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Economic Development Council outlines small-business support, workforce and housing efforts
Summary
The Mason County Economic Development Council updated commissioners on business retention programs, training and outreach, SEDS project funding and a new internship partnership with Shelton High School.
The Mason County Economic Development Council on Jan. 27 briefed the Board of County Commissioners on its early-2025 work to support local businesses, develop workforce pipelines and pursue site-readiness funding.
The council highlighted a business retention-and-expansion program that connects local firms to federal and state resources, training and lenders; new and ongoing workforce partnerships; a pilot internship with Shelton High School; and recent grant wins tied to the county’s SEDS (community economic development strategy) list.
The EDC representative said the organization is focusing on three staff-led functions: outreach to existing businesses to connect them with resources, marketing and events to support entrepreneurs, and helping secure project funding. "We are really hitting the ground running to start 2025," the EDC representative said.
On business services, the council said it has run workshops with the Small Business Administration, USDA and lenders and is expanding its Best, QuickStart and ScaleUp courses. The EDC said it is offering scholarships for those programs and tracking participants after course completion to measure impacts.
On workforce, the council discussed efforts to align local training with employer needs. It said conversations with True Fab, a port-area manufacturer, and Olympic College led to curriculum changes so the college will teach welding skills used by that employer. The EDC described follow-up meetings with PacMtn Workforce Development and higher-education partners to build hiring pipelines.
The council described a new internship link with Shelton High School’s CTE program that placed a student in a 20-hour rotation at the EDC office; the council called the pilot successful and said it plans to continue the partnership.
Housing and site-readiness work were pushed forward as priorities. The EDC said it helped partners pursue a state CHIP (Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program) grant last fall and will monitor future cycles; a previously-proposed private housing project did not proceed because of financing shifts. The EDC also reported recent success securing roughly $300,000 for SEDS projects (primarily site-readiness work at the Port of Shelton’s Johns Prairie site) and a roughly $100,000 Federal EDA (Economic Development Administration) award to support a PUD3 substation at Sanderson Field.
The EDC said it has temporary grant-writing capacity for about six months and is revamping the SEDS submission form to better align projects with place-based strategy and legislative priorities. The council anticipates returning to the commissioners in February or March with updated SEDS guidance and with a briefing on an American Rescue Plan-funded cluster analysis of local industry expected in March or April.
The EDC representative closed by asking commissioners to refer local business owners to the council as a resource. "If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to give us a call. We're a resource to you all as well," the EDC representative said.
