Rural Economic Development — Roni Holder-Diefenbach, Executive Director, Okanogan County
Summary
Presentation by Roni Holder-Diefenbach, Executive Director of the Okanogan County Economic Alliance, on how the E.A. works with entrepreneurs and small businesses in rural Okanogan County. It lists barriers rural businesses and communities face, including lack of broadband infrastructure, workforce housing, childcare and transportation costs. Current projects include 84 Million in broadband infrastructure funding brought into Okanogan County since 2019 and first-time service to 35 Latino Small Business owners. The closing section calls for expanded partnership with Workforce Development, continued DEI work and more capacity.
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“Rural Economic Development — Roni Holder-Diefenbach, Executive Director, Okanogan County.”
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Rural Economic Development
Roni Holder-Diefenbach, Executive Director
How does the E.A. work with Entrepreneurs and Small
Businesses in Rural Okanogan County?
PARTNERSHIPS Ensure Equitable Access to Resources and
• Cross-sector partnerships Growth Opportunities
• Develop & sustains authentic, trusting • Communication Strategy (Chambers, Twisp
relationships Works, Cities, County) Newsletters, Social Media
• Honors diverse voices representing • Education & Training (SBRTC, PTAC, NNDF WVC,
Indianprenership Classes)
Okanogan County’s demographics.
• Business Outreach- including marketing materials
• Transparency and trainings in English and Spanish
• Provide 1 on 1 Small Business Assistance through
our SBDC (English & Spanish)
• Provide Administrative Support to DMO
• Access to Financial Assistance
• Local Banks (Tribal Credit, NNDF-Native
CDFI)
• Craft 3
• Tri County EDD Loan Fund
Barriers and Challenges that Rural
Businesses & Communities Face
• Feeling Remote and Isolated
• Connectivity-Lack of Broadband infrastructure
• Workforce Housing
• Childcare
• Available Workforce
• Public Infrastructure for growth
• Transportation Costs
• Capacity: Very small communities that lack
staffing to apply for grants or to facilitate
projects
The impacts that the Economic Alliance has on
Economic Development in Rural Okanogan County
Current Projects
• Facilitate the OK/CCT Broadband Action Team • Facilitate the .09 Public Infrastructure and Community and
• 84 Million in Broadband infrastructure funding brought into Economic Development Prioritization Process for Okanogan
Okanogan County since 2019 County
• Updated Broadband and Digital Equity Plans • County Commissioners Adopt List by Resolution
• Support Letters/Assist in Grant writing
• Chair the NCW Workforce Development Council
• Communities Received Special Appropriations and state and
• Partnership with Skillsource to address rural apprenticeship and
federal dollars due to ranking and project need.
training for the construction field. Challenges with
Transportation and distance to training sites. • Co Sponsor the SBDC
• Work with OIC to provide outreach to our Agriculture • Training 2 new Associate Business Advisors to assist our
employers and employees. Certified Business Advisor in providing the services need by our
Small Businesses.
• Latino Small Business Outreach
• Provided first time service to 35 Latino Small Business owners • Host and Facilitate the 2024 Workforce Housing Summit
• Provide 1 on 1 small business advising • Coming March 2024
• Training offered in Spanish
• Small business Resource and Tech Center
• Partner with the Northwest Native Development Fund • Held 15 Trainings this last year for small businesses over 50
participants
• Co sponsor training and events for Native entrepreneurs
• Provided computer space, equipment and tools to help
• Provide 1 on 1 small business advising businesses expand into a online environment
• Provide Chromebooks to Small Businesses at no cost
PARTNER/COLLABORATE
To best serve our small businesses and communities we have to be at the table advocating for them and sharing their story at the larger table. This is a
CHALLENGE, due to limited funding and lack of capacity for small Rural ADO’s like the Economic Alliance.
How would we like to enhance Economic Development
Services as the ADO in Rural Okanogan County?
o Expand the partnership with Workforce Development -- At this time, our businesses cannot get back to
pre-COVID numbers due to the lack of available workforce and training. We need to look at solution-based
approaches to help these employers, and that could be done by innovative training programs partnering
with our WDC, and local community colleges.
o Focus on the DEI work that we are doing. Additional funding would allow us to continue the programs and
services recently created using one-time only grant funding to assist our minority, woman owned and other
disadvantaged businesses, who desperately need these services.
o CAPACITY. As many of you know Okanogan County is the largest county in the state of Washington, we are
very rural and historically distressed. We have 13 municipalities and the Colville Confederated tribe within
our boundaries, at the current funding levels we do not have the ability to hire the additional staff needed
to cover this large of an area to address the many needs of the communities and businesses that we serve.
THANK YOU
RONI HOLDER-DIEFENBACH
Okanogan County Economic Alliance
rholderdiefenbach@economic-alliance.com
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