Bear Paw Development receives national award for work in meat processing

Press release

Bear Paw Development Corp. has received a 2023 Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award from the National Association of Development Organizations — NADO — for securing $10 million from USDA Rural Development for the establishment of the Montana Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program — MPILP — in partnership with four other Economic Development Districts. 

Bear Paw Development received the MPILP award through a nationally competitive solicitation from USDA Rural Development, whose goal with the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Program is to increase the capacity of meat processing facilities to process more beef and poultry from local sources.  Bear Paw was the lead applicant for this award and partnered with other regional Economic Development Districts located in Great Falls, Helena, Butte and Lewistown to secure the funding. 

“We are very pleased that our effort to secure $10 million to expand our regional capacity to process meat and poultry locally has been recognized nationally as a model for how to add value to the significant amount of cattle, pork and poultry that our agricultural producers raise annually,” Bear Paw Executive Director Paul Tuss said. “These funds are being used to establish a revolving loan fund that can be loaned to businesses at competitive interest rates.  The beauty of this approach is that once loans are paid off, the funds will then be available to other agricultural entrepreneurs who want to start or grow their operation.” 

NADO is a Washington, D.C.-based membership association of regional development organizations that promotes programs and policies that strengthen local governments, communities, and economies through regional cooperation, program delivery, and comprehensive strategies. The Impact Awards program recognizes regional development organizations and their partners for improving the economic and community competitiveness of our nation’s regions and local communities. 

Award-winning projects were recognized during NADO’s 2023 Annual Training Conference held in Cleveland, Ohio on Nov. 7-10. The 2023 class of award recipients consists of 107 projects from 71 organizations spanning 28 states. These projects are presented in an interactive story map developed by NADO that includes project summaries, partners, and images. The map is available online at https://nado.org/2023-impact-award-recipients. 

“This funding award is the largest single investment our organization has received in our 53-year history, and its nice we’re being recognized by NADO for the innovative approach we are using to assure these dollars are spent wisely in rural Montana,” Tuss noted.  “We look forward to working with agricultural entrepreneurs to maximize the impact of this program, create jobs, expand our tax base and help revitalize our state’s meat processing industry.” 

Bear Paw Development also received a 2023 Impact Award for this project earlier this fall from the Montana Economic Developers Association. 

For more information about this project, contact Bear Paw Development Director of Loan Services Trish Cichosz at 406-265-9226 or by email at [email protected]. 

Bear Paw Development Corp. is Montana’s longest-serving federally-recognized Economic Development District and is a Certified Regional Development Corporation with the State of Montana.  BPDC serves the economic and community development needs of a five-county, two-reservation area of northern Montana that includes Liberty, Hill, Blaine, Phillips and Chouteau Counties and the Rocky Boy’s and Fort Belknap Indian Reservations.