Government shutdown impacting NCWEDD

WENATCHEE - The North Central Washington Economic Development District is a federally-designated nonprofit committed to facilitating regional partnerships and economic strategy development across Chelan, Douglas, and Okanogan Counties. Each quarter, the NCWEDD is eligible for an advance from the Economic Development Administration that covers 50% of our core operating budget.

The NCWEDD has a broad scope of work that - much like tendons in the body - functions as connective tissue between agencies, governments and organizations serving North Central Washington. The NCWEDD staff writes and wins grants for infrastructure. The board and staff vets and ranks projects eligible for federal and state investments. Additional projects support regional tourism off the beaten path, convene stakeholders for the Annual Regional Economic Forum, manage the Chelan Douglas Trends Community Indicators site (https://ncwedd.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=92761e8e2592b0d1b62fb0512&id=42926cac97&e=33eafab9ee), provide fiscal sponsorship for Plug-In NCW (https://ncwedd.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=92761e8e2592b0d1b62fb0512&id=fa9df86938&e=33eafab9ee), and functions as a thought partner for nascent economic interests (e.g. a regional arts economy, and blockchain applications beyond cryptocurrency).

The current federal shutdown has delayed the processing of our advance for the first quarter of 2019. Nevertheless, 2019 membership dues have been invoiced and are expected to start being paid in January.

The NCWEDD has also been awarded a Community Foundation Regional Impact Grant. Additional operations revenue comes from grant administration and contract revenue for special projects, and registration fees for the Tourism Summit in February.

Thus, we expect to be able to operate at only slightly reduced capacity to meet our core operation obligations to the region. However, if the federal shutdown is not resolved by mid-February or there are delays in the receipts from local revenue sources, we will face a more dire situation.

Other local projects and organizations that are reliant on federal and state funding, in whole or part, could be in jeopardy, given that the shutdown currently impacts the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, State, Transportation, and Treasury.

The NCWEDD is fortunate to have been selected as a Give NCW recipient, primarily in support of the Tourism Summit and the NCW Regional Economic Forum. Please consider supporting our work by donating:
https://ncwedd.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=92761e8e2592b0d1b62fb0512&id=377bd9b889&e=33eafab9ee.

For additional information or to explore other means of supporting the work of the NCWEDD, please contact the Executive Director at:Karen@ncwedd.com, or 509-899-9321.