With a local population base of 310,000 people, NEF has provided services to approximately 2 percent of the entire regional workforce. Mary Mathews has been president of NEF since 1989 and has witnessed many changes in the region during her tenure. Encouraging a local entrepreneurial culture has been one of the organization's greatest challenges, Mathews said. In the past, most people in the region expected to work for the large mining and timber companies that have been the core of the economy there for decades. Now that's beginning to change.
People now think of starting a business as one of their options.
NEF staff got a special surprise when Carol Willoughby, an NEF entrepreneur from Duluth, was invited to speak at the Presidential Awards ceremony and introduce President Clinton, who presented the honors at the event. Let the Whole World Know, in 1991 because she was afraid to ask anyone for a job in her field of graphic arts. With assistance from NEF, today she operates a successful, home-based specialty sign and banner company that serves customers in the Upper Midwest. This article includes information provided by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which administers the awards program.