2006 Annual Report Executive Summary

Clare County Enterprise Community

The executive summary section of this year’s report will be presented in a quarterly format.

Early in the year the Clare County EC (CCEC) Board of Directors’ Annual Meeting took place. As is called for in the bylaws, one third of the board seats needed to be filled due to term limits. After advertising the open board seats in the local newspapers, many qualified applicants responded. The board election took place, followed by election of the executive committee. It was decided that board meeting days, times and location would remain unchanged. A committee was appointed to review current bylaws and bring recommendations back to the board.

A major initiative supported by CCEC was Understanding Poverty as presented by the Ruby Payne organization. Through the cooperation of the Clare County Board of Commissioners and Mid Michigan Community Action Agency, all elected officials and county employees were trained in the concept of Understanding Poverty.

Decent Affordable Safe Housing (DASH), a workgroup of housing providers, facilitated by CCEC investigated the possibility of using currently unutilized funds held by the Clare County Housing Commission to create a revolving loan fund to assist the citizens of Clare County to acquire housing.

Listening Ear, a partner organization of CCEC, reported that the jointly created County Resource Directory was updated 144 times, which was possible because of its new web-based format. They also reported responding to 2,645 calls from Clare County citizens. Surrey Library which serves the citizens of south western Clare County was granted $8,500 as seed money to assist with the development of an integrated library system.

The high point of the second quarter was Group Workcamp, which is highlighted in the community participation section of this report. Nearly as rewarding, was the development of the focus on the small business initiative. During the past couple of years much energy has been put into the issue of helping small businesses in our county. Rural Partners of Michigan sponsored a conference designed to teach communities how to support their entrepreneurs. Several potential partners attended and returned to Clare County agreeing that entrepreneurship needed to be our focus. As a result of the interest shown by the Mid Michigan Region, Rural Partners arranged with Mid Michigan Community College for a local presentation by the Sirolli Institute outlining the Enterprise Facilitation concept.

CCEC learned that Silver Ridge Ski Resort, which had not operated the previous two seasons, was being purchased by investors who planned to turn the defunct winter resort into a campground and summer music festival venue. Several community partners, along with CCEC, met with the interested investors and developers to assess what could be done to bring this endeavor to fruition. At the current time, infrastructure is being put into place for a projected summer 2007 opening.

Graduation of the second class of Leadership Institute was an exciting event. Twelve future leaders accepted the charge, and are now helping to shape the future of Clare County. The Clare County Continuum of Care for the Homeless committee, which is the outgrowth of a CCEC workgroup, decided to join with Gladwin County to prepare a 10-year plan to address homelessness as required by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Mid Michigan Community Action Agency and Clare County Department of Human Services will jointly facilitate the effort.

During the third quarter much work took place on the 10-year plan to end homelessness in Clare and Gladwin Counties. Depending on the issue, between 15 and 30 partners assisted with the development of the plan. A great deal of time was spent addressing the small business initiative. The CCEC Board of Directors authorized funds to assist with the process and possibly the preparation of a grant. The direction that emerged was that of adding a small business counselor to the local SBTDC with the defined focus of working with Clare County entrepreneurs. CCEC also authorized half scholarships for workgroup members who would like to attend an upcoming conference called, Creating Entrepreneurial Communities, sponsored by Michigan State University’s Economic Development Team. As the workgroup continued to explore their options, Michigan Rural Partners, in partnership with the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, arranged for the Nebraska Community Foundation to bring their Home Town Competitiveness Academy to the Ziibiwing Cultural Center. This was a great opportunity but expensive. The advantages of offering it locally were the fact that it required no overnight stays, plane tickets or meals. The only cost to participants was daily mileage and tuition. Consumers Energy, our local supplier of natural gas and electricity, offered half scholarships to any workgroup member wishing to attend.

Middle Michigan Development Corporation, our regional economic development organization, presented a mid-year report indicating that, even in Michigan’s weak economy, the central Michigan region is doing fairly well. They also introduced their improved website www.mmdc.org which is one of CCEC’s major marketing tools.

The final quarter found a great deal of energy expended on the small business initiative. Six members of the workgroup attended the Home Town Competitiveness Academy, and five members attended the Creating Entrepreneurial Communities conference. Discussions about adding a Clare County small business counselor to the regional SBTDC staff continued. In order to move this initiative along, the CCEC Board of Directors obligated $30,000 for the next two years as seed funding for the initiative. After learning that CCEC’s EZ/EC designation will end December 31, 2008, the board of directors felt compelled to prioritize benchmarks to help set direction for the final two years. The CCEC Board of Directors wished to make it very clear that this prioritization of benchmarks was not meant to exclude any viable community project and that all would be viewed with a fair eye. Those benchmarks chosen by the board on which to concentrate its efforts are: All in all 2006 was a very productive year for Clare County Enterprise Community. Many partners were recipients of grants from a variety of sources, and community based projects were completed or initiated making the quality of life better for the citizens of Clare County.

 

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