmed the need for housing in Ponca City in the $150,000 to $300,000 range with at least three bedrooms and two baths. Got it. With assistance from the City of Ponca City....,

Oklahoma Housing Stability Program provides 0% interest construction loans for the new construction of single-family homes and for single and multifamily rental housing. Again, if you as a construction professional or investor have ever kicked around the idea of building homes, check out this Oklahoma program. Applications are being accepted now. There are still funds in the Ponca City HIP 2.0 program and the PCDA Incentive program for housing. Two more OHFA application due dates: November 20 and January 2025

It's hard to look at your small business objectively. If you own a retail establishment, how is the flow and shop-ability of your store? Do you like it because it looks pretty or because merchandise sells? This is called merchandising and it is why larger retailers "reset" their shelves and move products around at least twice a year. And so should you. Need an extra set of eyes? Give Kat a call and let PCDA help you create more sales.

In May/June of this year, PCDA Trustees and City Commissioners voted to add housing and retail assistance to our trust indenture. This means that PCDA can now work with and incentivize these sectors.  

What does that mean? Keep reading to find out. Click the link below.

For many years, every time staff went to a trade show or conference, the main topic of discussion was "where is the workforce?" Recruiters, companies, industries: all wanted to know where they could find their next manager, next machinist, welder, accountant, etc... This year, at the FabTech show in Orlando, Florida, it appears the topic has changed. Check out what Laurence Beliel has to say about the new conversations......

PCDA is happy to have an PoHi Intern this year. Meet Jordan Varbel. She has fit right in here in our crazy PCDA/City Central office. Jordan has jumped right in with building event calendars, creating Halloween doors and putting together Excel spreadsheets. She may or may not be a bit terrified of answering the phone, but with a little practice, we will conquer her telephone-phobia.

You don't want to miss the Fall Ladies Night tonight, Friday November 1st. Grab some of your gal pals and check out all the shops and pop-ups downtown. Even if you just need to de-stress from the week, get some of your pre-Christmas gift shopping (or at least idea gathering) in while walking around downtown. Food, drink and be merry!

It's hard to see in the graphic, but for the second consecutive quarter in 2024, Ponca City ranked in the top 10 for lowest cost of living in the United States. Oklahoma has three communities in the top ten with Oklahoma City ranking #5, Ponca City ranking #7 and Muskogee ranking #10. Cost of living numbers are based on several things including automotive, housing, food, services and entertainment. Ponca City has an 18% lower cost of living than the normal (100%). Highest cost of living numbers go to the east and west coasts.

For you data wonks out there, let staff introduce you to the many layers of information which can be found on Census.gov. If you want accurate stats from 2024, you are going to have to pay for that information. However, if you want to see what our county looks like from an employed, population and industry standing, click on the link below for the 2022 statistics from the U.S. Census County Business Patterns. Suspense killing you? Click the link below to see Kay County data.

CENTURY PRODUCTS BECOMES THE OFFICIAL STOCK TANK OF PRORODEO

Century Products is thrilled to announce our new partnership with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), making Century the Official Stock Tank of ProRodeo and the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

"We're honored to partner with PRCA......

PCDA Board Trustee Erica Fetters and PCDA Executive Director Lori Henderson present Poncan Theatre Board Chair Luke Garrison with incentive funds.

“....The funds allocated through PCDA ensure any money made by the Poncan Theatre on future movie showings has an instant return on investment. This will allow the Poncan to focus on future production and sustainment cost of our nearly 100-year-old Historic theatre,” says Luke Garrison, Poncan Theatre Board President. “The new (Icon Cinemas) theater will help keep entertainment dollars within our community, changing the perception that residents must leave Ponca City for quality entertainment."

A new study shows the direct and indirect economic impact of Oklahoma CareerTech’s technology centers, Skills Centers and Adult Education and Family Literacy providers generated nearly $1 billion for the state in 2023. This impact reflects stronger businesses, higher-paying jobs and a more resilient workforce.

The PCDA offices were jam-packed this week to applaud Paws on the Pavement. Ponca City Chamber of Commerce held PotP's official ribbon cutting. Paws on the Pavement is the 2023 PCDA Business Plan Pitch-off competition champion. After the ribbon was cut and the first chamber buck presented, owner Justin Mathews thanked everyone for attending, thanked his crew (pictured with him) and thanked his family, especially Mom! Many in the room were clients of this pet sitting, dog walking, pet taxi, anything to assist with your furbabies.........

This week, Ponca City lost 80 childcare spots in our community. Much like anything else, possibly all 80 spots were not filled. Staff is sure that most of them were utilized by workforce living and working in Ponca City. If you don't use childcare, you may not know parents finding a safe, available and affordable childcare provider when needed is no longer guaranteed.

One way to assist with lack of childcare homes and centers, is to offer training. PCDA has partnered with Pioneer Technology Center to offer FREE CPR and First Aid training on Monday, October 14th (Ponca City Schools are out for Fall Break). Local resources to assist those wanting to become a licensed childcare will be available. If you are a babysitter or new grandma wanting to get certified or take a refresher course, these classes are for you. Scan the QR codes or click on this link to sign up. 10 spots remain for the CPR class and First Aid has many openings. Grab a friend and get some training.

WORKlahoma Job Fair is set for Thursday, November 7^th and will be held in the Pioneer Technology Center’s conference center. Join us from 10am and 2pm to meet top employers in the Kay County area seeking to fill positions.  This is a twice-yearly job fair hosted by Work Ready, Ponca City. Come dressed to impress and take advantage of professional headshots as Kayla Blaes Photography will be set up at no cost to you. At 11:30 there will be a “Remote Work Info Session” to learn more about local and remote work opportunities. 

Having festivals and celebrations that bring people together strengthen the community. This past week, we had a whole lot of strength training happening. Art Festival, Standing Bear Powwow and the Hispanic Heritage Festival gave everyone in Ponca City a chance to hang out with their favorite people. Thank you to the event coordinators, the volunteers, the vendors and especially to all those that attended. The Hispanic Heritage Festival featured Oklahoma Guitarist Extraordinaire Edgar Cruz (pictured on stage).

Ponca City High School had a record number of businesses (60+) hosting a record number of interns (140+) last school year. That is 140 students that now have on the job training at a local business. You gotta get in on this. Keep reading to find out more.... or just reach out to Jordan Gross at [email protected] to get started on hosting an intern at your business.

It was a little hot this week for B on the B. OK, it was alot hot, but we had a great turnout. Special thanks to Nena Tacos for the breakfast tacos (yes, they serve breakfast) and Grand Cafe for the biscuits, gravy and egg casserole. People were introduced from CPM Bliss, Pioneer Tech, Farmer's Market , Workforce Office, Ponca City Real Estate Company. and QutesyQs, a new subscription box service shipping from Ponca City. Sunny Creek Farm Hub Store is extending their hours (you get first-hand news like this) when you attend B on the B. One more this year. Mark your calendar for Tuesday, September 10th, 7 to 9 am.

Did you know that Ponca City is ranked in the top 10 for low cost of living in the U.S.? It's true. PCDA staff collect prices for goods in health & beauty, appliance repair, automotive, recreation and of course, food costs. If you want to see how we rank against another community, just click below and check out the Cost of Living calculator on the goponca.com website. Apples to apples or in this case, ribeye to ribeye.

Ponca City is know for the companies we keep. Over the years, industries and businesses have started, grown and thrived right here. One of those industries is food and agriculture. Think Lopez Dorada Foods, Log10, Cookshack, CPM Bliss and of course, Century Products. All of these companies reflect the Ponca City success story: start small and grow, grow, grow. Sometimes...

Though the kids are heading back to school next week, you might want to plan your Septemer Ponca City activities. Between the Cherokee Strip fundraisers, The PC Arts Festival at Cann Gardens, the All Tribe Fancy Dance Compeition or The Hispanic Heritage Festival, there is culture and activities for every family. And most are free! Make sure to check out the Visit Ponca City Calendar to