June 2016 Issue

Bringing the Farm to Work: CSA program delivers fresh veggies to employees

By Ross Boissoneau

Restaurants are publicizing their farm to table offerings on menus. The organic sections at grocery stores are growing. Agritourism is booming. And another hallmark of the burgeoning interest in fresh, healthy food is people’s support of CSAs.

A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) directly links local growers with potential customers. Interested parties sign up for a share of a CSA farm’s harvest during the growing season, paying in advance. Each week the members receive a box of items from the farm, which differs each week, depending on what is available.

That’s all well and good, but coordinating the process can be …

The Math of Endowments: Using philanthropy to Invest in the future

Last fall, I had occasion to speak with a local reporter about the Community Foundation and our endowments. Several times I spoke about the forever impact of endowment, that we would be benefiting generations to come, the perpetuity of the giving that created the endowment. Eventually – well into our conversation – the reporter stopped me and said something to the effect of – “you say ‘forever,’ but that’s just hyperbole, right?”

Wrong.

The math …

Financing 'Good Food': Loan fund targets food- and farm-related businesses

By Lynn Geiger

Are you a good food entrepreneur? Are you in need of business financing that specifically targets your mission of providing healthy food to Michiganders? Good news – now there's a loan for that.

The Michigan Good Food Fund (MGFF) is a new $30 million public-private partnership loan fund for food and farm-related businesses. It is designed to increase access to healthy food, improve the health of families across Michigan and spark economic development and job …

Commercial Loans: The battle between credit unions and banks heats up

By Rick Haglund

A new front has opened in the long-standing war between banks and credit unions: commercial lending.

An improving economy and booming demand for financing by businesses has attracted credit unions nationwide into commercial lending, a sector where banks have long dominated.

Traverse City credit unions led the state last year in the percentage growth of commercial loans.

They generated $31,420,442 in business loans last year, a 159 percent increase from $12,128,844 in 2014, according to …

Overtime Overhaul: Does Your Business Have a Plan?

Many employers are still reeling from the impact of the many changes in employment law that we have seen over the past few years. Employers have experienced many impacts to the people-side of their business including the ACA, the NLRB’s joint-employer ruling and the new minimum wage for Federal contractors …

By Jennifer Ewing

Newsmakers: People On The Move

FINANCIAL & INSURANCE SERVICES

Dawn Hemming, president of Hemming& in Traverse City, was recently invited to speak and moderate at an Investment News conference in Dallas, Texas. Hemming represented the Women's Advisory Board, a national initiative in the financial services industry to support and encourage women.

Betsy Hicks has joined …

By Lynn Geiger

Briefly: Big News In A Small Format

TC RESIDENT NAMED ‘YOUNG LEADER’Amy Shamroe was recently awarded the Michigan Young Leader Award by the Michigan American Association of University Women (AAUW) for her contributions in raising awareness of women’s equality issues in the Traverse City area.

She co-developed and executed a LeaderHERship seminar that featured women who had …

By Lynn Geiger

Development Minervini-Style

Ray Minervini Sr. heads the Minervini Group, a family-run development company that has spent the past 14 years turning the former Traverse City State Hospital property into a mixed-use community that features shops, restaurants, offices, residences and more than 400 acres of preserved parkland.

Minervini, 74, recently spoke with the …

By Rick Haglund

Higher Standard: Company's certification also a mindset

Higher Grounds Trading Co. is the only B Corp-certified business in Traverse City. What does that mean?

B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. B Corp is to business what Fair Trade certification is …

By Jodee Taylor

Access to Affordable Farmland: Problems, solutions

By Tricia Phelps

PAST ISSUES

View this Issue in Archives