GROW SD in the News

GROW South Dakota Highlights NeighborWorks Week

Monday, June 08, 2020

During NeighborWorks Week, June 6-13, GROW South Dakota and other NeighborWorks organizations across the country will host several events that educate, train and inform. GROW South Dakota will provide a virtual platform this year to bring awareness about the programs we have to offer including home ownership options and economic development. Other activities this week include a Regional Economic Roundtable for economic development leaders to come together to provide development opportunities and solutions, and GROW SD will host a QuickBooks online tutorial. "NeighborWorks America provides a very impactful role in partnering with non-profits across the country. NWA, along with its man...

Making your Home Ownership Dream a Reality

Monday, June 08, 2020

Have you always dreamed of owning your own home? Does the process seem overwhelming, and you’re just not sure where, or how to start? GROW South Dakota is here to help make that dream a reality. GROW South Dakota is a HUD approved Housing Counseling Agency and Homeownership Education Resource Organization (HERO). With our team of trained, HUD certified counselors, we are here every step of the way to ensure you have the tools, knowledge and education needed to become a successful homeowner. Each counseling session is tailored to fit the individual needs of each client. In addition to home ownership counseling...

A Life Changing Event

Monday, May 18, 2020

“Because of this program, I no longer have to worry about C02 poisoning. I have adequate heat and no wind blowing through the windows and doors. For the first time, I don’t have to walk to the outhouse and worry about falling. I’m able to take a shower without going to someone else’s house. To say what I have received from the program has been life-changing would be a complete understatement.” In 2018 GROW South Dakota’s weatherization team received a call from Ruth, a senior resident, in need of assistance with heating her house. When the weatherization team went t...

Dakota Butcher - 2020 SBA Entrepreneur of the Year

Monday, May 04, 2020

Seeing a business close their doors in a small town is always difficult. When the Clark meat shop closed in 2008, Randy Gruenwald decided he wasn’t going to stand by and watch it happen. His professional experience was an excellent fit to revive the business. He worked 15 years as a meat department manager for Nash Finch. Then Randy worked as a banker before he purchased the butcher shop. Karen, Randy’s wife and business partner, worked for the previous meat shop owners and brings exceptional customer service skills and experience to their ownership team. Able to capitalize on their professiona...

GROW SD Supports Statewide Homeless Count

Monday, January 27, 2020

For the fourth year, GROW South Dakota will help the South Dakota Housing Development Authority with the statewide homeless count, along with the other Community Action Agencies in the state. The Department of Housing and Urban Development requires states to complete the count in order to determine the level of the challenge of homelessness and to direct resources for addressing it. The count will be conducted on Jan. 28, 2020. GROW SD enlists volunteers from each of the 17 NESDCAP counties to help conduct the count. There are basically two aspects of the count: Sheltered and unsheltered. Sheltered: Homeless shelters repor...

Winners Announced for BIG Idea Competition

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

For more information, contact: Kelly Weaver at (605) 626-2565 (December 11, 2019, Aberdeen, SD) The 2019 BIG Idea Competition was a BIG success with 276 entries involving over 389 students from 29 schools. The event wrapped up Wednesday, December 11th, on the campus of Northern State University (NSU) and the winners were determined from among the eight final entries with over $30,000 in cash and scholarships awarded. Korbin Leddy of Milbank High School took first place with Korbin’s Steak Express which aims to sell convenient meat grill packs to customers, such as active camping families for example. His prizes include a $1,000 cas...

Cross County Vet Does It All

Tuesday, November 05, 2019

Nicole Nelson has owned and operated the Cross Country Vet Clinic in Clark, SD since 2004. She is well established and has a great reputation in Clark and the surrounding area. Cross Country Vet Clinic does everything from grooming small animals to medical services and surgeries, all the way up to large animal services. Over the past 15 years Nicole and GROW SD have had a great lender and borrower relationship. Nicole has used GROW SD and many of its funding program to help start, maintain, and expand her veterinary clinic. In 2004 she used GROW SD’s Intermediary Relending Program (IRP...

Help and Healing

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Virginia Maas is no stranger to hard work. As a single parent, she worked an average of seventy hours a week while raising her son. She built her own home and worked hard to keep it in good condition over the years. Virginia took great pride in her work and raising her family. Then tragedy struck. Virginia was diagnosed with cancer. No longer being able to work, Virginia’s attitude toward life changed. Things she used to take for granted, like being able to fix just about anything when it broke, now became nearly impossible for her. She was forced to retir...

Weatherization Day to be celebrated on October 30

Monday, October 07, 2019

Each year, October 30 is recognized as Weatherization Day. This day highlights the fact that low-income households spend a disproportionate percentage of their annual incomes on home energy bills. Weatherization provides cost-effective, permanent solutions for reducing the heavy energy burden these families endure. The US Department of Energy has supported weatherization of more than 7 million homes across the nation since 1976. Weatherization programs focus on upgrades to mechanical and electrical systems, health and safety measures, and building shell issues. These services not only save energy through advanced technologies to improve energy affordability for low-income families, but they also save live...

Grant Received to Support Veteran Home Improvement

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

GROW South Dakota has received a grant from the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) to support home improvements for low-income veterans in northeastern South Dakota. The $30,000 grant was made possible through generous support from The Home Depot Foundation and will allow GROW SD to make improvements to six homes. GROW SD has renovated and weatherized more than 9,300 homes in eastern South Dakota over the past four decades. In recent years, it has added a special focus on veteran households, with a goal of helping veterans make their homes safer, healthier, and more energy efficient. Through this program, dozens of Sout...

BIG IDEA COMPETITION OFFERS NEW AWARDS FOR 2019

Monday, August 12, 2019

by Kelly Weaver, Small Business Development Center Regional Director Youth! Entrepreneurship! Cash! Scholarships! These are the key ingredients in the 2019 BIG Idea Competition launching on September 1. High school students across South Dakota are invited to compete in this business idea competition where over $25,000 in cash and scholarships are awarded. Students will be able to submit their business idea applications online from September 1 until October 31, 2019. The online application as well as various resources and examples can be accessed at the BIG Idea website: www.BIGIdeaSD.com. For the optional marketing design competition, students can create an ad to suppor...

GROW SD Creates Homeowners

Thursday, July 18, 2019

GROW SD has been creating homeowners for over 50 years through a variety of services, such as pre-purchase counseling, homebuyer education, down payment assistance and direct mortgage lending. Many of our services are across the state of South Dakota. Our housing team has over 80 years of experience. GROW SD’s pre-purchase counseling and homebuyer education go hand-in-hand. Pre-purchase counseling offers a personalized approach to discussing the entire homeownership process with the customer; including setting up a personalized budget, debt and credit review, as well as reviewing financial products from various lenders. Homebuyer education covers the process for becoming a homeowner; fro...

GROW SD Receives Wells Fargo Grant for Homebuyer Education

Thursday, July 18, 2019

The Northeast South Dakota Community Action Program dba GROW South Dakota recently received a $7,500 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation’s Homeownership Counseling Grant Program to support homebuyer education and counseling. The Wells Fargo Foundation has been a longtime supporter of the GROW SD homebuyer education program. The grant will serve more than 125 participants who will receive homeownership counseling and financial education, which will help them to improve their credit scores, reduce personal debt and build their savings to reach the dream of buying a home. Participants will also learn how to build assets, access mainstream financial services, and gai...

Loans Available to New & Existing Businesses

Thursday, July 18, 2019

GROW South Dakota, (GROW SD) finances business development across the state of South Dakota. Business loans can be financed directly or in partnership with other local lenders. Partnerships with other lenders have proven to be a useful tool for economic development in the region. Lori Finnesand, GROW SD CEO, states, “GROW SD has funds available to lend to start-up or existing businesses. We can make smaller loans to individual businesses or partner with local banks on larger projects.” Loan funds may be used to purchase real estate, equipment, inventory, and/or working capital. Loan amounts typically range from $500 - $250,000. The amoun...

The Farmer’s Wife Boutique Thrives Amidst Challenges

Monday, April 01, 2019

Samantha Miller, owner of the Farmer’s Wife Boutique in Aberdeen, recently received the Small Business Administration’s 2019 Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year Award for South Dakota. The SBA presented the Award during the recent Women’s Business Conference in Aberdeen. Samantha started her career in healthcare, but when she was expecting her daughter, she became passionate about being a stay-at-home mother, so she looked at other options. With encouragement from family and friends, she started a women's lifestyle boutique offering clothing, shoes, purses, jewelry, accessories, and unique gifts. She launched The Farmer's Wife Boutique on Facebook in 2014 from her hom...

BIG IDEA COMPETITION LAUNCHES STATEWIDE

Thursday, October 04, 2018

Youth! Entrepreneurship! Cash! Scholarships! These are the key ingredients in the 2018 BIG Idea Competition, which launched on September 1. High school students across South Dakota are invited to compete in this business idea competition where winners will receive over $5,500 in cash awards and scholarships. Students may work individually or as a team and will be able to submit their business idea applications online until October 31, 2018. The online application as well as various resources and examples can be accessed at the BIG Idea website: www.BIGIdeaSD.com. For the optional marketing design competition, which carries a $500 cash prize, students will creat...

GROW SD Receives Over $1.4 Million in CDFI Funding

Thursday, October 04, 2018

GROW South Dakota was recently awarded $1.45 million from the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). GROW South Dakota and the Northeast South Dakota Economic Corporation (NESDEC), both of which are certified CDFIs, received the awards, which will expand their small business and first mortgage housing lending programs. The announcement came in September. GROW South Dakota received a grant of $950,000 in CDFI Financial Assistance funds, which will support its direct lending program for housing mortgages. Of the total, $250,000 will be directed to focus on South Dakota counties identified by the CDFI Fund as areas of persistent poverty. NESDE...

GROW SD to Celebrate Weatherization Day

Thursday, October 04, 2018

BIG Idea Competition Opens September 1

Wednesday, August 08, 2018

by Kelly Weaver, Small Business Development Center Regional Director Entrepreneurship - taking initiative and risk in a business venture - is one key to supporting our rural economies The BIG Idea Competition, entering its eleventh year, seeks to promote entrepreneurship, spur creative thinking, and encourage students to start a business. The BIG Idea Competition is a free business idea competition for high school students. Students submit a written description of their business idea and compete for over $5,500 in cash awards and scholarships. There is also an optional Marketing Design award where students create an ad to support their business idea. Additiona...

GROW SD Grant Supports Faulkton Elevator Mural

Monday, July 09, 2018

GROW South Dakota has received a grant that will support a unique mural going up in Faulkton this summer. Australian artist Guido van Helten, who has created large murals on public buildings around the world, will be painting images representative of the people of the Faulkton area on the grain elevator there. GROW SD received a grant from a Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) program meant to support arts and culture projects that help drive economic development. Van Helten was recruited to Faulkton to paint the Agtegra elevator in order to create a one-of-a-kind South Dakota artwork in the tow...

Unique Board Structure Guides GROW South Dakota

Monday, July 09, 2018

GROW South Dakota is not a typical nonprofit organization. Governing an affiliation of three separate, independent nonprofits with complementary missions and shared staff can be a challenge, but the boards of directors of the three agencies are up to the task. Each organization has its own board of directors. NESDCAP, founded as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, has a 15-member board, divided into groups serving from three sets of counties in the 17-county service area. By law, board members must represent low-income, private, or public official constituencies. NESDEC also has a 15-member board representing its 22-county service area...

BIG Idea Competition Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Special Speaker and Entrepreneurship Survey

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

The BIG Idea Competition—the business idea contest for South Dakota high school students—is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2017 with a few new wrinkles. The basics of the competition remain the same as they have since its founding in 2007. High school students are invited to work individually or in small teams to produce a description of a business idea and enter it at www.bigideasd.com by October 31. After judging by hundreds of volunteers statewide, the top eight finalists will present their ideas at a final event on December 7 in Aberdeen. Winners receive cash prizes and scholarships from Norther...

GROW SD in the News

A Half-Century of Serving South Dakotans