July 9, 2021

Forward Together: Ponca City Development Authority

ARE WE THERE YET?....A lot of us want the pandemic to be over, and the news has been full of stories telling us it is not. PCDA will leave the health stuff to health experts but we can tell you that the economic impacts of the pandemic are a long, long way from being over. The pandemic was to the economy what peanut butter is to your fingers. Hard to remove. The changes wrought, from workforce to supply chain issues to government response have a long way to go before we can fully feel their impacts. From Ponca City’s perspective, we’ve done well, particularly relative to the rest of the nation and super duper well relative to most of the world. Nevertheless, there will be changes to supply chains which we have not yet felt, and economic outcomes such as inflation, housing pressures, monetary policy, even the lack of computer chips for new cars that will take a long time to play out.  You may have noticed a new look to this week's Update. We hope you enjoy and will invite people to sign up for the newsletter. GoPonca.com has received a facelift as well. Go check it out! Century Livestock Products is making improvements on their new home at the former D&M building in the Airport Industrial Park. When completed, this dirt work will become a lay down area for finished products waiting for shipment out of Ponca City. Welcome to the AIP! MAKING GOO GOO EYES…at companies is something PCDA likes to do. Last week, we had one such company in town touring the hangar to determine if it would work for them. You may know that Archien Aerospace was a victim of the pandemic as airlines no longer needed to refurbish older 737s since they no longer needed many older 737s. The folks last week work on similar airplanes. While PCDA was making goo goo eyes at them, they were making goo goo eyes at the new runway. They left saying that they needed to figure out if they could reconfigure their current businesses (they have four different locations so far) to fit. Selecting a location is not just about the right building (check…got that), not just about the right deal (check…got that too) and not just about the having the right workforce (did we mention we have the right building and deal?), it’s about how their own internal supply chain works. It may sound elementary but shifting where a company gets their supplies and where they ship products is like a modern day rubiks cube (older folks…please explain to younger folks). Takes time, takes patience, and takes more than goo goo eyes. Bliss Industries is moving and grooving this week. Did you know this company has a testing lab which hosts some pretty big names in the food industry for testing products on hammer and pellet mills? Staff really can't name names; client confidentiality and all that. But you would definitely recognize the companies. This week, Bliss was also getting some pellet mills (look left) ready for shipping to their forever homes. Outside Ponca City. In another state. What was that? Oh, that was the loud cheer from our PC economy for primary industry doing a fantastic job! #MadeinPoncaCity #economicdrivers DXDT was last Friday at Central Fare. Great crowd, great music and wonderful people! Newcomers to the event were pleased with the kid friendly activities, the cash bar and the food trucks! Thanks to Astoria Blvd for running the bar, Montana Tacos and Dapper Dog for all the eats and treats. Next Down By DownTown is Friday, August 6, 6 to 9 pm. See you DXDT! Check out this video of the event here! Thank you Theresa Sacket for the video. Ready for a little B on the B? Next Tuesday, July 13 mark your calendar to drop by City Central on the Balcony for a little breakfast and a whole lot of networking. Have an 8 am meeting? Great, swing by at 7:30 for a cup of coffee and some great conversation to get your day started. Better yet, have a meeting at City Central in The Link after you invite your meet to Business on the Balcony. We always have room for one more! Second Floor Suite #200 @ City Central 400 E. Central Ave. There are jobs for the asking! This week in City Central there was a job fair for Kaw Nation,and interviews for Starbucks. Ponca Works posted 29 jobs last month, with 686 people applying.  In Kay County right now there are 2,252 unique job postings. Express Employment Professionals hosted a job fair with a bouncy house, refreshments and welcomed children.  It’s a collective dinner bell ringing, come and get them jobs! Only about 10,000 for Oklahoma’s Back to Work Incentive, so there are about half of incentives left for the taking! Check out more information here, along with Ponca Work’s job postings. https://www.goponca.com/-work.html   If you have a job to post – email a job description to [email protected]. Friday, July 9 // Ponca City Airport Runway Dedication // 10:00 am Join Oklahoma Aeronautics, The PC Chamber and State Leaders as the Ponca City Runway is officially dedicated. PCDA Hangar is the place to be Friday morning. July 9-11 & 16-18 // SHREK! The Musical // Poncan Theatre Get your tickets now at the Poncan Theatre and bring the kids to Shrek! presented by the Evans Academy. You will not want to miss this production! Wednesday, July 14 // CyberSecurity Lunch & Learn //City Central 11:20 to 1 pm sponsored by OSU, Pioneer Tech and PCDA. Sign up with Dawn Brakey at PTech by emailing [email protected]. Lunch is provided. Wednesday, July 28 // Be Prepared to Meet Your Gov't Customer // 11 to1 pm Pioneer Tech, Room D123 July 29-31 // Crazy Days Downtown // Thursday-Saturday Street Party Friday, July 30th at the Vet Plaza - 5 pm Rental Property - Available Listings Visit our website ‌ ‌ ‌