2019 First Quarter | The Partnership Newsletter

A MESSAGE FROM WAYNE

Welcome back! It's been awhile since we've communicated through the form of a newsletter, but with the new year comes new things. Before we jump ahead to what’s happening in 2019, I want to highlight some of our accomplishments from last year. Whether our ownership of that heavy lift was 5% or 100%, The Partnership got to be a part of some exciting projects in 2018. Our year-end report was presented to our Board of Directors, Douglas County Board of Commissioners, and the City of Roseburg in January. Throughout the highlighted projects in this newsletter, you will start to notice a focus on workforce development, K-12, healthcare education, and a “Grow Our Own” mentality, that’s because these are some of the critical needs of Douglas County. I hope you will continue to read and learn about just a few of the projects we partnered on in 2018 and get a glimpse of what’s to come. It’s going to be a great year!

THE TEAM

2018 brought new staff changes. Dan Loomis brings a wealth of knowledge and experience into his new role as the Workforce Development Manager. His focus will be on developing relationships with Douglas County businesses to identify critical current and future workforce needs and build a bridge to the education services that can match those demands. Brittany Arnold brings her love for Douglas County to the table as the new Events Manager. Her focus is on cultivating events under The Great Umpqua brand that highlight the best our Umpqua region has to offer. Lastly, Leah Jones was hired on as the office manager. Leah is new to the area, but she is excited to be a part of a team that is passionate about the economic vitality of Douglas County.

ALLIED HEALTH

CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

Back in 2016 The Partnership learned of a Coos County project called Backpack that created an Allied Health Certificate Program with transferable credits. We brought this idea back to Douglas County. Douglas Education Services District received $432,367 in grant money from the state to fund a Douglas Healthcare Career Pathways Program in 2018. The program is a result of a partnership with Douglas ESD, the school districts it serves, Umpqua Community College, and 14 local health industry partners. This 18-month grant will allow students to complete a Basic Allied Health Certificate in high school and help students qualify for allied health careers. The second component to the program is structured guidance to help students who want to continue their higher health education and training. The demand for allied and nursing professionals exceeds the supply and this program will not only fill that need, but also provide students with family-wage, high-demand jobs in the local healthcare industry. 408 students are currently enrolled in the program.

PRE-SEED FUND

The Partnership has started a Pre-Seed Fund to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship in Douglas County. If you think you have an innovative business idea, but are unsure of the next steps, we encourage you to apply. Six applicants will be selected to give a 5-minute elevator style pitch to a panel of judges. Pitches will be heard at the Umpqua Pub Talk event on Wednesday, July 24. Attend the next Umpqua Pub Talk to learn more or fill out an application now!

Umpqua Pub Talk

Wednesday, May 29

5:00-7:15 PM

at Umpqua Business Center

SOUTH DOUGLAS COUNTY

CTE CENTER

In 2018, Douglas County started the donation of a 10.99 acre piece of land to Douglas County ESD in the South County Industrial Park to build a new Career Technical Education project. The deed was handed over to Douglas ESD in January of this year. The goal is to start collaborative CTE programming in Fall 2019 focused on local industry needs, workforce education, and community sustainability. The new center will support five South County High schools; Glendale, Days Creek, Riddle, Winston Dillard, and South Umpqua.

GROW OUR OWN

A brand created under The Partnership in 2018 was Grow Our Own, a website hub where new and existing resources, programs, projects and groups dedicated to K-12 education and “Growing Our Own” future workforce can connect. The website showcases programs, shares successes, and provides sources for factual information, guidance and community enrichment. Our team will continue to improve and add to this website in 2019 as we gather more information on education and workforce needs in Douglas County.

CAREER PATHWAY

BASEBALL CARDS

The creation of the Career Pathway Baseball Cards was a brand new idea with the goal of educating our students on local career paths that are in critical workforce shortages. Each package includes information about six career pathways with six jobs in each pack. On each card is a URL directing kids to the Grow Our Own website to learn more about jobs that interest them. From there, new data is collected to gauge where career interest levels lie specific to Douglas County. This project started with junior high students. Funding was approved to create packages for high school age students. All of this has been a group effort of The Partnership, Southwestern Oregon Workforce Investment Board (SOWIB), Douglas Education School District (ESD) and Douglas County Industrial Development Board (DCIDB).

ALLIED & MENTAL HEALTH

If you’ve kept up with the news, you’ve probably heard about a community lead effort to bring a four to eight-year university to Roseburg. The university would focus on healthcare education with an intent to meet Southern and rural Oregon's growing allied and mental health workforce shortages. This project has been a work in progress for over six years using enormous resources along the way. In February, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by George Fox University and Oregonians for Rural Health and the news hit the press on March 8. After vetting multiple university level academic candidates, this is a huge step in the right direction. Continue here to read the press release. This effort will continue and we look forward to updating you along the way.

2018 was a big year for The Great Umpqua, a Partnership brand. Another successful July 4 ^th Food Truck Competition, the 2 ^nd annual, took place. We saw a higher number in attendance and food truck participation, a better fireworks display, and the addition of the 1 ^st Annual Battle of the Bands Competition. In September, we hosted The Great Umpqua Outdoors Days, the 1 ^st Annual, featuring a first ever N.U.T.Cracker Mountain Bike Race on the North Umpqua Trail and The Bash in Stewart Park. Our efforts also supported all of the following community events also happening the same weekend: Art by the Bay in Winchester Bay, Fort Umpqua Days and Bass Tourney in Elkton, The Vineyard Bike Tour right here in Roseburg, and the Hike for Women Veterans. Our creation of The Great Umpqua brand is a community wide effort to create events that “Grow Our Own” people, places, and businesses. The Great Umpqua expands Douglas County's ability to become a premier destination location. We could not be successful each year without support from our wonderful sponsors!