Enterprise Dispatch

Serving the communities of Dassel, Cokato, Darwin, MN, and the surrounding area

Dassel City Council hears expansion opportunities


Southwest Initiative Foundation vice president Scott Marquardt alerted the city council to a variety of funding options for economic and social growth during last Monday’s council meeting.

Southwest Initiative Foundation vice president Scott Marquardt alerted the city council to a variety of funding options for economic and social growth during last Monday’s council meeting.

DASSEL, MN – Dassel residents and business owners are about to be bombarded by opportunities.

Scott Marquardt, vice president of the Southwest Initiative Foundation, spent an hour with the council prior to its regular meeting last Monday. In that time, he presented a myriad of ways his organization could help or start area businesses.

The Southwest Initiative Foundation was started in the 1980s by the McKnight Foundation to provide financial resources and creative leadership for businesses or start-ups of all sizes.

Marquardt detailed the following options, all available for use in Dassel.

• The Business Finance Program, which offers loans up to $200,000. This program is designed to help for-profit businesses create or retain jobs that provide a livable wage, with benefits, generate new wealth for the region, and diversify the economy.

• The Microenterprise Loan Program, which offers loans up to $50,000 for start-ups or existing businesses. Funds may be used for start-up expenses, equipment, industry, inventory, furnishings and fixtures, working capital or real estate.

• The Bright Beginnings Loan Program, which offers loans up to $15,000 to equip quality child care providers. Marquardt noted that finding quality child care is one of the biggest challenges for people in southwest Minnesota.

• The Encore Entrepreneurship program, which is dedicated to helping people age 55 and older who want to check out business or self-employment opportunities.

To summarize, Marquardt urged city representatives to be in contact with him, and to consider what Dassel’s economic development message should be. “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not around,” Marquardt commented. “Why is Dassel a place you can have a good life?

The council adjourned the special session, and moved forward to its regular meeting.

Marvel Erickson, representing Discover Dassel, approached the council for permission to expand several gardening projects.

Read what she proposed, along with other items on the council agenda in the March 27 edition of the Enterprise Dispatch. Click here to subscribe to the print or online edition.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.