Tester announces $250,000 to boost economic development in rural Montana

Six grants will serve 22 Montana counties

(BIG SANDY, Mont.)  U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced that 22 Montana counties, one town, and a reservation will receive $252,777 to strengthen local economic development projects.  

The grants will be used to develop a plan to spur economic development and to create more jobs. 

The following six development organizations are receiving grants:

• $64,840 – Snowy Mountain Development Corporation, serving Fergus, Golden Valley, Judith Basin, Musselshell, Petroleum, and Wheatland Counties.
• $50,000 – Gateway Economic Development District, serving Broadwater, Lewis and Clark, and Meagher Counties. 
• $50,447 – Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, serving most of Glacier County and a portion of Pondera County. 
• $2,650 – Bear Paw Development Corporation of Northern Montana, serving Blaine, Chouteau, Hill, Liberty, and Phillips Counties
• $20,000 – City of Shelby, to determine what capital improvements to water, sewer, and street systems that the City of Shelby needs to foster regional economic development. 
• $64,840 – Great Northern Development Corporation serving Daniels, Garfield, McCone, Roosevelt, Sheridan, and Valley Counties.

“These grants will strengthen Montana’s economy and they will create good-paying jobs so folks can afford to stay here to live, work and raise their families," said Tester, a member of the influential Senate Appropriations and Indian Affairs Committees. “Max and I work in the Senate to support this funding because these grants are an investment in the future of Big Sky Country.”

The grants will come to Montana from the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration.