Greetings and welcome to Friday!
Here’s our EDALC update for the week:
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Sarah’s Update:
This week began with making posts about the CO.STARTERS and Start Up Success courses on our Facebook page. After which I created a template for EDALC invoices to be used whenever is necessary in the future, and then I created invoices for each the members of the Board we still need membership fees from for this year (going out next week). I also did some research on social media business marketing strategies and ways to boost interaction and popularity. I then updated some of the information and created an automatic response to messages on our Facebook page.
On Wednesday I began by creating a social media plan and goals sheet which included EDALC’s targets for social media platforms on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. I then created a reference page for OCCC’s strategic plan aimed at showing what industries are likely to grow the most and should therefore be considered in the college’s plan, I was able to create some graphics and maps using the census bureau employment data. I reviewed the EDALC funding leave behind sheet and made some small cosmetic changes. After, I added some more data to the county profiles page and updated all the links that weren’t working on the website.
At the end of my week, I got to participate in the ART Toledo meeting which was great to be a part of! It was very cool to meet some new people from the community in person and learn more about all the awesome projects that are going on. I posted on our Facebook page for St. Patrick’s Day and the CO. STARTERS class. Lastly, I put together an info and reference page to add to our Blue Economy section of the website that is going to go up soon.
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Paul’s Update:
O2IH – Earlier this week, I pulled together some quotes from Representative Gomberg and Senator Anderson, as well as myself (ad Bob provided one from OSU Hatfield) to send off to Senator Merkley’s office for a joint senatorial press release that should be coming out soon. I also had several “pre-planning the planning” meetings and conversations with Mark and Rachael on the CDF deliverables. I’ll dive in a little deeper next week in the specifics of EDALC’s role (beyond just administration) in the upcoming work. Also, it does *not* look like it makes sense to do a Blue Sector/Coastal application to Business Oregon’s regional innovation hub planning grant – it’s just not set up for cross region collaboration or sector-specific work and there would be a *ton* of hoops to jump through for minimal funds.
ROI – This week, we did a marketing blitz out to local artists, creative economy solopreneurs and general innovators to promote the CO.STARTERS Core class that starts up next week, as well the SBDC’s Start Up Success classes. I think we pushed out message out to about 100 folks who aren’t normally in the standard communications pipeline. Prior to that push, we’re looking at eleven folks for the class – which actually exceeds my initial estimate, so that’s awesome. I also worked with ROI Director Brian Plinski to draft a letter that will be going out to our state and federal legislators about EDALC’s involvement in the ROI program.
Future Funding – I received word from the City of Newport that our proposal looks good to them and Derrick is putting together a services contract that I should be able to look over soon. Commissioner Jacobson also shared with me her guidelines for putting together a formal funding ask from the County Commissioners, and I’ll be pulling that together next week. We’ve also had a couple new business members jump on board as well (most recently, Starker Forests and Table Mountain Forestry).
Toledo/ART Toledo – This Thursday was our large ART Toledo planning meeting for the year, planning out the Phantom Galleries (and selecting the fourth round of PG artists), the Art, Oysters and Brews summer event series, business and streetscape beautification and upcoming murals (the first large one gets painted next month). It was great to get Sarah involved and I think she’ll be a great addition to the county-wide team. I also put together is nice new presentation that will serve us when we go before city councils – not only for funding requests but also for updates, and I’ll be able to give it an inaugural run next Wednesday evening when I present before the Toledo City Council.
Enterprise Zone – It’s getting to be the time of year when I need to review and file EZ exemptions with the county. I already have Rogue’s in-hand to review and will be reaching out to Zack next week. I’m also working with the county assessor’s office to schedule our annual meeting to review the exemptions and address and questions or concerns any of us might have.
Local Economic Summit – We had a great meeting last Friday on the upcoming economic summit – it looks like it’ll have three themes – Live, Work and Play (the Play being both the outdoor recreation economy and tourism-based hospitality). We discussed a wide-range of panelists and some potential keynote speakers – one more meeting and we should have the major flow nailed down – should be a great event.
Monthly SBDC COVID Recovery Call – This week was Dave Price’s monthly SBDC COVID call, but this time, it was both in person and via Zoom. He said it has been almost two years since he organized these calls and looking back at my notes, the first one I participated in was on 4/1/20, Zooming in from the Upper Peninsula as the folks on the call were wondering “just who is that interloper?” What a wonderful and useful tool for leaders all across the county during the pandemic. Huzzah to Dave for setting these up and keeping them running (they’ll probably keep going under a less pandemic-ish name in the future). I was also able to have some great side conversations in-person with Mayor Cross of Toledo and Mayor Holland of Waldport.
EDALC Directors in the House – The Newport Chamber will be hosting what looks to be an amazing event on March 30: Women in Business Unplugged. The panelists include two of our own Directors: Carrie and Lesley!! Woo hoo! And I was informed that fellas are also encouraged to attend – so I plan to slip in the back myself!
As a reminder – your Board of Directors resource page is here:
While I continue to dread dipping into the national and international news each morning, it is an optimistic breath of fresh air (literally!) to no longer be mandated to wear masks – but that trip into Ace Hardware last Saturday morning without masks? Susan and I felt almost naked!
And since we can’t directly control the ebb and flow of the international craziness, we’re focusing closer to home and on the things we can *partially* control – which is our epic kitchen gut and rebuild… this week, granite counters were installed! This weekend will be setup up and (hopefully) install our downdraft range… and next week? INDOOR PLUMBING in the kitchen! First-world problems to be sure, but it’s nice seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
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 🙂