Are you an entrepreneur and don't know it? Let's chat. The Fall Business Plan Competition is fast approaching. Deadline to submit business plans is November 1. Maybe you have a great idea that needs some bones. Business Plan can do that. Or you have an existing business, but need some structure and next steps. Business planning will get you to the next level. And staff (Kat) knows business plans sound hard. And time consuming. And basically impossible. But fear not. There is no bad business plan; there are only unfinished business plans. Business planning means you are putting all that information you carry around in your head on paper. Or in a computer. And, once it is formatted, you can enter the competition to win $5000. Most small businesses can be started with less than $2000.

How do you get started? Click here and get your answers to these basic questions down in your phone; in a notebook or on your computer. These are the basics. Then, call Kat and she can assist you to get some pricing, marketing and needs assessments completed. Viola. You are halfway to finishing your business plan. Promise. Your business idea deserves a plan. Want to talk to someone who has gone through the process? Check out Paws on the Pavement, Aesthetic State of Mind, Gamemaster's Guild, The Grand Cigar and Lounge or drop by Nena Tacos. All of these businesses and more have participated in the competition. What are YOU waiting for?

PCDA has an award winning program called The Trade Show Brigade. PCDA identifies a tradeshow that can benefit several companies in Ponca City. Then staff reaches out to see if there is interest from those companies in the tradeshow. Staff is tickled to announce a group of Ponca City companies will be attending a government contracting show, ICBS, October 22-25 in Oklahoma City at Metro Technology Center.

Bowers Trucking, My Media Matters and Redlands Office Supply are all certified to contract with government entities including local, state, federal and Tribal. Schatz Publishing, whose business is based on government contracting in Blackwell, will also be hanging out with the PC Crew. This is a great turnout for a new Trade Show Brigade. If your company has a trade show that fits with any of the target industries here in Ponca City, reach out to our office and let's chat. Target industries include: food and agriculture manufacturing, contract manufacturing, energy, back office (including government contracting) and distribution. Special thanks to Dawn Brakey, the local government contracting APEX guru at Pioneer Technology Center Business Services for brainstorming this opportunity into existence.

A special congratulations to Winterrowd Talley Architects for their American Institute of Architects Peoples Choice Award on the Keller Williams famous barn rebuild. If you took a few minutes and voted for this project, good job. Supporting our local businesses for these types of recognitions strengthens the Ponca City reputation. And if you haven't taken a tour of the Keller Williams location on Lake Road, get over there. It is magnificent!

PCDA hosts Girl Power! Camp every summer for the last eight years. Occasionally, one of the campers shares their experience with staff. Thanks Ava!

Ava O’Neill

Girl Power Camper and Teen Counselor

When I was in eighth grade in 2021, my mom asked me if I wanted to go to Girl Power camp, I said, “What’s Girl Power?” I’d never heard of Girl Power. I ended up going with my two best friends and I loved the weeklong camp so much! I learned about the S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Manufacturing) community here in Ponca City, and what STEAM has to offer, especially all the jobs available to women.



Two years later in 2023, I was asked to come back as a Teen counselor for Girl Power! Camp hosted for seventh and eighth grade girls at City Central. And I learned even more when I came back! The campers and counselors went on so many tours to all the manufacturing places in town and hung out all day at Phillips66 with the engineers and support staff. During the tours, the campers and I heard from women working in STEAM areas. So many questions were asked and answered, and it was all around a great experience.

Ponca Works has touched on a few barriers to employment over the past weeks, and today’s board meeting was no exception to that train of thought. The number one concern plaguing PCDA trustees is available housing, or lack thereof. There are several multi-family housing units under renovation, including the Pioneer Place Apartments, a small building of units on South Pine St, The Wilbanks Apartments, and a new construction project of affordable houses and town houses for rent being built on Fifth and Bradley.

These rehabs and new construction projects will start to put a dent in the current market housing needs, but much more is necessary to match the demand. To attract population, and primarily more workforce, a solution(s) to lack of housing will be pivotal. Anecdotal stories are sometimes as powerful as hard data.

If you have information that will help share the housing needs of Ponca City, please share with us! 580-765-7070 or [email protected]

PCDA is a member of several local and national economic development organizations: Select Oklahoma and IEDC are the main ones. Staff attended Select Oklahoma's conference two weeks ago and next week is the IEDC's Annual Conference in Dallas. Yay for close proximity conferences. Staff will hobnob with eight to nine hundred of our closest economic development brethren (and a host of vendors who flock to these types of things). We like the vendors too. They have access to information, data and processes that make our jobs more efficient.

One of the programs that staff will be attending is the Accredited Economic Development Organization meeting. PCDA was the first office to be accredited with this program in Oklahoma back in 2008-09. This is year is another accreditation year for us, so be on the lookout for our brag box to be in full view for the last three years. And of course we will share. Staff is very proud of our award wall and you should be as well.

The second quarter Cost of Living numbers have been released and Ponca City is still in the top 10 in the United States for lowest cost of living. And it isn't some unbelievable low number at 82.7% of the national average of 100; But compared to the absurdly high cost of living in San Jose, CA of 174.9 percent, we are doing pretty well here in Ponca City.

Oklahoma ranks #3 in Wind Power and #7 in Film & Television Production on the 2023 Business Facilities' State Rankings Report . The rankings help site selection professionals evaluate locations for their corporate expansion and relocation projects. Texas was #1 in Wind Power and Georgia was #1 in Film & Television.

The workforce participation rate from a national level is leveling out, and even increasing from pre-pandemic numbers. Women are participating on a national scale slightly more than before the pandemic. Locally, Ponca City and the Midwest in general, takes longer to catch up, but there is and will continue to be a roadblock to the working mother's participation. Childcare. 

Availability of care is a huge issue; and might be that next big thing. Finding childcare for a child less than one year old in the Kay County region is slim pickings, and even when you do there will be a significant waiting list. For older children, it is the same - long wait lists and unknown situations. Another huge issue is the cost of childcare. The federal government has been backfilling funding for the last several years, but this will end within the next several months. Creating a safe environment that meets the State standards costs significantly more than the market can afford. DHS subsidy is offered only to those who make very little and isn't an option when you're working many of the blue-collar jobs that make up the Ponca City's manufacturing industry demographics. Don't get us wrong: higher wages are always encouraged from PCDA. However, it becomes a barrier when both spouses work and must also afford childcare. While many minds are working on these issues locally, we will leave you with this link to a Facebook group that offers openings to make day care options when you're in the market: North Central OK Licensed Childcare Openings.

1 Million Cups was packed at its new location within the newly rehabbed Pioneer Technology Center. The cafeteria area with its comfortable and relaxed seating area, served as a great location for this back from summer 1MC presentation from Jessica Fields of SWG (Stolhand Wells Group). She gave the business story of Stolhand to Stolhand Wells to SWG and updated the group on the ETA of the renovation of the bowling alley on Lake Road. This renovated space will bring all the SWG moving parts of plumbing, HVAC, electric and bottled water into one location.

This is a great small business story, and congratulations to this local company with 117 full time employees. But don't take our word on it. The full presentation can be seen on Facebook. Just click here. Next 1MC is Wednesday, October 4th with Trailer Butler presenting their business story.

The second quarter Cost of Living numbers have been released and Ponca City is still in the top 10 in the United States for lowest cost of living. And it isn't some unbelievable low number at 82.7% of the national average of 100; But compared to the absurdly high cost of living in San Jose, CA of 174.9 percent, we are doing pretty well here in Ponca City.

Oklahoma ranks #3 in Wind Power and #7 in Film & Television Production on the 2023 Business Facilities' State Rankings Report . The rankings help site selection professionals evaluate locations for their corporate expansion and relocation projects. Texas was #1 in Wind Power and Georgia was #1 in Film & Television.