Your Monthly Update
from the Community Development Partnership
|
|
A Word from Jay...
Five years ago, I was asked to join a working group convened by Mass Housing Partnership to help craft a white paper on affordable housing in rural communities. The working group provided an opportunity to meet colleagues engaged in similar work in rural towns across the Commonwealth and led the Legislature to create the Massachusetts Rural Policy Advisory Commission in 2016.
While Massachusetts is not typically viewed as a rural state, the fact is that much of our population is centered around the Boston metropolitan area leaving the state’s 170 rural towns (towns with a population density of fewer than 500 people per square mile) to account for 13% of the state’s population yet occupying 59% of the state’s land area.
All of the Lower Cape towns, with the exception of Harwich, meet this definition of a rural town. And while the Lower Cape faces some unique challenges in housing affordability, we have much in common with rural Massachusetts: a declining and aging population, a lack of water and sewer infrastructure to support smart growth, economic opportunities and workforce needs that are very different from Boston and require different strategies and education and healthcare – known as strengths statewide-can be significant challenges here.
For the past three years I have been a member and Vice Chair of the Rural Policy Commission. Last month, we released our 100-page Rural Policy Plan to illustrate the unique attributes and challenges faced by rural communities, inform policy makers of existing best-practices and identify a series of recommendations to be explored and implemented under a proposed new Office of Rural Policy. You can download a copy of the Rural Policy Plan and the Executive Summary from the
CDP’s website.
Our communities, like other rural regions in the Commonwealth, have great assets and are extraordinarily beautiful places in which to live. Rural communities deserve the same opportunities as the economic engine that is Boston. I look forward to working with Senator Cyr and Representative Peake, both of whom are members of the Legislature’s Rural Caucus, to implement the recommendations in the Rural Policy Plan and help the CDP create opportunities for people to live, work and thrive on the Lower and Outer Cape.
Thank you for your support,
|
|
Jay Coburn
Chief Executive Officer
|
|
Cross Country Connections: What we can learn from
Irish Social Housing
|
“Perhaps the most innovative thing we learned was that housing is considered a human right in Ireland.”
Andrea Aldana,
Director of Housing Advocacy
In mid-October CDP's Director of Housing Advocacy Andrea Aldana traveled to Ireland with a delegation of housing advocates from across the state to participate in an “Affordable Housing Learning Journey.” The 20 participants included leaders of community development corporations, state housing agency officials, lenders, policy thinkers, architects, developers, and elected officials.
With the goal of studying Ireland’s approach to building affordable housing, the trip was organized by the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations, Massachusetts Housing Partnership and
NeighborWorks Southern Mass
in collaboration with the Irish Council for Social Housing. Funding from the Kuehn Foundation provided scholarships for younger housing professionals, such as Andrea, to participate in the trip. The delegation met with housing leaders, toured projects and neighborhoods, and attended the Irish Council for Social Housing Conference in Wexford.
|
|
Supporting Local Business
|
|
Breakwater Sea Farm: From Loan to Relationship
|
|
“I thought it was just going to be a typical small business loan, but it turned into a real relationship”
Paul Lalumiere,
Owner, Breakwater Sea Farm
Shellfishing is and always has been an integral part of the Outer Cape’s culture and economy. Every day, Wellfleet shellfishermen work tirelessly to grow oysters and quahogs enjoyed in restaurants locally and across the country. Shellfishing is an over six-million-dollar business in Wellfleet and an important part of the region’s economy. One local shellfisherman is Breakwater Sea Farm owner and CDP client, Paul Lalumiere.
Paul grew up on the Upper Cape, but like many of his peers, he left the Cape as a young adult. After moving off Cape he spent time in Colorado and Vermont, but was intent on returning. “I always knew that I wanted to come back to the Cape, I just needed to find a way to do it,” he says. Paul found his reason to return and began working on an oyster grant in Wellfleet.
When asked why he chose oyster farming Paul says, “I’ve always been an outdoors person and when I learned more about the shellfish business I thought, hey I can do that!” Paul was also interested in the industry’s environmental sustainability. “It’s a very environmentally friendly process” notes Paul “as long as I take all my equipment with me, I’m not adding anything else to the environment. That was important to me.”
|
|
Supporter Spotlight: Polly Bryson
|
|
“I am in awe of the wide range of CDP programs geared toward businesses on the Lower Cape. CDP’s guidance and leadership are essential drivers of this area’s economy.”
Polly Bryson
CDP Board Member
The work the CDP does to support local entrepreneurs, particularly women looking to start or grow their business, is work that both excites and inspires CDP Board Member Polly Bryson.
For the past 30 years, Polly and her husband Chuck have lived and worked in Cambridge. Polly’s heart was always on the Cape, however, as her family has called Eastham home for four generations. In 2017, Polly and Chuck began the process of becoming year-round Cape residents at their Orleans home.
Polly spent the previous three decades as a broker, manager, leader and entrepreneur in the commercial real estate world in Boston. An unusual career for a woman at the time, Polly had grown up in a male-dominated world which she says “taught me the life skills critical for me to succeed in a male-dominated industry.” After high school, Polly looked for balance and attended the then all-women Wheaton College. She planned to be an elementary school teacher.
|
|
Business & Credit Workshops
|
|
Save the Date! Upcoming Fall Business Workshops
|
|
Off-Season Productivity
November 5:
Success in the Off-season: 5 Simple Ways to Improve your Productivity
Marketing Musts
November 6:
Designing Your Brand - Common Sense for Success
November 13
:
Marketing on a Small Budget
Both workshops run from 11:30 - 1:00 pm at the Provincetown Commons.
Register here!
|
|
QuickBooks for Desktop
November 12:
Introduction to QuickBooks
November 19
:
Intermediate QuickBooks
Both workshops run from 5:00 - 7:30 pm at the CDP offices.
Register here!
|
|
QuickBooks Help Sessions
November 14
3:00 - 5:00
CDP Offices, Eastham
November 18
1:00 - 3:00
CDP Offices, Eastham
|
|
Do you use QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop? Are you having trouble, stuck on something or are things just not working right? Where do you go for help? Come to the CDP’s QuickBooks Help Sessions on Monday or Thursday afternoons and get your questions answered. The CDP will run these sessions September - December. Get your records together now, be ready for tax season, and start off the new year on the right foot!
|
|
SCORE Individual Business Counseling
November 20
9:00 - 1:00
CDP Offices, Eastham
|
|
|
Upcoming Small Business Office Hours
|
|
CDP Offices, Eastham
November 12
th
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
3 Main Street Mercantile Unit 18A
Harwich Cultural Center
November 14
th
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
204 Sisson Road
|
|
Chatham Works
November 20
th
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
323 Orleans Road
Provincetown Commons
November 27
th
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
46 Bradford Street
|
|
Drop in or make an appointment to talk with CDP staff to address a variety of topics including record keeping, QuickBooks, business planning, cash flow projections, steps to starting a business, setting goals and much more.
Drop-Ins are welcome, but those with a scheduled appointment will be given preference. These sessions are free to Lower Cape small businesses.
|
|
Are you or someone you know looking for affordable housing? The Community Development Partnership has several units becoming available November 1, 2019.
Thankful Chase Pathways, Harwich:
2 bedroom accessible unit - Rent is equal to 35% of adjusted income.
Fred Bell Way, Wellfleet:
1 bedroom accessible unit - Rent is equal to 30% of adjusted income.
Robert Lane, W. Harwich:
2 bedroom unit - Rent is $1100 per month.
Canal House sober living facility, Orleans:
Men's bed in communal house - Rent is equal to $558 or 30% of adjusted income, whichever is greater.
All applicants must meet income requirements. Applications are considered on a first come, first serve basis. After the vacancies are filled applicants will be added to the waiting list and considered for future vacancies.
|
|
Jay Coburn presents before town select boards
|
|
Throughout October and November, Community Development Partnership CEO Jay Coburn will be presenting in front of the select boards of all of the Lower Cape towns. The goal of these presentations is to provide the Select Boards with an overview of the CDP's work throughout the region and also get outside feedback on key strategical issues.
|
|
In last month's episode of This Place Matters, small business loan client John Allard and Business & Credit Program manager Pam Andersen discuss the CDP's small business microloans.
|
|
|
|
This Place Matters
our bi-weekly radio & television show
|
|
|
Tune in
92.1 WOMR & 91.3 WFMR
Wednesdays 12:30pm
Join host Jay Coburn & guests to learn more
about activities affecting the people and places on the Lower and Outer Cape.
November 6
: Join
Karen Rhodes, VP and Director at Complete Payroll Solutions
as she discusses Human Resource tips for small businesses.
November 20
: Join
Teresa Parker, Publisher at the Provincetown Independent
as she discusses the Outer Cape's new independent newspaper the Provincetown Independent.
|
|
Thank you
for supporting the work we do to make the Lower Cape a place where we can all
live, work
and
thrive
!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
