via Greater North Dakota Chamber

GNDC sat down with North Dakota Department of Commerce‘s Deputy Commission Shawn Kessel. The Department of Commerce serves as the leading agency for the Main Street Initiative(MSI), which is one of Governor Burgum’s five strategic initiatives.
 
GNDC: What is the Main Street Initiative?
Deputy Commissioner Kessel: It is an initiative with workforce, economic development and quality of life features, rolling them up for communities to recognize their unique qualities and attract residents. There are three pillars: twenty-first century workforce, smart, efficient infrastructure, and healthy, vibrant communities. It’s the marriage of the three working together to build communities effectively.
 
What does the initiative mean or do for business?
One hurdle to any business is workforce. There are more job openings than there are people nationally available to fill them. In North Dakota, there is 30,000-40,000 open jobs. One of our biggest challenges is trying to find people to fill those jobs. With the Main Street’s focus on finding uniqueness, it marries the recognition between workforce need and what the workforce is looking for by accentuating positives in the community…