A MESSAGE FROM WAYNE
I know they say time flies when you’re having fun, but it also flies when you’re busy! In July, we wrapped up the 3 rd Annual Great Umpqua July 4 th Food Truck Competition. It was another successful event, read on below for more on that! After the July event, we immediately dove headfirst into organizing the 2 nd Annual Great Umpqua Outdoor Days and look forward to this event over the Labor Day weekend. Events have been a highlight of our summer; however, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle. If you're unfamiliar with what economic development is for us here at the Partnership, we've broken down the focus of our work into six strategic pillars: 1) Education (K12/UCC) = Support growing our future workforce 2) Entrepreneurial Development = Build a healthy small business ecosystem 3) Workforce = Find ways to develop a workforce to fit the needs of Douglas County 4) Events = Bring people to Douglas County 5) Branding Douglas County = Create a culture in which people and businesses want to be here 6) Retention/Recruitment/Expansion = Work with every entity in Douglas County that needs our help to grow. Many new developments have occurred in other areas of our strategic focus that are deserving of the spotlight. This newsletter serves as a glimpse into what’s been going on around here and what’s ahead for Douglas County.
NEW GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
CODE NAMED SOUTHERN OREGON MEDICAL WORKFORCE CENTER
ECONorthwest completed their economic impact analysis on developing a new George Fox University campus in Roseburg. We received the final report on May 31. The University is designed to address shortages of health professionals and training programs in rural Oregon and the economic assessment evaluates and answers with three distinct questions: 1) What is the public economic value of the University? 2) Is the University financially feasible and self-sustaining? and 3) What are the economic contributions to Southern Oregon resulting from construction and operation of the University? There is a lot of research and data put into this report, but in summary, the analysis shows how the proposed medical university has a strong potential to: increase the supply of health care providers in rural Oregon, provide public economic benefits to the state by reducing unnecessary burden on the health care system, operate in a financially feasible manner, and generate positive economic contributions in the region. In early July, big news came out of Salem after Oregon lawmakers approved $10 million in state funding for the Center. This $10 million in bond proceeds will cover about 25% to 35% of the costs to build the college.  [Read full article here .] Back in May, the City of Roseburg agreed to take on a loan of up to $10 million to help with building costs. The loan from the City would be repaid by George Fox University through a portion of lease payments. Grants and other sources of funding are now being looked at to cover the remainder of the costs. These are all huge steps in the right direction for the future of Douglas County, Southern and rural Oregon.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Workforce Development continues to be one of our largest focus areas among all six of our strategic pillars. Thanks to Southern Oregon Workforce Investment Board and Douglas Education School District, Dan Loomis was hired and took on the new position of Workforce Development Manager here at The Partnership in January. In his first six months, Dan has tackled the updates on the Douglas County, Oregon largest employers list for 2019. He has held meetings with many of the top employers and gathered data on their future workforce needs, as well as helping them connect with the resources available to create pipelines for future employees. Dan has partnered with many of the workforce efforts here in the county, to include; Umpqua Community College, Douglas ESD, Southern Oregon Workforce Investment Board (SOWIB), South County Career Technical Education (CTE) Center, Southern Oregon Trade Careers Expo, and Douglas County Partners Student Success (DSPSS).
CAREER PATHWAY
BASEBALL CARDS
Education and Workforce Development, two of our main economic development focus areas, join forces in a project that connects junior high school students with career pathways that are local to Douglas County. After distributing Career Pathway Baseball Cards to 2,000 junior high school students in 2018, it was suggested that a high school version should be created. Additional funding was secured by The Partnership. A local designer created a baseball card pack cover that would be appropriate for the high school age group [See below] and the cards recently went to print. We hope to have the cards distributed by the start of the school year this fall. This time around we will be handing out cards not only to all the public high schools, we will include the private and charter high schools. Reedsport schools, although not in our district, will also be included. A very special thank you to the following organizations who made this project possible: Douglas County Industrial Development Board and the Commissioners, Douglas Education Service District, Southern Oregon Workforce Investment Board, and Umpqua Community Health Center, soon to be known as Aviva Health.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Our Board of Directors are, in our opinion, the top professionals in Douglas County. From vice presidents, lawyers, county and city officials, academic leaders, CEOs of hospitals and local businesses, business owners and much more, The Partnership is fortunate to have some of our top leaders sitting side-by-side working together to make decisions for the current and future economic development of our county. Recently, some changes have taken place and we’d like to share them with you. First of all, our most respected board chair of many years, Dave Sabala, severed his term as our leader and will now be playing more golf. Thankfully, he will continue to be an integral part of who we are by continuing to serve as an at-large board member. Our former vice chair, Don Cook, has been nominated to take Dave’s place as board chair. Don is a Business Developer at Express Employment Professionals. Tim Allen, owner of Tim Allen Equipment and Roseburg Rental, is our new vice chair after serving as our secretary/treasurer. Steve Vincent, Regional Business Manager of Avista Utilities Oregon, is our new secretary/treasurer. We are thankful for them and all of our board of directors and members. The Partnership always strives to have a competent, diverse and inclusive board. If you are interested in joining our board of directors or becoming a member, give us a call (541) 464-3527 or email [email protected].
UMPQUA PUB TALKS
The Partnership recently took over the Umpqua Pub Talk series from the Umpqua Business Center. The Pub Talk event, a gathering of like-minded entrepreneurs and business professionals in Douglas County, takes place on the last Wednesday of every month. The Partnership hosted the June event and most recently the July event which included our first ever Pre-Seed Fund Pitch Fest. The Pre-Seed fund is purely philanthropic and was created with a starting budget of $10K from The Partnership. The fund has now grown to $11K with contributions from Umpqua Business Center and Greg Byrne, and we are looking for other contributions if anyone out there wants to help build our entrepreneurial ecosystem. We plan to give $500-$1,000 away at each pitch to help anyone with a business idea as a way to get it started. Applications came in over several months and six people were selected to come and pitch their new business idea to a panel of three judges. The judges at July's Pitch Fest were Wayne Patterson, Executive Director of The Partnership; Dave Larecy, CEO of Con-Vey; and Doug Feldkamp, President of Umpqua Dairy. Applicants gave a five-minute pitch, answered questions for five minutes and were scored (from 1-10) in five categories. The winner, Melanie McLeod of McLeod Lavender in Tenmile, was awarded a Pre-Seed fund of $1,000. The fund will be used to purchase a large water pump to take her lavender from a test plot to a field. Entrepreneurial development is one of our six strategic pillars at The Partnership. By bringing on the Umpqua Pub Talks and creating a Pitch Fest event, we think that awarding a Pre-Seed fund was a great first step in fostering economic growth through entrepreneurship in Douglas County. We hope to get enough applications to have a Pitch Fest at least once a quarter and also bring something similar to local high school students in the near future. The next Pub Talk is scheduled for Wednesday, August 28 at the Umpqua Business Center. Thank you to Business Oregon, our August sponsor!
A RECAP OF JULY 4TH IN THE GREAT UMPQUA
For more photos from July 4th, check out The Great Umpqua on social media!
Another successful Great Umpqua July 4 th Food Truck Competition is under our belts. In its third year, 23 food trucks from across the state registered for the event this year with 19 of them going head-to-head in a cook-off competition. A preliminary round of nine judges tasted dishes divided up from all 19 food trucks. From there, six trucks were selected to compete again in a final round of judging. A group of five different judges tasted all six dishes and winners were chosen based on five categories of criteria: 1) Presentation/Appearance 2) Taste/Flavor 3) Aroma/Smell 4) Creativity/Originality and 5) Memorable/Cravable. The $10,000 1st Place award went to Wok Star of Medford and the $5,000 2nd Place award went to Big Fat Weiners of Portland. Our local food truck, Wrappin and Rollin, took home the $2,500 award for 3rd Place and the $1,000 Best in Douglas County award. The addition of a 16 ft wide module LED screen wall at the Garden Stage for the food competition made this portion of the event even bigger and better. The audience really got to be a part of the judging experience this year by live broadcasting the judges table as the food was being delivered and tasted...It felt like a Food Channel Production! After the food competition wrapped up and the award checks were handed out, attendees transitioned down to the amphitheater for the 2 nd Annual Battle of the Bands. Six bands performed 20-minute sets and were judged based on an Applause-O-Meter and also, new this year, a panel of three judges. The national anthem was performed by the local and very talented Jeremy Threlfall. The night concluded with a spectacular firework show. Thank you to the hard-working volunteers of the Roseburg Hometown Firework Committee for ensuring our community had another great show! In addition to food trucks, activities for the kids and a VIP lounge, Cruise for a Cause brought a car show to the event for the first time ever. Again, we thank the Douglas County Industrial Development Board and our Commissioners, the City of Roseburg, all of our sponsors, volunteers and the staff at the Douglas County Fairgrounds for putting in time, energy and resources to make this happen for our community!
UPCOMING EVENTS
UMPQUA PUB TALKS
The last Wednesday of every month.

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Wednesday, August 28
5:00 PM
Umpqua Business Center
Thank You to Our
August Sponsor!
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31
NUTCRACKER
MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE

Traversing nearly 55 miles of some of the most scenic and challenging terrain in the western United States, the N.U.T.Cracker Mountain Bike Race stretches from the high Cascades to the lower reaches of the North Umpqua River. This is the 2 nd Annual N.U.TCracker Race and the route was perfected this year for a smoother, shorter ride. Do you have what it takes to “Crack the Nut”?

Registration is now OPEN!
THE GREAT UMPQUA BASH

The Umpqua Bash is back and better than before! Head to Stewart Park Saturday evening for food, local beer and wine, kids activities, N.U.T.Cracker Mountain Bike Race awards, and an awesome concert by the band, Roseburg . You don’t want to miss this free community event that celebrates the outdoors and highlights some of our best local resources. Click here for more information & other fun events happening throughout Douglas County this Labor Day weekend!
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UEDP Board of Directors & Membership Meeting
and Membership Drive

Monday, September 16
Invite to Come!

If you would like to attend this event and learn more about joining our Board of Directors or becoming a member, please email Leah Jones, [email protected] .

We are a 501(c)6 nonprofit
serving Douglas County as the lead
economic development organization.