Greetings and welcome to a super-cold Friday! Wowza – some crazy weather out there this week!
Today witnesses the slightly-postponed opening of the first in-person Seafood & Wine Festival since COVID reared its ugly head. Susan and I are volunteering in the beer tent tomorrow – we figure that’s a good place to provide a vital service and do some people watching! We’ll be sure to dress in layers!
Here’s our weekly staff update:
Blue Economy::
This week, we received our scope of work for the green methanol research project, so that is officially kicking off this week. Early in the week, I completed the revised afterward (coming from the Steering Committee) for the Blue Economy Market Analysis that is going to the state legislature. We also had a larger Advisory Team meeting for the same study to review the final draft version of the consolidated report, that will be buttoned up and off to the legislature as early as next week. – Paul
Communication/Marketing::
I posted on Facebook about the postponement of the Seafood & Wine festival. I created the Spring newsletter on Monday and continued to edit and add to it throughout the week. – Sarah
Community and Economic Development Grant Program::
Late last week, I met with County Administrator Johnson about our board recommendations. I came away tasked with gathering some more information from some applicants, which I delivered earlier this week. Tim did give me a call to share his thoughts on my research, but I was driving through Thursday’s storm, so my cell was cut off, so I’m still waiting to get “the rest of the story” from Administrator Johnson. 11th hour update: Just got off the phone with Tim; things seem in alignment and I’m planning to do my presentation of the board’s recommendations at next Wednesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting. – Paul
Community Connecting::
A snippet from Leslie’s report:
I spent more time this week with collaborators on the Community Classroom concept. This concept dovetails into multiple efforts to “build a container for systems change in rural networking and gatherings.” These efforts include projects with Foundations for a Better Oregon, EDALC, and a watershed team with Department of Environmental Quality employees. – Leslie
Here’s a link to Leslie’s full report:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e4UAENEAZzevTGBO2eG0hnllG_dz_9a6HnLc1NImy7s/edit?usp=sharing
Events:
I began to brainstorm and plan for EDALC’s upcoming entrepreneur event on Monday and looked at some available dates on Wednesday. -Sarah
Organizational Development::
This Tuesday, Leslie, Sarah and myself sat down for an invigorating two-hour EDALC brainstorming session. One of the things we were able to nail down was a four-event series we’ll be putting on to help bolster and grow our local Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Our first event will be this Spring and we’ll be celebrating entrepreneurial failure as a necessary fertilizer for future growth. So awesome to have such a sharp, energized team! – Paul
On Wednesday I worked on the prep for my leadership Lincoln team presentation and attended the group meeting in the afternoon. – Sarah
Project Work::
On Monday and Friday I updated the opportunities for entrepreneurs slider on the EDALC website. I updated the average rent for commercial buildings in Lincoln County on Monday. I updated Oregon Prospector listings on Thursday and Friday. I worked on the February board meeting minutes on Wednesday and Friday. – Sarah
Supporting and Connecting with Partners::
Samaritan – Today, Jalene Case and I were to deliver a leadership and creativity retreat for the north county leadership team. Due to the crazy weather, it was postponed and we’ll be looking to do it in March or early April (looks like it’ll be next Friday) – it should be a great program that blends team leadership dynamics with creativity training. – Paul
OCVA – We heard today from Marcus Hinz at OCVA that new Governor Tina Kotek is pinging partners all around the state to hear of cool projects and initiatives going on in Oregon’s counties. A number of us were tapped for short write ups (a sentence or two, plus a contact person) for Lincoln County. As always, requests like this come in with a *short* timeline – as in – get it to us today! – Paul
I read OCVA’s Mitigation, Adaption, and Resiliency plan and took the 2023 Oregon Tourism Industry Stakeholder survey. – Sarah
Upcoming:
Next Thursday (March 2nd) is our March EDALC Board of Directors meeting. The Zoom link is below:
Topic: EDALC March Board of Directors meeting
Time: Mar 2, 2023 03:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/9178104987?pwd=bVJDN0VlUEM3aG9EaFhJQUZjcDJHUT09
Meeting ID: 917 810 4987
Passcode: 0NyksK
Remember that Thursday, March 16th is our EDALC celebration event for the board, staff and friends. We’ll be taking over the Barge Inn Tavern on the Bayfront for a good old fashioned crab boil. It should be a ball!
You can RSVP to the event here: https://tinyurl.com/34szfvet
As a reminder – your Board of Directors resource page is here:
Last weekend, Susan and I took the Amtrak up to Seattle for several days of urban fun with our Yooper friends Kay and Lars. SO much good food and wine! What really blew us away was the Chihuly Gallery and Garden by the Space Needle – what an amazing museum! The train ride was a wonderful way to get there. What was unexpected to me was the overwhelming absence of traditional cabs (we only saw one!) and how Ubers are literally everywhere. Every driver we talked to was doing Uber full time – now that’s a major sector shift in the urban economy!
Thanks for ALL that you are doing out there! Please reach out to me if you need anything at all. Have a wonderful weekend!
Cheers,
-Paul 🙂