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Winners of the 2008 OEDA Awards Program
Excellence in Economic & Community Development

Outstanding Collaborative Partnerships

This award recognizes a project that has helped a community, region or partnership to overcome economic challenges and demonstrate vision, leadership and teamwork.  Applicants could include a business, community, non-profit or government entity that has organized a partnership to address key community readiness issues, regional considerations and new challenges that can only be resolved by facing the issues together.

Awarded to:
The City of Salem for the 295 Church Street Project

  • Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Salem
  • Cascadia Development Company
  • Salem City Council
  • Mid-Willamette Cable and Regulatory Commission
  • Marion County
  • Capitol Community Television
  • City Information Technology Department
  • Willamette University

 

  • Mayor Janet Taylor, City of Salem
  • The Honorable Sam Brentano, Marion County Commissioner
  • Curt Pence, Cascadia Development Company
  • Courtney Knox, City of Salem
  • Jim Bauer, Willamette University

Project Description:

Urban Renewal Agency: Vacant half-acre lot, at the corner of Church and Trade
Council Goal: Downtown housing, economic vitality
Willamette University Goal: Stronger connection to downtown

Cascadia is developing a five-story building – mix of housing, retail, office uses with the City and County as anchor tenants:

  • City IT facility (2nd Floor)
  • New studio and office for CCTV (1st Floor)

$20M: Unique Funding Blend

Public Portion:

  • Urban Renewal: feasibility study, design development, cost estimates; low interest loan to mitigate untested downtown residential market
  • CCTV Facility: Mid-Willamette Valley Cable Regulatory Commission - capital reserves, future public education and government funding
  • IT Facility: Sale proceeds from Agency/City owned properties in vicinity

Private sector funds residential and retail uses

Partnership Continues

Grand Opening - December 18, 2008 - One-year after groundbreaking

Maintenance and Operations:

  • Condo Association
  • Shared use agreement for critical infrastructure serving public and non-profit uses

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Rural Community Revitalization

This award category recognizes the special challenges for smaller rural communities that function at a different scale with different resources and focus. At this level the economic developer must be a community developer as well. Creativity, leveraging resources, and bringing new vitality to the community are key elements for success in this category. 

Awarded to:
City of Oakridge
UPBEAT Program: Unique Program for Business Enhancement and Advancement Together

Distinquishing Features:

  • Program Launched in May, 2006
  • Local leaders went through Intensive Training on Enterprise Facilitation from Sirolli Institute to help local entrepreneurs achieve their dreams
  • Many community and political leaders engaged
  • Mayor and Council, Chamber, Economic Development Business leaders and citizens
  • Focus on connecting business clients to local and regional resources
  • Funded by City and USDA Rural Development Initiatives for 3 years

Impressive Results:

  • 15 new businesses launched
  • Over 2 million in new investments
  • Over $500,000 in sales generated
  • 16 jobs saved
  • 32 new jobs created

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Business Development Success Story

This award category recognizes efforts to recruit new companies, assist with the expansion and/or retention of existing companies, resulting in new capital investment and/or jobs. Demonstrated creativity in structuring ‘win-win’ transactions/deals for both community and company will be evaluated.

Awarded to:
Team Oregon
on behalf of their collective efforts to recruit Solar manufacturers to Oregon. 

Thanks to the leadership efforts of Governor Kulongoski, Oregon Department of Energy Director Mike Grainey and the team’s proactive efforts, Oregon now has a solar manufacturing cluster and should expect growth in this cluster over the next few years.

Accepting on behalf of Team Oregon:

  • Mike Grainey, Oregon Department of Energy
  • Tim McCabe and Bruce Laird on behalf of OECDD
  • John Pascone, Albany-Millersburg Economic Development
  • Roger Lee, Economic Development for Central Oregon
  • Larry Pederson, City of Hillsboro Economic
  • Colin Sears, Portland Development Commission
  • Janet Young, City of Wood Village

Projects:

Peak Sun Silicon

  • Recruitment to Millersburg
  • Local lead: Albany-Millersburg Economic Development
  • $700 million investment and 500 jobs at full build out in 2011

PV Powered

  • Expansion in Bend
  • Local lead: Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO)
  • New 100,000 sq. ft. facility and 40 new jobs (bringing total to 100)

Solar World

  • Recruitment to Hillsboro
  • Local lead: City of Hillsboro, Economic Development Department
  • $400 million investment and 1,000 new jobs by 2010
  • Will be the largest solar-wafer and cell factory in U.S.

Solaicx

  • Recruitment to Portland
  • Local lead: Portland Development Commission
  • $80 million investment and 100 jobs

XsunX

  • Recruitment to Wood Village
  • Local lead: East Metro for Business
  • $40 million investment and 110 jobs

Team Oregon
Total Impacts from Solar Projects

  • More than 2,000 new jobs combined
  • $1.5 billion in capital investment
  • International recognition of Oregon's solar manufacturing cluster
  • Continued interest in Oregon for new projects
  • Strengthens Oregon’s "green" brand while building upon our Silicon Forest history

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Economic Development Marketing

Awards in this category recognize outstanding efforts and achievements in economic development marketing and promotional campaigns and/or materials, including websites and electronic marketing tools. The applicants will be judged according to the effectiveness of the promotion, innovation/creativity, content – including the quality and completeness of information, the results relative to cost, and the contribution to the economic development profession. 

Awarded to:
SOREDI
Innovative Southern Oregon - Powered by Talented People Business Campaign

Presented to: Ron Fox and Colleen Padilla

Who says marketing has to be externally focused and cost lots of money to be effective?

This whole new approach to marketing was aimed at getting lesser known, but hugely important, regional businesses exposure to each other and community leaders.

  • Original goal was to add some new "spice" to the standard annual meeting dinner format
  • Featured 21 "Innovative & Creative" regional businesses, as chosen by staff
  • Businesses attended annual dinner in a trade show format with booths and displays
  • BINGO card-type tickets encouraged participants to visit each business booth 
  • Five businesses were selected to speak at the event.

Staff interviewed businesses, stories, which were included in a special publication and on their website. The outcome of event was classic "Whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

Results

260 attendees, new business connections made, overwhelming positive feedback

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Economic Development Leader of the Year

Recognizes a professional who has attained outstanding achievement and who has consistently supported the vision and goals of local and state economic development.  The individual may have worked closely with the other development partners and organizations to address common issues and to creatively pursue economic opportunity in Oregon.

Awarded to
Edward "Bud" Prince - City of Redmond, Economic Development 

Economic Development Background:

A wealth of business, community and economic development experience including:

  • A 24-year career with Pacific Power.
  • Manager of Redmond Economic Development, Inc. since 2003.
  • Facilitated an unprecedented period of industrial and economic growth in the community. 
  • The program is now a model in Redmond for the efficient and effective use of limited resources to produce positive and high impact results.

Key Successes

  • Recruited eleven new companies in a variety of industries
  • Played a key role in more than thirteen expansion projects for local companies. 
  • Resulted in more than 1,131 new jobs for a community representing over one million square feet added and $100M in total capital investment. 
  • Redmond Enterprise Zone's value of capital the total of qualified investments more than doubled that of the preceding 12 years
  • Served on OEDA Executive Committee board member and Treasurer for OEDA since 2007

Admirable Strengths:

  • Outstanding leadership though example for his colleagues, clients and partners in the community. 
  • Effective relationship building skills that exemplify a best practice in the economic development field.
  • Talent for bringing together different groups, or people with differing viewpoints, for a beneficial outcome for both parties and the community.
  • Deep relationships with local manufacturing and technology companies.
  • Common sense counsel and clear-headed perspective, which is finely-tuned with experience.  

Renate Mengelberg and Tim McCabe
OREGON BUSINESS
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