Greetings and welcome to Friday! Today marks Sarah Buddingh’s 3-year Anniversary with EDALC (over 1.5 million minutes!)! She started in February 2022 as a lowly Project Associate and now walks with a swagger in her step as EDALC’s Rural Economic Research and Engagement Manager. Way to go!!

If you are going to Seafood & Wine this weekend, drive safely! Paul (and Susan) did their volunteer shifts last night, handing out wine awards and “running chowder” for the chowder competition. It’s a BIG tent!

It also looks like the Waldport OCCC facilities are fully repaired and the furniture has been put back together, so it will likely be later next week when the team will start relocating to “points south.”

 

Here’s our weekly team update:

 

    • Partner Support/Community Support 
      • Georgia Pacific – Paul met with Andrea Formo, Communications Director at GP Toledo. EDALC is looking to partner with them to develop a general GP economic impact study as well as a more focused look at the positive local economic benefit of their upcoming March maintenance shutdown. They also discussed future GP financial support for EDALC operations.
      • OCCC – Paul and Marshall met for lunch on Monday to discuss OCCC, local and regional economic development, the unknown federal landscape and the great opportunities ahead.
  • Blue Economy/O2IH
      • USDA RBDG Grant – Paul met with Rural Prosperity Partners to review the draft grant materials. Secretary Lesley signed off on the EDALC resolution to apply for the grant (voted on in EDALC’s 2/6 BoD meeting). Paul spent most of the day working on letters of support, reviewing and editing the narrative, gathering support documents (resumes, by laws and such) and preparing the budget. The grant deadline is 2/28.
  • O2IH Website Project – New logos were approved! 
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Cascades West Innovation Hub – Paul met with Tina Guldberg, UO Assistant Vice President, Economic Development and Strategic Relations in Eugene on Wednesday to get her input on the next iteration of the CWIH and its Advisory Team. Next Wednesday is the CWIH (stakeholder) kick-off meeting at Hatfield – this event is being run by the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (with some help from EDALC, of course). Besides the kickoff event, the entire EDALC team will be in a number of meetings during the week relating to the Hub.
  • Rural Opportunity Initiative – Paul, Stacie, and Sarah put together an application for a ROI Video Storytelling Opportunity with a tight turnaround on Wednesday. Three to four current ROI grant recipients will be given the opportunity to have a professional videographer and storyteller come to their community and make a 3-4min video about their community and ROI Project free of cost to them. The team also pulled together some quotes to support a ROI presentation to the state legislature. Paul attended a statewide ROI meeting, in partnership with the Ford Family Foundation’s Grow Program (their economic ecosystem building efforts) – it looks like there are some efforts to combine forces towards shared entrepreneurial support targets.
  • Broadband
  • Broadband Action Team – Stacie attended this month’s BAT meeting on Thursday. BDP is expected to move forward as planned, with no extension to the ARPA deadline to get this infrastructure built. Given the rate of change at the federal level it is likely that the BEAD Program will be paused and revised. Groups intending to submit for prequalification were advised to complete their applications regardless.
  • Core Economic Development Services
  • Economic Summit – Sarah wrangled panelist and tabling follow ups and found the final Blue Economy panelist with Leslie’s help. Stacie continued to work on marketing, including an ad in Oregon Coast Today. Sarah also worked on editing the pillars of the local economy videos, filmed more b-roll around the county and filmed the last interview on childcare with the executive director of Neighbors for Kids!
  • Community & Economic Development Grant Program – Stacie posted announcement of awardees to social media and drafted a press release.
  • Community Connecting
  • Meetup and CTSI Government Hill Tour with CTSI, OCVA, and EDALC – On Tuesday, Stacie and Leslie went to Siletz to meet with Lisa Norton (CTSI Chief Administrative Officer), Andie Taylor (CTSI Public Information Officer), and Arica Sears (OCVA Deputy Director) to share a meal, discuss the next steps for Take Action Lincoln County’s 2025 Nesika Illahee Pow-Wow Sponsorship site, and brainstorm possibilities for future collaborations on Cultural Experiences, Tourism, and Economic Opportunities. 
  • Organizational Management
  • Marketing & Communication 
        • Stacie posted Friday community roundup and shared relevant partner/regional posts on various channels.
  • Project Work
        • Stacie created a project board for the work on Take Action Lincoln County’s 2025 Nesika Illahee Pow-Wow Sponsorship site, She and Leslie worked together on next steps with CTSI requesting the sponsorship portal go live on April 1st for Tribal Member access.
  • Admin
  • Funding Development – Paul met with Michael Smith to discuss efforts underway for FY25-26 funding. Paul and Leslie also received word that the Ford Family Foundation support of our Community Connector position will (in all likelihood) be cut 50% – a cut that seems to be happening with all of the FFF’s funded community building programs.

 

Reminder: Our March EDALC Board of Directors meeting will be IN PERSON at the PAC (thanks Jason!) on March 6th – we’ll have some tasty food and libations and also get a bespoke tour of the new PAC renovations – you won’t want to miss this one!

 

That’s it for this week. Thanks for ALL that you are doing out there! Keep us posted if you have anything you want us to share, and don’t be stingy with your ideas – we love hearing from you!

 

Cheers,

 

-The EDALC Team (Paul, Sarah, Leslie and Stacie)