Business Notebook: Missouri supports broadband expansion; Saint Francis in 'Top 100'; Old Town Cape honored

Missouri is allocating nearly $50 million to support expansion of broadband services throughout the state, according to an announcement last week by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The funding will include support directed to telehealth and education broadband services and is coming in large part from the state's COVID-19 response funds.

In addition to endorsing the $50 million funding package, Gov. Mike Parson also signed House Bill 1768, which expands Missouri's existing broadband grant program through 2027.

"Providing Missourians essential services during this time is one of our top priorities," the governor said in a statement released by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. "Ensuring citizens have appropriate access to telehealth and education and that they are able to telework is critical. These are not optional services and we want to do our best to increase connectivity across the state."

The Department of Economic Development estimates 300,000 Missouri households, 195,000 elementary and secondary students and 54,000 businesses and farms in the state lack high-speed internet connectivity.

The funding includes funding in the following areas:

• Emergency Broadband Investment — $20 million to establish a reimbursement program for broadband providers to assist them with construction costs for new broadband expansion to households with students or vulnerable populations.
• Telehealth — $5.25 million to support connectivity for telehealth services in partnership with the Missouri Telehealth Network through the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine.
• Libraries — $2.5 million will be allocated to implement and administer a grant program for the state's libraries to access resources for hot spots and Wi-Fi enabled devices to support telehealth and higher education students.
• K-12 Distance Learning — The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will allocate $10 million of coronavirus relief funding to enhance student connectivity.
• Higher Education Distance Learning — The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development will allocate $10 million to public universities and other postsecondary institutions to upgrade campus broadband networks.

Saint Francis named to 'Top 100' hospitals list

Saint Francis Medical Center has been named to the list of Fortune/IBM Watson Health's 100 Top Hospitals for 2020. According to a statement released last week by Saint Francis, this is the first time Saint Francis has been recognized as one of the top-performing large community hospitals in the United States and is the only large community hospital in Missouri to be so recognized.

The annual study by IBM Watson Health included an evaluation of 3,134 short-term, acute care, nonfederal hospitals in the nation on the basis of clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, patient experience and financial health.

According to IBM Watson Health, the hospitals included on the list had better results on key clinical and operational performance indicators in comparison to similar hospitals. Those indicators include survival rates, patient complications, health care-associated infections, 30-day mortality and 30-day hospital-wide readmission rates, length of stay, throughput in emergency rooms, inpatient expenses, profitability and patient satisfaction ratings.

The complete list may be found at www.Fortune.com. More information is also available at www.sfmc.net/Top100.

Old Town Cape among 2020 award finalists

Old Town Cape, Cape Girardeau's downtown revitalization organization, is one of several Missouri "Main Street" organizations that will be recognized this year at the Missouri Main Street Connection's annual awards ceremony later this month.

MMSC's annual Evening of Excellence Awards Ceremony will take place "virtually" at 7 p.m. July 30 in a live webcast on Facebook. The event will honor and celebrate communities, individuals, businesses and organizations from across the state that have been involved in various downtown revitalization efforts in their respective communities.

Last year, several individuals and businesses from Cape Girardeau were recognized at MMSC's 2019 annual awards, including Old Town Cape's Historic Landmark Preservation Group as the state's Best Large Scale Project, Zickfield's Jewelry & Gifts as MMSC's Business of the Year and Isle Casino (now Century Casino), which was recognized as MMSC's 2019 Premier Partner.

For this year's awards competition, nominations were submitted for projects, activities and individuals in 15 categories covering various aspects of design, economic vitality, organization, promotion and other efforts related to downtown revitalization.

In addition to Old Town Cape, other semifinalists being recognized this year include downtown revitalizations from 13 other Missouri communities — Albany, Blue Springs, Clinton, Excelsior Springs, Independence, Joplin, Lee's Summit, Liberty, Pleasant Hill, Trenton, Warrensburg, Warrenton and Washington.

MMSC is a not-for-profit organization designed to help Missouri communities preserve their historic commercial districts through economic revitalization, MMSC provides services and trainings to more than 160 communities throughout the state and has empowered downtown revitalization efforts in Missouri since 2006, resulting in $964 million in private and public investments, creation of 829 net new businesses and development of 4,097 net new jobs in Main Street communities.

Schnucks launches Folds of Honor campaign

For the third consecutive year, Schnuck Markets Inc. is supporting the Folds of Honor Foundation through a Round Up at the Register campaign at its 113 stores throughout the Midwest, including the Schnucks location in Cape Girardeau.

The campaign, which began last week and continues through Aug. 11, allows Schnucks customers to donate to Folds of Honor when they checkout by "rounding up" their grocery purchases to the nearest dollar.

Folds of Honor is a not-for-profit organization that honors sacrifices of fallen and disabled military veterans by providing educational scholarships to their spouses and children.

Folds of Honor was founded 13 years ago after Major Dan Rooney, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, saw the grieving family of a fallen U.S. Army soldier meeting their loved one's flag-draped coffin on an airport tarmac. Over the years, the organization has awarded more than $122 million in scholarships to military spouses and children.

Sleeves for Support helps Ronald McDonald House charities

McDonald's restaurants in the area are offering a new way to support Ronald McDonald House Charities through its Sleeves for Support program. The fundraiser, which started June 29, offers the sale of insulated beverage sleeves designed to hold 30-ounce cups from McDonald's.

Proceeds from sale of the sleeves, which are $5 each and available while supplies last, will be used to support Ronald McDonald House Charities throughout the region.

The campaign was developed in cooperation with Coca-Cola.

Last year, McDonald's restaurants in the area raised more than $90,000 to support community grants that support regional children's programs.

Awards and recognitions

The Jana Jateff unit with Mary Kay Cosmetics recently honored its quarterly "star performers."

Among those recognized were Chanel Tucker of Cape Girardeau and Donna Shelton of Piedmont, Missouri, each achieving "star consultant" status for having more than $3,600 in retail sales during the quarter.

Jateff was also honored for achieving more than $12,000 in sales during the quarter.

People on the Move

Gratten Allen

SIKESTON, Mo. — Gratten Allen has been named to the newly-created role of operations coordinator at the Southeast Missouri Food Bank. The food bank provides food to more than 140 member food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless and domestic-violence shelters, programs for children and older citizens, and not-for-profit rehabilitation facilities throughout a 16-county region of Southeast Missouri including Cape Girardeau, Scott, Bollinger and Perry counties.

Allen, a resident of Sikeston, will assist with operations and distribution functions in the food bank warehouse and will serve as a liaison to the administrative side of the organization by working to identify sources of food and funding to support ongoing operations. He will also coordinate warehouse deliverables to meet grant requirements and analyze trends to ensure equitable resource distribution throughout the food bank's service area.

Allen has been working with the food bank since April as a temporary employee, placed by Manpower through a COVID-19 response grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health. He is a Sikeston High School graduate and received a degree in agriculture business from Southeast Missouri State University.

Before joining the food bank, he was an agronomist with Ducks Unlimited, greenhouse manager at Midwest Organics and field scout for AgDynamic.

Chamber Notes

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is sponsoring a series of four weekly webinars on diversity and inclusion starting July 14 and continuing each Tuesday through Aug. 4. Each segment, which will focus on ways to foster diverse, equitable and inclusive work environments, will start at 10 a.m. For more details or to register, go to www.mochamber.com/diversity.

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The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon cutting at 4 p.m. Thursday in observance of KLG Engineering's new office location. Those attending the event are asked to gather on the patio of Ebb & Flow Fermentations, 11 S. Spanish St. Small group tours of the office will take place after the ribbon cutting.

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The Cape chamber's July First Friday Coffee program will be held "virtually" on the chamber's Facebook page at 7:30 a.m. Friday. The program will include a 2020 legislative update.

First Friday Coffee programs normally take place on the first Friday of each month, but this month's program was pushed back a week in order not to conflict with the Independence Day holiday weekend.

Business license applications

Sergio Fuestos of Cape Girardeau recently submitted a business license application for La Mexicana Conchita at 517 N. Silver Springs Road in Cape Girardeau. The retail grocery business opened last month, according to the application.

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A business license application was recently filed with the City of Cape Girardeau by Dondee Nations of Cape Girardeau to operate Boom Boom Brows at 3065 William St., Suite 211. Services offered at Boom Boom Brows include brow wax and tint, microblading, semi-permanent makeup, eyebrow tattoo color correction and removal, waxing and lashlifts. The business opened in May, according to the application.

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