In order to ensure a strong economic development presence remained after the merger of Borders Development Corporation with CEDC, a non-voting Advisory Council to the Board of Directors was established at the beginning of this year to facilitate communication between all Northern Coos County municipalities, school districts, and other key economic development stakeholders, and CEDC.  These are one-year appointments with the ability to renew. The expectations of the Advisory Council are to:

• provide additional expertise and authority,

• be ambassadors to the community,

• connect the Board of Directors and the CEDC organization with a greater number of constituents, and

• be ready to fill future board seats.

We also wanted to make sure a variety of business types were represented, as well as a geographically diverse. We are pleased to introduce you to the people who have been serving in this capacity for 2022. Per the Council charter, Hannah Campbell represents our Board of Directors and is co-chair of the Council with Kelly LaPerle.

This Council has already been instrumental with the creation of a Business Resource Guide for the Northern Coos County businesses, a new loan program for small equipment purchases or refinancing, and a new grant option for building professional services to assist with improving commercial spaces so that we can get these viable spaces back on the market to rent or buy. We are very excited to see what ideas they have in store for 2023.

If you or you someone who would be interested in joining this Council or you have a suggestion on what they should focus on, please let us know by emailing execdirector@coosedc.org.