‘Dream Big Grow Here' receives Mid-American EDC economic development award

posted on Monday, December 10, 2012 in Blog

‘Dream Big Grow Here’ receives MAEDC economic development award

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — The University of Northern Iowa’s Dream Big Grow Here program received first place in the Mid-America Economic Development Council’s 2012 annual Economic Development Awards’ online marketing category in the small market division.

Dream Big Grow Here was started by the UNI Regional Business Center through MyEntre.Net, Iowa’s online community for Iowa entrepreneurs and small business. The contest is a way to award grants to deserving small businesses and entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses in Iowa. In 2012, hundreds of Iowa companies from nearly 60 different communities competed in one of 10 regional Dream Big Grow Here contests for $5,000. The regional award winners then compete for a $10,000 grand prize.

The Mid-America Economic Development Council is dedicated to enhancing economic developers’ knowledge, capabilities and opportunities through multi-state networking, education and site selector interaction. For many years, it has sponsored the annual Economic Development Awards competition to recognize and stimulate the creative use of quality marketing by economic development organizations throughout the 10-state Mid-America region in promoting their respective communities. MAEDC’s awards partner is Site Selection magazine, and all first-place winners will be highlighted in an ad in the January issue of Site Selection magazine.

For more information about MAEDC, please visit www.maedc.net.

The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance, in partnership with UNI’s Small Business Incubator and Regional Partners, hosted the 2012 and 2013 Cedar Valley Dream Big Grow Here contests. More information can be found at http://cedarvalleyalliance.com/cms/238/Cedar_Valley_Innovation_Day.