Juneau Economic Development Council NEWS  |  April 2017
Juneau Maritime Festival & Port to Starboard Progressive Dinner


The 8th annual Juneau Maritime Festival, produced by the Juneau Economic Development Council (JEDC), is a celebration of Juneau's maritime commerce, culture, and history.  Join in the fun on Saturday, May 6th from 11AM-5PM on the new Alaska Steamship dock. In the case of inclement weather, the Festival will be held at the Marine Park brickyard.
 
The event will include a ceremonial start by One People Canoe Society, a sailboat regatta, U.S. Coast Guard vessels and demonstrations, contests, storytelling, boat-building activities, face painting, and more. This Festival encourages locals and visitors to explore Juneau's spectacular maritime heritage while enjoying live music, food, and a host of entertaining activities.
 
New to the festival this year are a Slippery Salmon Relay hosted by Alaska USA Federal Credit Union and a canoe tug of war hosted by One People Canoe Society. Seaplane and vessel tours are available on the Wings dock. The U.S. Coast Guard Anacappa welcomes tour guests at the Goldbelt Seadrome marina. 
 
The Juneau Maritime Festival is open to the public, free of charge.  Donations are gratefully accepted and directly benefit the Juneau Maritime Festival and the maritime industry.  For more information, visit the Juneau Maritime Festival Facebook page or the website, www.jedc.org/martimefestival .  
 
Help Support the Maritime Festival, a free annual community event, by joining us at the Port to Starboard Progressive Dinner !  

To support the Juneau Maritime Festival, the JEDC hosts the Port to Starboard Progressive Dinner on Friday, May 5th.  Progressive dinner stops include In Bocca al Lupo, the Bubble Room, and the Baranof Treadwell Ballroom. Each ticket includes food at all locations, three cocktails, live music, live and silent auction. Individual tickets are $95 and sponsorship tables (which include Festival sponsorship) are $1,500.  Tickets can be purchased
HERE .

  
Thank you to our sponsors!

Admiral: Alaska Airlines
Captain: Holland America Group & Princess Cruises, LifeMed Alaska, Taku Smokeries 
Commander: DIPAC, Wells Fargo, Juneau Empire, Juneau Radio Center, KTOO, Manson Construction, ASMI, Alaska Glacier Seafoods, BP, Alaska Marine Lines 
Fisherman: First National Bank, Alaska USA Federal Credit Union, Juneau Food Tours, Port Chilkoot, Blue Evolution, Alaskan Brewing Co., Hooked Alaska 
Supporters:  United States Coast Guard, Docks & Harbors 


STEM meets Beauty & the Beast


Robots and Fairytales
Members of the Thunder Mountain High School Robotics Club show us a rose they designed and built for the school production of Beauty and the Beast.  Video credit: Juneau Empire.  

TMHS Robotics members, Teilhard Buzzell, Miranda Hirst, and Ryan Galaktionoff, collaborated with the Drama Club to enhance a prop for Beauty and the Beast, the TMHS Spring musical.  Together with coach Carol May and community volunteer Kerry Lear, they went through several phases of designing and building.  The final product includes 4 clumps of petals attached to the bud by magnets.  Each petal clump is attached to a servo motor (hidden beneath the table) by fishing line.  The students used JAVA to program a controller to rotate the motor just enough to drop a petal at the touch of a button.  The controller is up in the booth and communicates with the rose through 2 phones using wifi direct.    Coach May said "The students are so grateful to have this opportunity to work with the drama department.  During our robotics season, they are very focused on their own robot.  This gave them a chance to share their programming and design skills in a real-life application."   The feeling was mutual.  When the cast and crew saw the rose working for the first time, they enthusiastically applauded the young engineers. 
STEM + Art = STEAM

JEDC proudly implements the FIRST Robotics programs across the State of Alaska, funded by corporate partners, including statewide sponsors BP, Alaska Airlines, GCI, Alaska Communications, Conoco Phillips and Delta Western.
STEM Summer Camps

 
Click HERE to sign up!

There's still space in some of the STEM summer camps! Make this summer count for your child! 2017 offers a rich array of STEM camp opportunities to kids entering grade two through twelve.
These camps are led by experienced and enthusiastic staff dedicated to ensure that your child's camp experience if safe and fun with tons of opportunity to explore and learn. Each of these camps will give kids hands-on experience in STEM. Space is limited and these camps sellout fast so be sure to sign up early! Sign up HERE

Visitor Products Cluster Working Group Wraps up Another Winter Season of Activity
 

Juneau's summer tourism season starts this weekend with the arrival of an UnCruise vessel on April 29th and then on May 1st with the arrival of Holland America's 2100 passenger Eurodam and 1214 passenger Nieuw Amsterdam. Juneau is the most visited city in Alaska during the summer, thanks to the cruise industry. We will receive about 1.055 million cruise visitors in 2017, an increase of almost 4 percent from last summer and almost 3 percent more than our previous peak year of 2008.

While summer is a very busy time for the members of Juneau's tourism industry, winter finds a group of dedicated industry members continuing to engage on industry issues, working in partnership through JEDC's Visitor Products Cluster Working Group with federal and local agencies. Recently, members of the Working Group addressed an open letter to Congress and the Forest Service Leadership identifying concerns and suggesting solutions to tourism business issues on the Tongass National Forest. The letter is posted to the JEDC website . 

The group will reconvene again in September to follow industry initiatives:
  • Juneau City Manager's Hut to Hut initiative
  • USFS Shoreline ll Record of Decision
  • Small cruise industry collaborative scheduling for downtown moorage 
  • Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area Conceptual Design planning
  • National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act
Contact Eva Bornstein to receive information on meeting times.
Looking to Expand Your Business or Have a Business Idea that You Want to Make Happen?
 
If you have a project that will create or retain jobs in Southeast Alaska, Juneau Economic Development Council could be the lender you have been looking for.  It is often very difficult for new businesses and businesses in depressed industries to get the financing they need to get started or expand, so Juneau Economic Development Council launched the Southeast Alaska Revolving Loan Fund in 1997 to bridge the gap between what banks will finance and what the business community needs.  Our goal is to provide financing for viable projects that will create and retain quality jobs and help to diversify local economies in Southeast Alaska. JEDC operates a community-based loan fund and one region wide loan program that serves smaller communities throughout Southeast Alaska. Find out more by contacting  Margaret O'Neal

Southeast Alaska Private Investment Survey 2017

Economic Indicator:   Income is Higher with more Education, but There is a Gender Gap at all Levels

Juneau's median earnings for men was $54,516 in 2015. [1] The median for women was $41,403, abo ut 76 percent of the average for men. In comparison, the state-wide 2015 median income for men was $50,548, while the number was $34,333 for women, only 68 percent of what men make. The gender gap for women in Juneau is narrower than the state-wide gap because a large percent of Juneau's women work in state, local and federal jobs, where wages are much closer to par than in the private sector.

At every level of education required for employment, earnings increase for Juneau's men and women. However, the gender wage gap varies considerably by educational level. Women without a high school diploma have the largest wage gap. The median wage for women was 60 percent of Juneau men. Much of this discrepancy is due to the difference in the type of jobs men and women hold, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Women work almost entirely in lower paying occupations such as retail sales, office support or as personal care aides, while men are employed to a much larger extent in higher paying construction and mining jobs.

Women with graduate or professional degrees face a gender wage gap of 78 percent compared to men. At this level of education, men and women hold similar jobs, such as doctors, lawyers, physical therapists and post secondary teachers. Therefore, the wage difference can be attributed more to circumstances such as job experience, training, hours worked or current and historical discrimination.

Choose Juneau Partner Button For Your Website 

The Juneau Economic Development Council has been working on the  Choose Juneau  campaign which focuses on positioning Juneau as a great place to live, work, retire, and invest.  We created a Choose Juneau website button that you can include on your website to direct traffic to Choose Juneau.  Link it to your website, now, using this link:  http://choosejuneau.org/link-to-us



Check out the site at www.ChooseJuneau.org! 
Investor Spotlight: Alaska Airlines 
Since 1932, Alaska Airlines has been connecting Alaska's communities with safe and reliable transportation. Over 1800 Alaska Airline employees, in 19 different communities, call Alaska home. Providing support to over 300 agencies and organizations in Alaska, we are committed to supporting the communities where we operate and where our employees live and work. We are proud to be serving Juneau and Southeast Alaska with daily, year-round service, keeping Alaska business, communities, and families, connected.

Learn more about supporting the work of JEDC and consider an Investment in Juneau.
Become a 2017 JEDC Investor 

We invite you to invest in Juneau by becoming a JEDC Investor. Show your support of the work we do to forward Juneau and Southeast's economy.

By supporting JEDC you are supporting the long-term economic success of Alaska's capital city, and creating a business climate that in turn supports your business or organization.  

To learn more about our investor program, please visit www.JEDC.org/investors or send an email to Dana Herndon
Thank you for subscribing to JEDC News!
 
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Sincerely,

Executive Director
Juneau Economic Development Council

In This Issue
Quick Links
JEDC.org
Like us on Facebook
Board of Directors
Lauren MacVay, Chair
Chancellor Rick Caulfield, Vice Chair
Mitch Jackson, Treasurer
Susan Murray, Secretary
Mayor Ken Koelsch
Alec Mesdag
Susan Murray
Brandon Cullum
Keith Comstock
Marc Wheeler
Steve Ricci
Nadine Lefebvre
Beth Weldon, CBJ Assembly
JEDC INVESTORS
PLATINUM


BP logo

AK Communications
G OLD

  

SILVER


Hecla
 
 




BRONZE


 
AEL&P2 







AFFILIATES






 


   

 
SUPPORTERS

Verizon
Central Council of Tlingit & Haida 
Indian Tribes of Alaska
Juneau Chamber of Commerce
Juneau Arts & Humanities Council
Travel Juneau
Southeast Conference
AK Litho
Taku Smokeries
Alaska Glacier Seafoods
Sealaska Corporation
Haa Aani
Nortech
HansenGress