Black Hills Vision president Mike Derby, and Executive Director Mark Merchen have been hosting meetings throughout the Black Hills to update community members on progress in their venture to establish an "opportunity environment" for technologically based businesses and facilities nationwide. The organization, which started in 2002 as a fundraising campaign for economic development throughout the Black Hills has since raised $3 million to fulfill their mission of creating an environment that attracts high-paying, technology based companies to the area. The money was acquired from 114 investors, including Black Hills communities and counties, the governor, and leading banks, utilities and businesses in the area.
"The money people have put into Black Hills Vision was not a donation," Merchen said. "It was an investment."
According to the Black Hills Vision Web site, the group's vision is to create 7,500 new jobs throughout the Hills, $750 million in new capital investment, 15 new technology based businesses, assistance for home ownership for 400 low income families, and a 20 percent increase in air traffic. In order to do that, Merchen said the group has five areas of focus, which include: creating and retaining jobs at Ellsworth Air Force Base, increasing the Black Hills air market for tourist and business travelers through the air service task force, helping to establish and operate a business incubator at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology campus, creating a technology corridor opportunity environment, and promoting affordable housing in the Black Hills area.
Since their inception, Merchen said Black Hills Vision has spent about $200,000 on developing a plan for ways to incorporate existing technological assets in the Black Hills with future economic development. The organization charged a division of Battelle Memorial Institute, based in Columbus, Ohio with developing the "road map" that the organization would use as a guideline for future projects. Battelle, a non-profit organization that was responsible for developing Xerox technology and which manages more than $3 billion in research and development nationwide, is creating that report for Black Hills Vision. The report includes the Black Hills' capabilities to bring high-tech jobs to the region, and even highlights ways communities can capitalize on such natural minerals as bentonite and mica, to attract technology based economic development.
According to nationwide reports and indexes, the Black Hills' capability to handle high-technology is quite good, a fact which brought forth another significant development for Black Hills Vision and the state this year.
This year the Black Hills was chosen for a Rural Pilot Project for N2TEC, an organization dedicated to effectively networking innovators, entrepreneurs, and communities to develop technology-based businesses in rural communities. In order to be chosen for the pilot project, the Black Hills rated high in the High Performance Community Index. The index measures a community or region's ability to be fast, flexible, focused, networked, customized and global. The pilot project is being lead by Dr. Mel Ustad, the director of technology and commercialization for the state, and could be expanded to other parts of the nation after the Black Hills test is concluded in 2006.
In addition to helping facilitate N2TEC, Black Hills Vision has also been involved in many other community efforts over the last year. Some of the major contributions have included donating $300,000 for the Ellsworth Task Force's work to get the base off the closure list, and allocating $1.15 million toward marketing the Black Hills to the National Science Foundation for lab development at the Homestake Mine. The group has also invested $48,000 in training professors and businesses in the area to effectively work with Boeing and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Polymer Laboratory. The Polymer Laboratory works with developing products made from plastics.
Additionally, Merchen said Black Hills Vision has also been working with governmental leaders from Pennington and Meade Counties, Rapid City, Box Elder, Gov. Mike Rounds, and the congressional delegation to find ways to further diversify the local economy so residents are less dependent on Ellsworth Air Force Base, the second largest employer in the state.
Overall, Merchen explained that the ultimate goal of the organization is to effectively market the entire Black Hills region to increase economic development. "(We have begun) to see and believe that what will be good for one Black Hills community will be good for all of us," he said.
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