The Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce has established a pool of $200,000 that will be used to make grants and loans to small businesses that have been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is the intent of these funds to assist small business in restarting or getting back to full operations upon federal and state guidance.

Small businesses with annual revenue not exceeding $3,000,000 are eligible to apply. The funds will be made available in a combination of grants and loans, with grants not exceeding $2,000 and total assistance to a business not exceeding $4,000. The loans will be for 2 years from signing and will be at 0% interest. Loan payments will begin 6 months from the loan origination date. Businesses must be located in Lycoming County.

Applications will be reviewed as they are received and applicants will be accepted or denied on a rolling basis. Funds can be used for operational expenses including supplies/inventory, rent, utility bills, etc. as well as advertising, marketing, consulting, and training. Applications must include a list of proposed expenses grants will be spent on. Applications without a list of proposed expenses will be considered incomplete. Note, businesses applying do not need to be a Chamber of Commerce member and will not be expected to join should funding assistance be provided.

The application can be found by going to www.williamsport.org under the COVID-19 Useful Links tab. Call 570-326-1971 with any questions on the program.

A new study by Summit Consulting and the W.E. Upjohn Institute finds that the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) Program generates a substantial economic and financial return of nearly 13.4:1 for the $140 million annually invested by the federal government. The NIST MEP program, of which IMC is your Central PA MEP, is a public-private partnership created in 1988 to improve the global competitiveness and productivity of America’s small- and medium-sized manufacturers.

Using the national REMI® model, along with the results from the FY2019 NIST MEP client impact survey conducted by Fors Marsh, LLC., the team finds that economic returns are robust. The study uses a conservative approach in estimating the broader economic impacts of the program by examining the competitive interactions between firms. NIST MEP contracted with Summit and Upjohn to create a study to estimate the broader national impacts of the NIST MEP program. The study and the subsequent report, The National-Level Economic Impact of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP): Estimates for Fiscal Year 2019, is now available.

“Year after year, the Upjohn Institute reinforces the worth of the MEP National Network to the small and medium-sized manufacturing community,” said Dan Manetta, IMC Executive Director/CEO. “The results of this report show good ROI for individual manufacturers, along with significant contribution to the U.S. Treasury.”

A Positive Return on Investment
The study reports that the $140 million invested in MEP during FY2019 generated nearly a 13.4:1 increase in federal personal income tax ($1.87B/$140M federal investment). The study only looks at personal income tax and not business taxes. In addition, the analysis provides a conservative estimate of broader impacts as they are based only on completed surveys and do not include estimates of additional impacts of center-activities for non-respondents.

The MEP Program Generates Additional Jobs for the U.S.
The study finds that total employment in the U.S. is nearly 217,000 higher because of MEP center projects. This estimate includes both direct, indirect, and induced jobs generated by MEP projects. These jobs support additional manufacturing jobs critical to U.S. supply chains and jobs outside of manufacturing.

Other Positive Impacts of the MEP Program
The study examines additional areas of economic impact generated by the MEP Program. It finds: (1) personal income is $14.0 billion higher, and (2) GDP is $22.9 billion larger. This translates into an increase of $1.87 billion in personal income tax revenue to the federal government.

About Innovative Manufacturer’s Center

Founded in 1988, the Innovative Manufacturers’ Center assists in connecting manufacturers in 12 Pennsylvania counties with the most effective regional, state and national resources to help companies innovate, grow and prosper. An affiliate of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership and supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, IMC is one of seven industrial resource centers in Pennsylvania and serves manufacturers in Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Union, Snyder, Clinton, Centre, Mifflin, Juniata, Huntington, Blair and Bedford Counties.

About the MEP Program.
MEP has centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico that are dedicated to serving small- and medium-sized manufacturers with over 1,400 trusted advisers who work with local manufacturers to provide services that improve their competitiveness and productivity and help create and retain jobs, increase sales and improve local economies.

About Summit Consulting.
Summit Consulting is a quantitative and management consulting firm that works with public and commercial clients to turn data into actionable intelligence. Summit’s partners, directors and subject matter experts lead teams in five core areas: federal credit and risk analytics, health and employment, litigation analytics, mortgage finance, and program management and business modernization. Summit couples core expertise with methodology to derive sound, transparent and reproducible results.

About the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research was created in 1945 from the W.E. Upjohn Unemployment Trustee Corporation, established in 1932 to address issues of unemployment during the Great Depression. The Upjohn Institute is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent research organization devoted to investigating the causes and effects of unemployment, identifying feasible methods of insuring against unemployment and devising ways of alleviating the distress and hardship caused by unemployment. Upjohn’s broad objectives are to: (1) link scholarship and experimentation with issues of public and private employment and unemployment policy; (2) bring new knowledge to the attention of policy makers and decision makers; and (3) make knowledge and scholarship relevant and useful in their applications to the solutions of employment and unemployment problems.

More information, including the full report, is available at the Upjohn Institute website.

IMC’s Manufacturer Return to Operations & Best Practice Guide is now available! Gain insights for restarting your operations safely and efficiently and discover best practices in minimizing COVID-19 risks among your workforce. Thanks to our sister center NEPIRC for putting this guide together and for offering it to IMC and our manufacturers!

Gov. Wolf Provides Business Guidance as Counties Move to Yellow Phase on May 8 – Click here for Governor’s Guide.

For support on implementing either of these guides, contact your IMC Business Advisor or email info@imcpa.com.

Williamsport City Mayor Derek Slaughter has created an advisory board to help to mitigate hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mayor’s Advisory Board on COVID-19 consists of key stakeholders the mayor selected from among the health care, business, government and public and private sectors.

“In response to the needs of the greater community, I created the Mayor’s COVID-19 Advisory Board. This board of key stakeholders will identify the impact, needs and a path forward for Williamsport. The board will determine how the City can best respond and assist as we navigate COVID both in the short-term and long-term. Their advice will help guide us, help the City make the necessary changes it may need to make and help this administration find the extra resources to do the work.” stated Mayor Derek Slaughter.

The board includes Mayor Slaughter; Steven P. Johnson, CEO and president of UPMC Susquehanna; Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour, president of Pennsylvania College of Technology; Kent C. Trachte, president of Lycoming College; Jason Fink, president/CEO of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce; Jennifer Wilson, president/CEO of First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania; Shannon Rossman, executive director of Lycoming County Planning; Dan Manetta, executive director of the Innovative Manufacturers’ Center (IMC); Beth Armanda, president of the Williamsport Business Association, Small Businesses/Restaurants; Damon Hagan, chief of the Williamsport Bureau of Police; Stephanie Young, director City Community Development; Joseph Pawlak, city budget and fiscal officer; Nicholas Grimes, city treasurer; Tim Bowers, superintendent, Williamsport Area School District; Ron Frick, president of Lycoming United Way and Williamsport City Councilman Adam Yoder.

Data Papers, Inc. in Muncy, PA developed an assortment of policies / procedures relative to employee health and safety and regulatory compliance for their facility as they get back to semi-normal operations and offered IMC to share these with the manufacturing community.

Thanks to Jerry Wertz and the team at Data Papers, Inc.!

C19-003a Freq Touched Area Cleaning Checklist DP

C19-003 Cleaning Procedure for Freq Touched Areas DP

C19-002 DPI Employee Working Procedure DP

C19-001 Probable or Confirmed Diagnosis DP

WEDnetPA and the PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) want to help your company navigate the weeks and months ahead and want to ease concerns regarding the impact of COVID-19 on this year’s training grants and next year’s program eligibility. To ensure we provide maximum support to all companies currently participating in WEDnetPA, we want to make you aware of the following policies that have been implemented:

• Any trainings that cannot be completed by June 30th can be completed and submitted next year. After June 1st, your company will need to apply for a new FY20-21 grant to submit the training for reimbursement.
• All companies with training grants this year will be able to apply again next year, even if your company is technically ineligible based on funding history.
• If you plan to apply again next year and the WEDnetPA online system indicates you are ineligible, contact your local WEDnetPA Coordinator for assistance.

For additional information on WEDnetPA funding, opportunities, or training, visit http://wednetpa.com/.

With the on-going need for PPE and other critical medical supplies, the Wolf administration has launched a Manufacturing Call to Action portal, with the intent to:

• Match Pennsylvania manufacturers and distributors to fill specific supply chain needs to meet increasing demands for medical supplies and related products.
• Assist Pennsylvania manufacturers who have workforce needs or gaps and assist them with identifying skilled workers.
• Identify Pennsylvania manufacturers who can pivot or innovate to fulfill the demand for medical supplies and related products.

The administration welcomes manufacturers as described above with a Pennsylvania presence to inform the state of capabilities, needs, gaps or potential innovative solutions. To submit information, visit https://spportal.dot.pa.gov/ppeinventory/pages/mschain.aspx.

The Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce is helping to identify and coordinate possible resources in our region from those businesses that may be able to assist with the effort. The specific needs are associated with the production of ventilators. If your business is capable of providing any of the following items, please email Jason Fink at jfink@williamsport.org or call 570-320-4213.

Should you know of a company in the region that may have any of the capabilities, please forward it along to them to review. The Chamber will be compiling a list to forward on in coordination of a regional network being developed to address this specific health device need.

• 3D printing capabilities you know of, including contact information
• Suppliers who could source materials for ventilators (specific items are still being determined as to what is required)
• Engineers who could consult on a project like this
• Businesses/owners who could be part of a distribution chain – packaging, shipping, etc.
• Anything else that could be helpful for production of ventilators

If you have been designated “non-essential” as a result of Governor Wolf’s announcement on March 19th, you can request a closure waiver at: RA-dcexemption@pa.gov.

You can also contact the Administration with questions about whether you need to close at: ra-dcedcs@pa.gov.

Click here for Governor Wolf’s Classification List of Life Sustaining Businesses PDF.