Greetings and welcome to Friday!
First and foremost – remember that next Thursday evening (March 16th AT 6pm) is our EDALC organizational celebration – it’ll be the first time we’ve all come together in person (with the exception of that one technologically-challenged hybrid Board of Directors meeting!).
We’ll be gathering at the Barge Inn Tav3rn on the Bayfront (we’ll have the run of the place!) for conversation, drinks, an amazing crab boil and a few surprises. Sarah resent out the invite this morning – if you haven’t RSVP-ed yet, please do so – we’d like to celebrate with as many directors as possible. We’ll also be hosting a few prospective board members as well. See you Thursday evening!!
Here’s our weekly staff update:
Blue Economy::
This week, the consultants and Business Oregon wrapped up the final layouts and verbiage for the five “Emerging Sector” market analysis studies, one of them being the Blue Economy study that Mark Farley and I help to advise and direcxt. It looks like the plan is to get condensed reports to the legislature and governor next week. I also locked in (and processed the first payment) of the “green methanol” research study being undertaken by Challenger Biosciences and funded by our CDS award. – Paul
I responded to the Boatyard Manager of Astoria about a potential project that they would like us to collaborate on to develop their boatyard to better accommodate the maritime small business industry. – Sarah
Communication/Marketing::
I posted on our Facebook page for International Women’s Day on Wednesday and about an Inventor speaker series happening this weekend on Friday. – Sarah
Community and Economic Development Grant Program::
Next Wednesday, the County Board of Commissioners will formally vote to award the 2022-23 Community and Economic Development Grants. Once that’s done, we’ll work with the team at the county to get the word out on these awesome projects. – Paul
Community Connecting::
An excerpt from Leslie’s report:
What can you or your organization do to understand the History and Traditional Knowledge of the original people of Lincoln County and Western Oregon? Self-education from resources created by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI)!
While these free resources were created to help teachers meet Senate Bill 13 requirements with CTSI-designed and approved lessons, this K-12 curriculum can help folks of all ages improve their knowledge of and familiarity with CTSI in multiple subjects! History, traditional foods, natural resources, and more are included online: https://www.ctsi.nsn.us/sb-13-curriculum/
Here’s a link to Leslie’s (always fascinating) full report:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b7Ya9x3iJxTiyk3g5XL95OoF8D-DaC0olwwHGFFqpdQ/edit?usp=sharing
Creative Economies::
I worked on building the new ART Toledo website on Monday and tracked down someone who volunteered but they lost their contact information on Thursday. – Sarah
Entrepdneurship Development::
This week, riffing off of a great all-staff meeting two weeks back, Sarah and I fleshed out a four event series focused on entrepreneurial ecosystem building. Our first event will be near the end of April and will be a “Fail Fest” – sharing stories of entrepreneurial failures that paved the way for future successes. – Paul
I reached out to a few potential locations for an upcoming entrepreneur event (see above). – Sarah
Events:
I resent out the invitation to the EDALC event on March 16th, please RSVP if you can! Thank you! – Sarah
Organizational Development::
I spent far too much time this week (though I think I’m done!) finalizing the transition to 1st Security Bank, connecting the bank to our QuickBooks system, syncing up the transactions (we’re back to being “on the penny”!) and getting everything locked in for future payrolls (thanks to Bryan’s team!). I also had a great long meeting with Jason Holland (Executive Director for the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts and prospective board member). I gave him the 411 on EDALC, and we talked art and cultural districts. He’ll be joining us next Thursday to meet the board. – Paul
I prepared for my group presentation on Monday and attended our final planning meeting in the afternoon. On Wednesday, I attended this month’s Leadership Lincoln class and gave our presentation on Time & Priority Management. – Sarah
Project Work::
On Tuesday I added all the upcoming Spring Oregon Coast SBDC businesses courses to the entrepreneurs slider on the EDALC website. I updated the average rent for commercial buildings in Lincoln County on Monday and Friday. I updated Oregon Prospector on Tuesday and Friday. – Sarah
Supporting and Connecting with Partners::
Cascades West Economic Development District (CWEDD) – On Monday, I’ll be in Albany to participate in final interviews for the CWEDD’s Community Economic Director position (previously held by Jenny Glass). It’s always great to be able to help our partner organizations reel in the best talent – since we’ll be working with those new folks often! – Paul
Depoe Bay – On Wednesday night, I played a few sets of blues guitar for the Fleet of Flowers fundraiser (and scored a nice set of golf clubs in the silent auction!). I also had an opportunity to have a nice long conversation with Depoe Bay Mayor Kathy Short. – Paul
Newport Chamber – Early this evening, Jalene Case and I will be facilitating a planning session with the Newport Chamber Executive Committee at the second floor space at Wolf Tree. We’ll be doing a “Let the job talk” session, evaluating the key results that the Chamber will strive for when they hire their new Executive Director (they’ve got quite a few strong candidates). I’ve been pushing for this extra process to better align the board with the actual roles and responsibilities of the director. – Paul
Waldport CoC – On Thursday morning, Sarah and I attended the Waldport Chamber’s March networking event at the soon-to-open Cafe Chill (grand opening on April 1st). What an awesome new space it will be! As a business, it might be a trying to be a little too much “all things for all people” – a coffee shop, an art galley, an event and classroom space, a full restaurant (with liquor license – New Orleans themed), and after-school hang out… but I bet they’ll dial it in after they opened. It was another packed Waldport event and the Cafe Chill chefs handed out samples of pretty amazing shrimp and grits. I also got to meet, for the first time, the “previous me” – Caroline Bauman. We had a very nice conversation (that was also slightly strange at times). – Paul & Sarah
Upcoming:
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:
It was fun to reflect that it was three years ago this week that I trekked out to the coast from our Yooper forest to interview for this position – and was set alone on a table in front of much of the board in a room that was walled on one side by swimming sharks at the Aquarium – way to make an impression, Carrie! What a journey we’ve had in the last three years!
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 🙂