MU Extension recently received a $1.1 million grant to aid manufacturing businesses.

MU Extension is a part of the UM System and aims to solve problems for businesses in the surrounding areas.

According to the MU Extension website, the program “addresses a wide range of needs that fall into three grand challenges for the state of Missouri,” which include economic opportunity, educational excellence and healthy futures.

MU Extension collaborates with people and companies to understand and solve problems.

The grant was received through Mid-America TAAC, an MU Extension program. It was part of a total of $13 million sent to 11 trade adjustment centers across the country.

MU Extension has been the recipient of TAAF (Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms) grant funding for many years. TAAF aims to assist U.S manufacturers and producers by paying a portion of professional consultant expenses and industry-specific expert services to improve their business competitiveness.

The TAAC program was established in the early 1970s as a component of the Trade Act. The money in the grant can be used to pay for a wide variety of operational improvement projects, like engineering training and market research.

In order to get approved for the grant, there is a three-phase process: application for certificate, certification and business recovery planning before the final step, project implementation through consultants.

Only certain firms and companies are eligible to receive the grant. Firms must be U.S manufacturers who have been active for at least two years and experienced a five percent decline in both employment and sales.

TAAC conducts a comprehensive company assessment to identify and prioritize opportunities for increased profits, job creation and long term financial stability. The program has been around since 1974 and has helped thousands of U.S. manufacturers strengthen and solidify their competitive position and prosper in the global marketplace.

“We develop a recovery strategy to try to increase sales and employment and help them recover from import losses,” MU Extension Assistant Program and Project Manager Rebecca Nace said.

MU Extension operates through many different spaces and can be found almost anywhere on campus and around Missouri. MU Extension also works with other areas in the midwest including Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa.

Jeannine Goodrich is the project manager for TAAC MU Extension. According to the MU Extension website, Goodrich is “providing cost share grant funding and technical assistance to MO, KS, NE & IA manufacturers to strengthen their competitive abilities focusing on increased profits, jobs creation and long-term financial stability.”

Goodrich is proud of the grant and the impact it has.

“It has real value to the communities and businesses we serve,” Goodrich said.

Although the grant makes a large impact on many companies, many people may not even know what it is. The work of MU Extension could help many businesses and companies searching for answers to their problems.

One of those problems is negative growth and lack of jobs.

“The manufacturing landscape has changed dramatically. It now represents around 17 percent of the U.S. GDP, which is a reduction of almost 50 percent compared to 30 years ago,” Goodrich said to the Columbia Missourian in a recent interview.

TAAF as a whole has been successful in recent years.

A total of 841 firms received assistance through the TAAF program in 2015, according to a report on the TAAF program in EDA’s FY2016 annual report to Congress. In total, these firms employed almost 67,000 workers at the time they entered the program, and generated more than $11 billion in annual sales.

MU Extension’s TAAC has been above average compared to other centers in the past year.

“Last year, when you look at as a nation the combined success rate for all TAAC centers they produced an 8 percent increase in sales and a 6 percent increase in employment,” Nace said. “Over the past year our TAAC experienced a 14 percent increase in sales and an 11 percent increase in employment.”

_Edited by Morgan Smith | mosmith@themaneater.com_