Missoula: What We Love and Will It Last?
For many, Missoula is the last best place IN the Last Best Place. At the same time, our much-loved community has experienced rapid growth, tremendous changes and significant challenges over the last decade and a half, including the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. The increasing cost and decreasing availability of housing, a worker shortage, a growing gap in economic well-being, and the pace of infrastructure expansion and improvement, relative to increased population and demand – these challenges underscore the need for collaborative work to preserve what we love about Missoula, and mitigate risks to the quality of life that has long defined our community.
The recent Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), developed by Missoula Economic Partnership with input from diverse sectors and stakeholders, provides an important framework to address these challenges. A principal goal of the CEDS is to establish a formal process through which Missoula can positively influence dynamic economic forces impacting our community now and in the future. How can we preserve what we love about Missoula, and ensure an inclusive, vibrant and sustainable economy that enables all residents to progress toward a more prosperous future? At the February 14 City Club Missoula Forum – 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. via Zoom – a diverse panel of engaged Missoulians from a variety of perspectives will discuss this question, and our community’s past, present and future challenges.
Panelists include:
- Nicholas Kaufman, Principal Planner, WGM Group, a comprehensive engineering, planning and design firm
- Gwen Lankford, President/Owner of Sapphire Strategies, a strategic communications group
- Mariah Lara, owner of Mmassage, a small business in downtown Missoula
- Tung Pham, Vice President of Product for Credit Key, who has a 25-year career in the technology sector
- Grant Kier, CEO of Missoula Economic partnership, will serve as moderator.