Greetings and welcome to Friday! Also, believe it or not, welcome to September!!
This Saturday is the last Art, Oysters & Brews event in Toledo – from noon until five. If you get a chance, swing by – the musical performers are the best we’ve ever had. Of special interest are “The Jane Does” playing at noon – a powerful blues duet from Portland and “Wild Hog in the Woods” – a wonderfully quirky Americana Roots band playing at 3:30.
Here’s our staff update for the week:
Sarah’s Update (shorter, since she was off the later part of the week)::
This week I only worked Monday and Tuesday, I took the end of the week off to go on a short road trip around eastern Oregon with my boyfriend during his limited time off in Hake season! On Monday and Tuesday, I finished the newsletter and the major employers report. I attended a Central Coast Food Web executive committee meeting and an SBDC course on using AI for small businesses. In addition, I updated the entrepreneurs slider on the EDALC website and Oregon Prospector listings. Lastly, I updated the ART Toledo website and wrote and scheduled posts for the week to promote the Art, Oysters & Brews event happening in Toledo this Saturday! – Sarah
Blue Economy::
This week, I sent out a Maritime Innovation Scorecard (in survey form) to central coast stakeholders (some of you received it). It was developed by RAIN’s Startup Blue team, with significant input from us. It’s part of the final deliverables for the EDA grant that was jointly awarded to Hatfield and RAIN. It will also (hopefully!) be a valuable tool to help us identify potential blue economy priority projects over the next year and beyond. – Paul
Broadband::
This week, we had a broadband meeting with CTSI, the Council of Governments and Solarity (the consultants working on regional broadband strategic planning). The goal was to start connecting, in a meaningful way, a potential CTSI broadband project with other potential regional projects which could be funded through BEAD. CTSI has some challenges with deployment and maintaining needed sovereignty and not broadcasting plans too loudly to regional ISPs. It’s a delicate path to tread, but we’ve got good trust built up. The next step is signing a nondisclosure agreement, and then Lisa Norton and I can dive in and talk specifics and how to maximizing benefits (accessibility and infrastructure) in Lincoln County for all. – Paul
Events::
Next week, I’ve got a scheduled call with Representative Gomberg. He’s looking at reviving the economic summit that used to be put on by the Coastal Caucus. We’re going to chat to see what (if any) overlaps might exist with our planned economic summit and any ways we can assist each other. I’ll keep you posted. – Paul
Rural Opportunity Initiative::
I wrapped up all invoice submissions to Business Oregon and heard from them mid-week that they’ll release our final grant payment of just under $12,000. We’ll have a discussion item on next week’s BoD agenda to go over potential projects for the next two-year ROI grant cycle – that will open up in the next few weeks. – Paul
Upcoming::
Next week Toledo Mayor Rod Cross and I will be having lunch with Andrea Formo, the new GP Public Affairs manager. – Paul
Next week, we have our September EDALC Board of Directors meeting (via Zoom) – here is the meeting link (digital packets will go out next week):
Topic: September 2023 EDALC BoD
Time: Sep 7, 2023 03:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
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:
Last weekend’s camping was awesome, even with the campfire ban. I was able to trek up to the summit of Mary’s Peak for the first time – what a view looking out at the other Coast Range summits peeking up out of the fog!
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 🙂