Greetings and welcome to Friday! And just like that, we’re midway through May – it looks like a throwback damp and cool weekend, so time once again to lean into those wintery comfort foods!

 

Also – quick Executive Committee meeting update… the last Doodle poll for a meeting time showed what we already know – we’re all super-crazy busy! Paul will set up a new poll with new dates and times, and we’ll give it another go – stay tuned!

 

Here’s EDALC weekly team update:

 

    • Partner Support/Community Support 
  • CCFW – Sarah assisted the CCFW staff with interviews for their Community Foods & Market Coordinator position throughout the week.
      • BMO Bank – Paul and Stacie met (via Zoom) with various folks from BMO West Coast to explore collaborating on their Zero Barriers to Business specialty lending programs, as well as their “Meeting in a Box” (odd title, though) business education programs. Paul also made an introduction between their program director and Collaborative Economic Development Oregon, who facilitate the Latino Professionals Connect program in Eugene.
      • Newport Chamber – Paul met with the Chamber’s past president and the next two incoming presidents to discuss priorities, opportunities and strategic goals for the Newport Chamber going forward.
      • Nye Beach Arts & Culture District – Last Friday, Paul attended one of two community workshops held in Nye Beach, facilitated by an urban planning consultant, to explore community needs, opportunities and challenges (also paired with an online survey) to explore forming an Arts & Culture District. Jason did a yeoman’s job herding the cats and keeping the event timing on track – so many great thoughts and ideas!
      • Upcoming – Next Monday, Paul will be attending the Newport City Council meeting to present with City Manager Nina Vetter on the ICMA Economic Mobility grant opportunity the city wishes to pursue. He’ll also be presenting a general EDALC update to the Yachats City Council on Wednesday.
      • Creative Economies Playbook for Lincoln County (funded by Northwest Oregon Works) –  Stacie worked on the design of the document(s) to better inform planned solicitation of creative entrepreneur input at Bloom.
  • Blue Economy/O2IH
      • O2IH Website – Stacie, Sarah and Paul attended an online training on the new O2IH website – facilitated by web developer Shawn Livengood. The team learned how to update the site, edit elements within Elementor and how to access Google analytics. Paul also set up a Google Workspace account for O2IH.
  • Entrepreneurship
      • Cascades West Innovation Hub (CWIH) – Stacie presented on EDALC’s work developing the operating framework for the CWIH at a contractors wrap-up meeting on Wednesday. Later that day, Paul participated in a virtual overview of the upcoming approach to the next phase of CWIH funding from Business Oregon, with RAIN Catalysts as the fiscal agent (EDALC anticipates being a core contracted partner).
      • ROI Video Project – Sarah continued coordination with the TZOM crew about filming the “No Wrong Place to Start” video next week! The TZOM crew is flying out next week to do two days of filming next Wednesday and Thursday. Sarah also reached out to multiple local business owners to feature them in the video.
  • Broadband
      • Broadband Action Team – Paul attended this month’s BAT meeting for our four county region. The Oregon Broadband Office (OBO) announced this week that it will be pausing BEAD applications (the application window was currently open), because the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced to states that it will be revising the BEAD program – the large national internet infrastructure program. What’s known thus far – it will likely be a 60-90 day (minimum) pause for new guidance/rules (plus additional time for states to implement those changes), all funding for Digital Equity is out and probably the “fiber first” priority will either be dropped to no priority technology or prioritizing Low Earth Orbit technology. It’s also likely that the requirement for a low-coast option from ISPs will be dropped.
  • Core Economic Development Services
      • Oregon Prospector – Sarah updated listings on Oregon Prospector and added new ones.
      • Major Employers Report – Sarah put together the tracking spreadsheet and began working on the major employers report.
  • Community Connecting
      • Oregon Humanities Conversations and Potential Next Steps – After May 5th’s Newport City Council meeting, Leslie caught up with City Councilor and Oregon Humanities Board Member, CM Hall. They discussed many topics, including Oregon Humanities. Afterwards, CM introduced and helped set up a meeting with Leslie and Executive Director, Adam Davis. Adam and Leslie talked on Wednesday. After learning more about the organization and board member commitments, Leslie will be researching and reviewing the applications to join the board. In Oregon Humanities’ current challenging funding situations, Leslie’s hoping her Rural Community Building Collective lessons and network (who are professionals at building trust between the historically disconnected and doing more with less) may be helpful to statewide efforts. To learn more about Oregon Humanities, listen to Adam’s recent interview on OPB’s Think Out Loud, or find our own Jason Holland’s homage to Newport on This Place Podcast. Jason’s narrative made Leslie fall in love with Lincoln County all over again. 
      • Read Leslie’s full 2-week report here: May 16, 2025 EDALC CC Weekly Report
  • Organizational Management
  • Marketing & Communication
        • International Economic Development Week (IEDW) – Sarah put together a highlight video of EDALC events throughout the past year. Stacie created and posted #EconDevWeek content on all platforms. 
        • Stacie posted Friday community roundup and shared relevant partner/regional posts on various social media channels throughout the week
      • Project Work – Stacie continued to work out details for the annual meeting with Primaltones and Raised by Wolves. She also worked on the event invitation which will be sent out next week. Paul coordinated with the band.
  • Admin
  • Taxes – Paul worked with the team from Fitzsimmons CPA on the final push to get our organizational taxes (mostly searching through and providing transaction explanations). Taxes were signed and submitted yesterday.

 

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)