Greetings and happy Friday!
Thanks to all who could make yesterday’s Board of Directors meeting – a very lively discussion and you gave me some great ideas and wisdom on a number of topics – I always enjoy our times to come together and meet as an organization and move us forward.
Here’s our EDALC update for the week:
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O2IH/EDA Build Back Better, Phase 1 – The work is complete on the main grant narrative and appendices and is off to OSU for final assembly and submission. There are still a few letters of support coming in and Lincoln City and Waldport councils will consider their LOSes next week. What great teamwork and collaboration all around! I feel really positive about the strength of this application – fingers crossed as it heads out to the EDA for evaluation and scoring!
Oregon Prospector – As I mentioned in the BoD meeting, Cindy won’t be able to give this grant-funded project the hours we need, so we do have the funds (with the City of Toledo acting as the fiscal agent) for someone to research and enter commercial property into Oregon Prospector (I will train them) – we have funds for 85 hours at $30/hour (10-99 work), so if you know anyone who might be a good fit for this project, please let me know.
ART Toledo – On Wednesday, TMobile and their pink truck and BIG check were in Toledo. Toledo’s ART Toledo project was one of 25 rural communities in the country to receive a Hometown Grant. Toledo received a little over $23,000 for the downtown mural project from TMobile. The ART Toledo committee also selected the top five mural artists (from a field of close to 30) for the initial murals in town.
CWEDD Strategic Plan Viewer Grant – The coding work on the strategic plan plugin is nearly completed. I’ll be meeting with Leslie Palotas next week to train her on the system, and we’ll put it trough its paces and do some error hunting. I’ve spent an hour or so with the tool this week and it’s looking good. If you remember, we are not only looking to use it as a tool for local non-profits to share their projects with the community but to add the plugin to the Ford Family Foundation’s Community Website program’s suite of digital tools.
Printer – Our office Dell multi-function printer “bricked” this week – an error with the scanner that locks out all of the printer’s functions. The printer is no longer made, not under warranty and it also looks like there is a class-action lawsuit out there on this failure. At the moment, we don’t need a heavy-duty printer, so I purchased a basic multifunction HP Deskjet that will get us through the near future.
Community and Economic Development Grant Workshop – Thanks for the great ideas yesterday on this workshop. I reached out to Dave Price and Kristi Peter today and started pulling together my notes on the workshop – we’ll have the format and the date set next week and will begin spreading the word.
Airport and Workforce Meeting – I met with Mark Watkins and walked the ten acre parcel on Newport’s airport that he’s looking to develop – some real opportunities there for some solid business, lighte manufacturing or logistics development. I also met with Jerry Hardman, the new Business Services Manager with Heather DeSart’s Northwest Oregon Works. I gave him some pointers on interfacing with the business community (this is a career change for Jerry), and we discussed ways in which he can help us deliver more resources and value to our local business community.
A Hearty Huzzah and High Five – EDALC Director and education rockstar Karen Gray was in Arizona this week with the OCCC’s Dan Lara as well as Majalise Tolan to present at the National Council for Workforce Education conference. They delivered a program entitled “A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats – Maritime Partnerships on the Oregon Coast” to talk about standing up multiple CTE/STEM programs in Lincoln County, including the welding program at the Port of Toledo. Way to go!
Meting reminder – Executive Committee meeting next week:
Wednesday, October 13 at 9:30am.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/9178104987?pwd=bVJDN0VlUEM3aG9EaFhJQUZjcDJHUT09
Meeting ID: 917 810 4987
Passcode: 0NyksK
As a reminder – your Board of Directors resource page is here:
Have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for ALL that you are doing out there! Please reach out to me if you need anything at all.
Cheers,
-Paul 🙂