Monday Mailing
Year 25 • Issue 07 29 October 2018 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
The Truth about the Urban-Rural Divide How Alabama Plans to Take Advantage of Opportunity Zones Crosstown Concourse Two Local Businesses Get Renewable Energy Grants Can Milwaukee Really Create 10,000 Affordable Homes? Report: Homelessness and Housing in Portland Downtown Phoenix: ‘Extraordinary’ Rebirth Brings Hope, Challenges Tossing Salmon for Science WEBINAR – Going Big in Small Places: Millennials Make Their Mark in America’s Towns – 11/14 @ 1pm (Tracy Gagnon) 10. GRANT – Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) 1. The Truth about the Urban-Rural Divide Wages and salaries are highest in urban areas. In 2016, counties in large and medium-sized metropolitan areas had median wages and salaries above $40,000. This compared to roughly $37,000 for the nation as a whole. Several large urban counties, like New York, Santa Clara, and San Mateo, had median wages and salaries of more than $100,000. All types of urban counties had wages and salaries that were higher than the national median, while only one type of rural county did—large rural counties adjacent to a metro area. For more information, click here.
Quote of the Week: Life is like a sewer: what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. ~Tom Lehrer
Oregon Fast Fact #40: Florence is known as Oregon’s rhododendron capital.
2. How Alabama Plans to Take Advantage of Opportunity Zones Alex Flachsbart credits his founding of Opportunity Alabama, a firstof-its-kind nonprofit dedicated to maximize the impact of the state’s Opportunity Zones, to “being a nerd.” Last November, he used Ctrl-F to search the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 for the term “low income.” In his search, he says, “I stumbled upon the Opportunity Zone program.” “Opportunity Zones,” passed as part of the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, were devised to attract capital to urban, suburban and rural areas where investment lagged after the Great Recession. It allows investors to avoid some taxes when they fund projects in designated zones. To access the full story, click here. 3. Crosstown Concourse For two decades, the 1.3-million-square-foot former Sears distribution center sat empty in the midst of disinvested Memphis neighborhoods—a symbol of urban blight. The building was too big to redevelop and too expensive to demolish, many thought. Now Crosstown Concourse represents the best kind of communitydriven revitalization—a “vertical village” that is fully occupied with 265 residential units, twenty percent of which are affordable. It includes a public charter school, a YMCA, health care facilities, restaurants, shops, and a 425-seat theater—a venue for local and touring musical acts, art films, community theater, and assembly space for tenants. Page 1 of 3
To access the full story, click here. 4. Two Local Businesses Get Renewable Energy Grants Two Douglas County businesses are among nine in the state, set to receive grants to support rural energy projects.On Friday Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced that nearly $428,000 in U.S. Department of Agriculture grants were headed to the state. Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture and Rural Development, said by making a one-time investment in renewable energy, the Oregon farms, ranches and other businesses together will save over $100,000 on their utility bills each year. To access the full story, click here. 5. Can Milwaukee Really Create 10,000 Affordable Homes? Barbara Smith, President of Milwaukee’s Amani United Neighborhood Association, stands in front of her north side house and points to a neglected two-family across the street, one of three abandoned properties adjacent to her house. The shingles of its upper floors are missing and ribbons of yellow siding curl away from the sides, exposing the boards underneath. Small holes line the outside wall, used by animals to get in and out. “I call that the critter house,” Smith says. The critter house has been like this for a while: The record of complaints about this property goes back 20 years. To access the full story, click here. 6. Downtown Phoenix: ‘Extraordinary Rebirth brings hope, challenges "More construction cranes now dot downtown Phoenix's skyline than ever," according to an article by Catherine Regor, Jessica Boehm, and Rachel Leingang. "The area's population is surging to record levels, as is the number of employers bringing new jobs to the core of the nation's fifth-largest city." According to the article, the Downtown Phoenix of 2018 would be unrecognizable compared to the Downtown Phoenix of 1988, just 30 years go. "The area's comeback started when the Phoenix Suns and the Arizona Diamondbacks made downtown Phoenix their home. Then Valley leaders and voters decided to back bonds that created a bigger convention center, a major hotel and a partnership for Arizona State University to grow rapidly in the area," according to the article. For more information, click here. 7. Report: Homelessness and Housing in Portland Root cause analysis illustrates both complexity and potential for collaborative solutions. Correlation between inadequate housing supply, rising rents, and homelessness opens opportunity for focused dialogue among policymakers, nonprofit leaders and funders. ECONorthwest, the Pacific Northwest’s largest independent economic research firm, released a new report today, Homelessness in the Portland Region, commissioned by Oregon Community Foundation. The report suggests that the magnitude of the region’s homelessness dilemma is the result of two converging crises: an inadequate housing supply leaving tens of thousands of Oregon children and families at risk of becoming homeless; a smaller population of chronically homeless people who experience challenging personal circumstances like mental health, illness, physical disabilities and substance abuse.
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To access the full story, click here. 8. Tossing Salmon for Science Every year thousands of sockeye salmon meet their end in Hansen Creek, a pebble-strewn tributary of Lake Aleknagik in southwestern Alaska, whether from old age or at the paws and jaws of a brown bear. Either way, they’re almost certainly destined to rot away on the north-facing bank of the stream. That’s because professors, researchers and students have been systematically tossing their carcasses to that side of the creek for the last 20 years. The scientists count and measure the carcasses and then toss them out of the streambed and up into the forest using wooden poles with metal hooks on the end, called gaffs. In total, they tossed about 295 tons of salmon onto Hansen Creek’s north-facing bank to avoid double counting surveyed fish. In doing so, they have created a unique opportunity to study exactly how salmon fertilize the forest. To access the full story, click here. 9. GRANT – Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) receives grant funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enhance the competitiveness of Oregon's specialty crops. ODA accepts competitive applications for specialty crop grant funds annually. Solely enhance the competitiveness of US specialty crops To be eligible for a grant, the project(s) must "solely enhance the competitiveness of US specialty crops" in either domestic or foreign markets. To learn more, click here. 10. WEBINAR – Going Big in Small Places: Millennials Make Their Mark in America’s Towns M illennials, the group that range in age from 22 to 37, more than any generation before them, live lives driven by technology. Technology has given them freedom to w ork anywhere and also keeps them constantly connected to friends and family. Place, it seems, is irrelevant. So, it might seem counterintuitive that M illennials would choose small towns. But many of them are—and in numbers defying conventional w isdom about so -called “brain drain” from rural America. Ben Winchester, w ho has spent his career studying trends in rural migration of all age groups, shares his data and sets the stage for an insightful discussion with three M illennials w ho have chosen towns and small cities and are contributing to the vibrancy of the places they live in a big w ay. To register for this webinar, click here.
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