29 participants recently completed the 6th course on the way to earning their Oregon Economic Developer Certification. Held in Klamath Falls, a strong cohort of new and seasoned economic development professionals spent a full day together delving into economic development finance in Oregon. The course covered topics from business financing fundamentals, to debt vs equity financing, revolving loan funds, state and federal finance tools and how to package finance deals. Participants commented:
“The pace was great, the instructors kept my attention and although I’ve been in Ec Dev for many years, I always learn something new.”
“It was eye opening to see all of the financing options, and to better understand the approaches to managing financing.”
“I enjoyed that it was over my head. I learned a great deal, made good contacts, and now know what my local partners do with parts of business assistance. I can now speak more intelligently with business owners.”
“The thing I enjoyed most about this training was the really broad cross section of all the various tools. It is tremendously helpful for someone, like myself, who is relatively new in the Economic Development world to learn so much over the course of a day.”
As with all OEDA professional development courses, anyone interested in the breadth of economic development issues covered over the 8 certificate courses are welcomed. Experience in the first year of certificate courses being offered suggests there is great applicability for anyone even tangentially connected to economic development in Oregon. If you are a practitioner, banker, realtor, chamber member, local elected official or staff, consider reviewing and attending upcoming OEDA professional development courses.
OEDA’s training courses are produced through the organization’s Professional Development Committee chaired by AJ Foscoli, Economic Development Director for the City of Dallas, and Annie Gorski, Economic Development Manager for the City of Salem.
The next scheduled course “Economic Development in Oregon; Fundamentals”, will be held on November 2nd @ 8:00 in Salem. Sign up now!
For more information, please contact:
Avery Pickard, OEDA Executive Director
(541) 623-0064