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SpanishNewest Service from The LINK: Weekly South County Shuttle to Maupin, Tygh Valley, Dufur
October 17, 2019 – The LINK, Wasco County’s public transportation provider, is continuing to add new services to benefit the community. Starting Tuesday, October 22, The LINK will have a weekly shuttle that picks up riders in Maupin, Tygh Valley and Dufur for a few hours of shopping and appointments in The Dalles. “We will have specific stops in each community where you can meet the bus, but we can also pick up riders at their door if they call ahead and live close to the center of the communities,” says Charlotte Sallee, Transportation Operations Director for The LINK. Every Tuesday, the LINK will stop at Canyon Rim Senior Living at 8:30 a.m., Tygh School Community Center around 9:00 a.m. and in Dufur at Kramer’s Market at 9:25 a.m. The bus arrives in The Dalles around 10:30 a.m., will take riders where they need to go and then will leave The Dalles at 1:00 p.m. to make the return trip. The cost to ride is $5 from Maupin and Tygh Valley and $3 from Dufur. The LINK buses are ADA accessible and can seat 12 riders and 2 wheelchairs. Riders can call ahead to 541-296-7595 to ensure a spot or seating is first-come, first-served. Other new services with The LINK include a weekly shuttle from Celilo Village and Lone Pine In-Lieu Site to The Dalles every Friday, free service to The Dalles Farmers Market while the market was in season, and the deviated fixed route serving key stops in The Dalles. The LINK’s traditional service includes door-to-door service within The Dalles, Dufur, Mosier, Celilo and points between. The LINK Public Transportation is operated by Mid-Columbia Economic Development District (MCEDD). Learn more on The LINK’s pages at http://mcedd.org/linktransit or by calling The LINK at 541-296-7595.? [Continue Reading]Annual Report Highlights – Year in Review at MCEDD
September 27, 2019 – For 50 years MCEDD has supported economic vitality in the five county bi-state region, focusing on opportunities to build our economy and support business and entrepreneurs. This year, MCEDD continued to deliver high quality technical assistance, business assistance and industry support through its core programs, while also expanding service offerings. In this milestone 50th year, MCEDD: -Reached more than $9.5 million in funds granted and loaned through the Oregon Investment Board -Implemented the regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy and hosted a sold-out Economic Symposium to build connections across the region -Expanded the LINK transportation system, providing over 22,000 passenger trips Read the annual report to learn more about these and other milestones and accomplishments in fiscal year 2019. FY19 Annual Report [Continue Reading]WA Public Works Board Approves $85 Million in Infrastructure Loans
September 24, 2019 – The Washington State Public Works Board has awarded over $85 million in loans for pre-construction and construction activities for 30 projects across the state. Applicants requested more than $248 million for 74 different projects, and the board approved qualifying projects from a rated and ranked list until all available funds were exhausted. The City of White Salmon was awarded $750,000 in pre-construction funding for their domestic water system transmission main and the City of Stevenson was awarded $54,680 in construction funding for their sanitary sewer system project. To learn more about these and other projects click here. [Continue Reading]Thirsty Café Brings Joy to Cascade Locks Customers
September 24, 2019 – #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ Thirsty Café, located at 504 NW WaNaPa Street in Cascade Locks opened for business on July 1st 2019. The café features a variety of handcrafted espresso drinks, sweet and savory pastries and smoothies in a comfortable and cozy setting and is open 7 days a week. Thirsty started as a lifelong dream of a warm, cozy place to enjoy a latte where owners Michelle Sobaski and Shawna McCormick wanted to bring truth, hope and joy to their customers. Thirsty features the convenience of a walk up window and the comfort of a beautiful French farmhouse themed café. Hand lettering, Edison string lighting and plants on every table are just a few of the details that add warmth and welcome visitors. Michelle and Shawna hope their business will appeal to both local residents and visitors to the area. Thirsty Café brews coffee from Hidden River Roasters out of Camas, Washington. Michelle and Shawna received start up financing through the Columbia River Gorge Oregon Investment Board, staffed by Mid-Columbia Economic Development District (MCEDD), to bring Thirsty Café to their community. Read more about Thirsty Café here. [Continue Reading]
Resilience Assessment Report and Outreach Tools Available
September 24, 2019 – Drawing from the economic resilience goals of the regional comprehensive economic development strategy and past responses to economic shocks, MCEDD has been conducting a review of responses to past economic disasters in order to highlight effective practices for economic recovery, identify gaps in support for businesses to withstand shocks, and outline recommendations for next steps to help the region withstand future disasters. As a result of this work, MCEDD has produced an assessment report to outline findings and recommendations for next steps as well as outreach tools (both print and online) that can be deployed to support regional businesses and individuals in the event of a disaster. The complete assessment report is available for download below and you can access the outreach tools at mcedd.org/ready Resilience Assessment Report_080519 [Continue Reading]WebWorks: Gilliam County
September 23, 2019 – Looking to take advantage of the new high speed internet connections in Gilliam County? Interested in what it can do for your business or organization? Thursday, October 3rd, 5:30 pm at the Veterans Memorial Hall (120 S. Main Street, Condon, OR) representatives from local businesses and the Small Business Development Center at Columbia Gorge Community College will share how they leverage the internet to conduct their business. The SBDC will talk about web presence basics, Joni Kabana will share social media tips and talk about using photography to showcase your business online, and Drew Leggett from Blue Mountain Community College will talk about how connectivity interacts with precision agriculture. CBEC and OTC Connections will also give updates on broadband services in the region. Join us to share ideas, ask questions, or explore what’s possible online! Refreshments will be provided. This event is free to attend, but please RSVP to Carrie Pipinich (carrie@mcedd.org or 541-296-2266). [Continue Reading]
SWPRD Celebrates Groundbreaking of Pine Hollow Boat Ramp
September 11, 2019 – A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the south ramp on August 28, where officials and spectators posed for a group photo. Work starts shortly on repairing the badly damaged north boat ramp. The project is expected to take 4 to 5 weeks. MCEDD staff assisted the South Wasco Parks and Recreation District (SWPRD) during the bid process for the boat ramp improvement project, funded in part by grants from the Oregon State Marine Board and Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. Staff will also provide support through completion of the project to ensure compliance with Oregon’s requirements for prevailing wage projects. [Continue Reading]Clean Rural Shared Electric Mobility: The CRuSE Project
August 29, 2019 – The Clean Rural Shared Electric Mobility (CRuSE) Project seeks to demonstrate that round trip plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) car sharing can serve rural communities in a financially sustainable way, while benefiting low-income residents, government and local businesses, the town at large, and tourists. Round trip car sharing, provided by firms like ZipCar, has been well established in many urban centers for years. Rural and low-income communities could benefit most from car sharing services, due to lack of density to support traditional transit, biking, or other options, but car sharing is virtually unknown outside of major urban centers. Hood River presents an ideal opportunity to test, assess, and hone how best to offer an attractive PEV car sharing service, in a rural setting, to benefit drivers from multiple sectors. The CRuSE Project envisions a three-year demonstration program, with five PEVs stationed throughout Hood River, at affordable housing sites, the city center, and tourist destinations. American Honda is loaning five post-lease Clarity EVs to the project. Envoy Technologies will provide the car sharing platform, enabling users to reserve and access vehicles via a smart phone, paying by the minute or hour, and returning the PEV to its home base. As part of this Project, Envoy will provide a Spanish translation of its app to appeal to diverse community members, alternate payment mechanisms to meet the needs of those without access to credit cards or bank accounts, and tiered pricing structures, enabling different prices to be charged to different user groups, enabling the potential for subsidies to be offered to qualified user groups. Forth will work with the City of Hood River, Hood River Columbia Area Transit, the Port of Hood River and Ride Connection, along with several community organizations such as Columbia Cascade Housing Corporation (an affordable housing provider) and Mid-Columbia Economic Development District to assess transportation needs and establish Envoy car sharing at optimal parking locations. Several of these organizations have indicated a willingness to provide a parking space for car sharing services throughout the three-year project period. PEV Charging installations will be facilitated by the local utility, Pacific Power, and OpConnect. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will perform data collection and analysis, to help the Project develop a model of financially sustainable car sharing, which will be refined and improved throughout the project. Forth and Columbia Willamette Clean Cities will disseminate the findings via webinars, conferences, regional workshops, to publicize results and entice other Clean Cities Coalitions to pursue initiating PEV car sharing in rural communities, nationwide. If successful, the CRuSE Project could bring PEV car sharing services to underserved rural communities nationwide, providing rural America with improved transportation access, energy efficiency benefits, environmental benefits, at lower costs to users. [Continue Reading]
New MCCFL Facility Opens in The Dalles
August 29, 2019 – Mid-Columbia Center for Living (MCCFL) began seeing clients at its new facility at 1060 Webber Street in The Dalles in early August. Construction of the facility was funded by a combination of grants, matching funds, and loan funds. Wasco County received $2 million from the Community Development Block Grant program from the Oregon Business Development Department. MCEDD supported Wasco County with grant administration for the project since 2016 when the funds were awarded. In addition to grant funds, the project was supported by MCCFL funds and a loan from Wasco County. As the grant recipient, the County officially owns the new facility for the first five years. MCCFL provides integrated physical and behavioral health services for people with mental illness, substance abuse and intellectual and developmental disabilities. The new facility allows MCCFL to consolidate all programs and administration into one building and enable separate treatment areas for adult and children’s services. In addition, the building will provide for state of the art lighting, electrical, plumbing, heating, and technology. It will also provide a comfortable, safe healing center designed and developed for and with people who have mental illness, addictions and/or developmental disabilities. The facility will allow MCCFL to provide treatment and services for 1,600 low to moderate-income adults, children and families dealing with mental illness, addictions and/or developmental disabilities. [Continue Reading]