COBB— The Cobb Area Council (CAC) conducted its traditional monthly meeting Thursday June 19 through a Zoom webinar amid the still shelter in place order and social distance requirements due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The council invited the community to take part in the event where the main topics discussed were the Cobb Safe Drive Through Report given by the secretary and the Cobb Economic Development Plan and AHEAD-DR Grant update presented by the chair.
The meeting had digital participation from CAC Chair Eliot Hurwitz, member Cathy McCarthy, Secretary Cindy Leonard and Communications Officer/Vice Chair Jessica Pyska.
“We were really happy with how the drive through went. There were approximately 250 people there, and 10 volunteers,” said Leonard in reference to the drive-thru emergency preparedness event held on June 13.
Council members noted that Cobb received a grant of $200,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco as part of the Access to Housing and Economic Assistance for Development Disaster Recovery. The Cobb Mountain Fire Recovery and Economic Development Strategy has a scope of work that includes the small business loan program, the economic study and marketing strategy, community involvement, the Cobb Area Merchants Association, and the Economic Strategy Report.
“Even though our initial conception was that this would be for Cobb Area businesses, once the pandemic hit and businesses all over the County started to have difficulty, we asked the bank if we could expand this scope to rest of the county, but we’re still focusing in Cobb, Middletown and Kelseyville,” stated Hurwitz.
The community’s involvement is being managed by the Seigler Spring Community Redevelopment Association (SSCRA), including interviews with local business people and community leaders – 17 completed thus far with target of 40 more – and the population’s participation in the official Facebook page (facebook.com/CobbAreaCouncil). “We invite people to comment online. We want everybody’s feedback and engagement in the conversation,” he said.
The Economic Strategy Report details the vision for the Cobb Mountain Community’s revitalization and ability to thrive, involving small, home-based businesses focusing on the visitors serving those businesses; web-connected employees of global businesses with easy access to the Bay Area; robust local services of retail and local amenities; local agricultural activity; and high disaster resilience/adaptation. The priority strategic development/investment includes broadband – the top priority – cooperative marketing as a destination, roads, schools, viewsheds, besides keystone development areas and properties. “It’s critical to establish a strong broadband infrastructure in the community. We’re gonna take $ 20,000 of the grant and do a focus study on the broadband funding,” added Hurwitz.
The targeted sources and programs for development/investment cover government development programs, private investment opportunities and bootstrapping local resources. “With the COVID crisis, we really want to see what we can do to help those local businesses, that are the heart of the community, to get a little boost to keep going. We’ve been looking to do a marketing strategy for them”, noted Hurwitz. “The last update on the Cobb Economic Development Plan was in 1989. A lot has changed since then. That’s why we’re putting as much detail and energy in the development of this report.”
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June 22, 2020 at 11:19AM
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Cobb Area Council discusses economic strategy, ongoing projects - Lake County Record-Bee
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