Keweenaw County woman awarded Economic Innovation Fellowship

HANCOCK, Mich. (WLUC) – A Keweenaw County woman will soon be working with area leaders on energy-related issues with help from a downstate university program.

Michigan State University’s Regional Economic Innovation Center has awarded Melissa Davis, Managing Director of New Power Tour, Inc., an 8 month fellowship to work with residents, municipalities and businesses in the county to discovery their energy preferences. According to a press release from New Power Tour, Inc., this fellowship will allow Davis and other Keweenaw County residents to explore various energy options and scenarios and consider how these could fit into communities in Keweenaw County.

In order to hear from Keweenaw County community members, Davis is looking at ways to organize feedback and input. “We’re hoping to put together a process that feels well-organized and actually, pretty fun at the same time,” Davis said.

According to Davis, New Power Tour, Inc. began this work last summer, “we conducted a small poll of businesses and residents in Copper Harbor and 24.5 out of 27 people were willing to volunteer an hour a month between January and May to dig into this topic. Hopefully, the rest of the County feels the same way,” said Davis.

New Power, Inc.’s mission is to increase the use of renewable, water, and energy efficiency technologies and support sustainable local economic development.