Greetings! Springtime is the welcoming time as we enjoy longer days and the warmer season.

Some big news for our region that had CEDA involvement is the award of $20 million by the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board to Idaho Regional Optical Network (IRON) and Intermountain Infrastructure Group (IIG) partnership to building open access middle mile broadband from Grangeville to Star. This project will provide a superhighway for fast and affordably accessible internet services to meet broadband needs throughout the region, state and beyond. IIG will provide services to commercial providers; IRON will continue its mission of serving education, healthcare, public safety, and governmental needs. The committee also approved additional funds for the Port of Lewiston’s fiber project from Moscow to Grangeville. CEDA is partnering with other interests to continue to advocate for deployment of faster, reliable, and redundant services in our region, through the various sources of new funding for broadband.

Activities we are looking forward to, that you will see in this newsletter is our CEDA Annual Meeting on April 27, the 7th annual Dream It Do It Youth Conference on May 16, and the CBYCC summer season.

This newsletter bids goodbye to Angie Edwards-Kuskie, our Community Programs Manager, who is moving on to a new career. Angie has served CEDA and the region for almost eight years, and her imprints of success can be found in many of our communities through the region. We will miss her, but she isn’t going far, and we expect to work with her in her position at the Forest Service.

Finally, are you looking at a water/sewer upgrade? Considering improvements to your fire hall, or community center? Those are some projects we can assist with planning and funding. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Let’s Keep Things in Motion for the Region

Dodd Snodgrass

Where are the Workers?

Thursday April 27, 2023,
4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Clearwater River Casino Event Center 17500 Nez Perce Road
Lewiston, ID 83501

Reserve Your Tickets Here

Workforce shortage is a top issue for our region, state, and nation. Idaho is experiencing unprecedented job growth and a continued decline in the unemploy-ment rate. The pressure and competition for businesses to find the talent they need to help their business grow and thrive has become a top concern among industry leaders.

Sam Wolkenhauer is a Labor Economist with the Idaho Department of Labor. In addition to serving the people of Idaho with economic data and analysis, he manages several forecasting projects for the state. Sam also creates projections of Idaho’s labor market and demographics. Prior to joining the State of Idaho, he earned degrees in mathematics and economics from Eastern Washington University.

Schedule:

• 4:00 – Membership Business Meeting
  Non-Members Welcome
• 5:00 – No Host Social
• 6:00 – Dinner and Program

Please let us know about any dietary restrictions with your RSVP.

Cost to Attend Dinner & Program: $37.50
by Thursday April 20, 2023.
Call 208-746-0015 with questions

The Clearwater Basin Youth Conservation Corps is accepting applications now for our 2023 summer crews for both student crew members and adult crew leads.

• Youth crew member positions for students ages 16-18 are available in Kooskia, Grangeville, Orofino, Potlatch, and Pierce. $15/hour.
• Adult Crew Leads lead a crew of local youth in field-based conserva-tion and land management projects with public and private partners across North Central Idaho. Positions available in Pierce, Potlatch, Kooskia, and Orofino. $17.25/hour +

40 hours per week from June - August 2022 (approx. 9 weeks) Monday-Thursday schedule.

Apply now if you're up for the challenge!

Learn more and apply HERE today!

Questions?

• The CBYCC is managed by Clearwater Economic Development Association
• (208) 746-0015
• [email protected]

Registration will open soon: the 7th Annual Dream It Do It Youth Conference being held May 16th on the University of Idaho Campus.

The conference is an opportunity for 500 sophomores and juniors from north central Idaho and southeast Washington to experience a day of local industry and higher education breakouts exploring the future, local career options in regional industries.

This year’s conference will feature presenters from business and finance, construction, education/training, emergency services (first responders), engineering, government and public administration, healthcare, law, manufacturing, natural resources/forestry, skilled trades (such as electri-cian, plumber, lineman, auto mechanic, HVAC, water/wastewater operations), technology (such as Information systems engineers, biological/environ-mental analysis technicians, software engineers, electrical engineers), and tourism/hospitality.

Dynamic industry representatives will share information on their company or organization, what their job requires, their career path, what they like about their work, and what education is required for their job. Recruiters from LC State, University of Idaho, Walla Walla Community College, and Wash-ington State University will host other sessions to link students to career pathways for the local job market.

The 2023 Dream It Do It Here Youth Conference would not be possible without these generous sponsors:

• University of Idaho - Host Sponsor
• Nez Perce Tribe – Diamond Sponsor
• Lewis-Clark State College and Northwest Intermountain Manufacturers Association – Gold Sponsors
• P1FCU and Walla Walla Community College – Bronze Sponsors
• Hillco Technologies – Supporting Sponsor

Do you have any conference participation goods (ie SWAG) you would like to donate to the conference? Each student receives a bookbag, reusable water bottle, and SWAG from various sponsors and partners (such as lip balm, coolie cups, keychains, lanyards, cell phone holders, stress balls, note pads). As this will be our largest attendance we are looking for fun items for the students book bags. Let us know if you have SWAG you would like to donate!

Contact Deb for more information on the conference: [email protected]

Another benchmark for CEDA’s Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP) was reached during the first quarter of 2023 with $1.6 million in loans being approved from the
$400,000 lending pool, equating to four full revolutions of this revolving loan fund. The program started at CEDA in December of 2010 with the first RMAP loans being issued in the first quarter of 2011. Over the twelve-year life of the RMAP at CEDA, the original $400,000 in capital has been loaned four times and repaid over three times. All of this equates to an average of 25% of the RMAP capital at CEDA being loaned to new borrowers and repaid by prior borrowers each year.

The focus of the RMAP is to help those small businesses that need aloan of $50,000 or less to start or move to the next step. In the twelve years of RMAP lending, 48 loans have been closed with an average loan amount of under $35,000. Approximately one-half of those loans helped to fund the start of a new business and the other one-half to finance an expansion. Eligible projects and borrowers include equipment, inventory and working capital for businesses with ten or fewer employees. CEDA serves NC Idaho and SE Washington with the RMAP. Examples of RMAP projects at CEDA include equipment for a boat repair business, a tow truck for an upstart towing company, brewing equipment for a microbrewery; tools and working capital for a garage-door company, excavation equipment, wildland firefighting equipment, auto repair shop equipment; and CNC equipment for manufactures using wood as their raw materials and others using metal, just to name a few.

CEDA currently administers six revolving loan funds in all, each with slightly different lending and eligibility criteria. In all the capital base of these funds is $5 million from which CEDA has averaged over $1 million in new loans issued each year over the past five years.

CEDA staff wishes Angie Edwards-Kuskie the best as she begins new endeavors with the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest.

Angie joined CEDA staff in the fall of 2015 as a Economic and Community Development Assistant. During her time at CEDA, she has assisted many north central Idaho communities access funding for critical infrastructure. Her understanding and connections with our rural communities made her a champion for the region.

Angie’s grant writing and administration garnered almost $10,000,000 in grant and foundation funding for a gamut of projects, including water/wastewater upgrades for Weippe, Stites, Kendrick, and White Bird as well as the Cottonwood School District track. Angie’s love of the region was demonstrated most by her efforts and support of the Grangeville Kids Club and the Clearwater Basin Conservation Youth Corps, a summer forestry employment program for youth 16 – 18 years of age.

We are proud of Angie, and we will miss her. We know she is leaving CEDA better than when she arrived and with her skills and knowledge, she will make the world a better place.

LC Work Scholar & Workforce Development Assistant

May is supporting various functions in the office include planning, events, and community development. She is also assisting us with our Workforce Development program in Talent Pipeline Management.

A local from Lapwai she attended Lewiston Senior High School, graduat-ing with honors in 2020. She began studying at Lewis-Clark State College in the fall semester of 2021 pursuing a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

May joined the Native American Club on campus, serving as vice president. She worked at both WinCo Foods and the Boys and Girls Club, before joining CEDA through the work scholar program. May is a great addition to our team! We plan to use her assistance through the summer.

CEDA, in partnership with the Northwest Intermountain Manufacturing Association, with funding support from USDA Rural Development, will be hosting a “Building Your Business Revenue Through Federal Contracts” workshop. On May 3 the workshop will occur at the Lewiston City Library. Procurement experts, and experienced businesses will present the “how to’s” for local businesses to access the extensive opportunities to provide goods and services to federal vendors.

For more information contact Dodd at CEDA.

Welcome New Board Member, Trevor Sparrow

Director of the Idaho Youth ChalleNGe Academy, based in Pierce.

• Potlatch was awarded $175,000 Community Development Block Grant for a new restroom in Scenic Six Park.
• Hoodoo, the Water/Sewer District in Harvard, was awarded $85,000 between DEQ and the Idaho GEM Grant for a wastewater Planning Study to fix their outdated wastewater system.
• Cottonwood has procured and selected the contractor to complete work on their restroom pavilion. The City is planning to have the restroom completed and ready before the Idaho County Fair.
• Orofino has a Community Development Block Grant helping pay for the purchase of a new pre-fabricated restroom for Champions Park. The restroom has been ordered and should be delivered and installed this summer.
• Kamiah’s pool renovation is nearly complete! The City received a Community Development Block Grant to help pay for renovations, multiple foundation grants, and they do fundraising events.
• Kamiah also has a Community Development Block Grant that is helping pay for necessary Booster Station improvements. Work on this project to begin this summer.
• Work has been continuously moving forward with the Craigmont, Juliaetta, Kendrick, New Meadows, and Nezperce water/wastewater projects.

If your community has a need for water, wastewater, park, community center type projects we are planning for future project submissions. Let Krista Baker know, and we can help.