News in Carroll

For years, U.S. companies have lamented the difficulties in finding qualified employees to fill their positions. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened that situation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9.5 million Americans were unemployed in June and looking for work, with an equal number of job openings across the country...Continue Reading

Most businesses have not escaped supply chain challenges over the previous 12 months. When everyone expected COVID-19 to slow demand, it accelerated demand to a point where supply chains were stretched to their limits. But it not just COVID — the winter storm of 2021 reduced Texas’ capacity to refin...Continue Reading

Bloomfield, Iowa, lacks the advantages some small Iowa towns have. It is not on the interstate highway system or a major airport. But Bloomfield, Davis County’s seat in southern Iowa 11 miles from Iowa’s border with Missouri, grew its population from 2,640 in 2010 to 2,682 in 2020, new U.S. censu...Continue Reading

IowaWatch asked leaders in several rural Iowa towns for ways those communities could be vital. Jobs are a given, although those interviewed said having jobs, alone, does not guarantee vitality if other dynamics are not present in town. Have a happy community, growth and community involvement, Sara Slater, Audubon County economi...Continue Reading

Retail Coach recently released their COVID-19 Recovery Data for Carroll County showing an impressive come back for the rural community. Specifically, this data runs from June of 2019 to June of 2021 to be able to compare numbers from pre-COVID to post-COVID. For Carroll County, those numbers show to b...Continue Reading

Region XII Council of Governments was able to utilize $1.84 million in revolving loan funds through the Economic Development Authorities CARES Act Recovery Assistance. This money was distributed as loans throughout the six-county service area of Carroll, Audubon, Crawford, Greene, Guthrie and Sac Counties. The money was used to assis...Continue Reading

As Coon Rapids Hardware Hank wraps up their transition into their new building at 615 Main Street, the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) announced that they have awarded the City of Coon Rapids a $100,000 Community Catalyst Building Remediation grant to renovate the now vacant hardware building at 517 Mai...Continue Reading

While personal interactions were still limited and virtual meetings the norm, Region XII Council of Governments and the Small Business Development Center partnered in the production of a series of webinars. These nine presentations were distributed individually throughout early 2021 and offered subject matter to aid small businesses with plannin...Continue Reading

As a business mentor, marketer, writer and storyteller, along with a successful stint as an entrepreneur, I get asked this question many times: “Can you share the most important mantras for becoming a successful first-time entrepreneur?” Here are my half-dozen tips for building a successful new business:  1. Timing is everything Many people think that money and a good idea are all it take...Continue Reading

On Wednesday, Landus Cooperative unveiled their newest initiative, called the Innovation Center, which creates unique strategic partnerships and collaboration opportunities between farmer-owners and leaders. According to President and CEO, Matt Carstens, the goal of the center is to drive a more sustainable and profitable future for farming. Carstens says the ide...Continue Reading

The Retail Coach collaboration with the City of Carroll and the Carroll Economic Development Corporation (CADC) has generated data pointing to a positive outlook for the retail future of the community. The Coach, Austin Farmer, says visitors to Carroll come from as far away as Lincoln, Neb. and the Iow...Continue Reading

Sites and areas that offer models for sustainable economic growth are prime locations. Business leaders and entrepreneurs are consistently seeking these locations that will provide the greatest chance of delivering success. Whether involved in a startup, relocation or expansion, Carroll County offers that opportunity in Iowa, with assistance from ke...Continue Reading

Economic growth is the core of a community’s vitality. The ability of businesses to operate and flourish offers jobs for residents, increases financial opportunities and improves the overall quality of life in an area. But starting and running a business is a challenging endeavor. From the established company to th...Continue Reading

Living in Carroll County offers a healthy advantage compared to most areas across the country. The cost to live in the area is much more favorable compared to most of the country. The total monthly spending for a typical family with school-age children in Carroll County is just over $6,000...Continue Reading

The best, most vibrant regional economies are always those with the greatest amount of diversity. Carroll County is an excellent example, with a wide range of sector diversity among its largest employers. Such diversity has made Carroll County a resilient economic region and somewhat of a safe harbor for businesse...Continue Reading

In today’s economic environment, every business can benefit from some sort of financial assistance. Whether it is available loans or financial literacy training, the CADC website is an excellent resource to find what your business needs. Revolving loan funds for businesses investing in the local area can be obtained throug...Continue Reading

In a time of widespread economic upheaval, the life sciences industry is one of the few whose prospects have changed for the better. Called upon to rapidly develop and distribute an all-important COVID-19 vaccine without sacrificing the research and production of existing drugs, the biotech industry is expanding at breaknec...Continue Reading

Chipotle can TikTok with the best of them, by corporate standards anyway.  It’s amassed 1.8 million followers—almost as many as rivals McDonald’s (1.1 million) and Taco Bell (861,700) combined—by embracing the kind of snappy, freewheeling content the platform’s young users crave. But between posting videos of teens dancing to song...Continue Reading

Sure, it's the industry's leading corporate site selection data tool but ZoomProspector is also so much more. Did you know it's also a compelling open access community data tool? A business intelligence portal to support your small and medium-sized businesses? A source of inexhaustible content for your digital marketing mix...Continue Reading

Landus, a farmer-owned cooperative, and Mid State Milling Inc, an independent feed mill operator, announced on May 11 a collaboration agreement. Mid State Milling is the first feed and third company overall to join the Landus optimization model within the span of one month. “The diversity of the first three businesse...Continue Reading

Interested in starting your own business but you don’t know where to start? Carroll County has many resources available to help entrepreneurs start their own business and CADC can help you find them today!  Organizations like the North Central Iowa Small Business Development Center, Iowa Area Development Group and Iowa Economi...Continue Reading

Covid-19 has accelerated the digital transformation of industries across the board, and economic development is no exception. We're all doing things we never thought we could do only 14 months ago. Virtual events? Virtual tours? Interactive online walkthroughs? These are our new normal. The economic developers that weathered these challenge...Continue Reading

The U.S. is slowly but surely recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and more and more businesses are reopening as restrictions are gradually eased. As a result, the unemployment rate has dropped to 6% from its high of 14.7% in April 2020. The country’s progress toward economic recovery has been largely possibl...Continue Reading

 The Cost of Living in Carroll County is much more favorable than the national average. Those interested in moving to Carroll County can utilize a comparison tool on the CADC website to understand the Cost of Living differences between their hometown and Carroll County. For example, the total monthly expected spendin...Continue Reading