2009 Year In Review

What a year! We started and ended McCloud Local First Network’s first year with a bang. The January community meeting saw the official formation of what is now the McCloud Local First Network and the announcement of our Business Idea Contest winners. Here we are in December, involved in an exciting “Show McCloud First” campaign.

In between those events were a number of landmarks:

March: 1st newsletter release, 1st Network public meeting AND the launch of our beautiful website! Members organized working groups and started to work.

June: Established as 501(c)3 non-profit, conducted shopper and business surveys, recruited the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and the Jefferson Economic Development Institute (JEDI) to offer free services to McCloud businesses and entrepreneurs, became a member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), and secured office space.

Summer: McCloud Basin resident Lin McClellan and her family brought the first Farmer’s Market to town, three Network representatives attended the national BALLE conference, and the San Francisco Foundation awarded a grant of $10,000 as part of a $25,000 challenge grant.

Fall/ Winter: Network Members elected a 5-member Board of Directors, Strategic Planning sessions were conducted for the Tourism working group, our maiden “Shop Local First” marketing campaign was launched and we received word of our Northern California Environmental Grassroots Fund grant award.

Our working groups continue to pursue initiatives designed to improve the economic climate in McCloud. Not mentioned above are:

Trail Development: rail-trail from McCloud to Burney, smaller trails to connect to local attractions

Alternative Energy: working on several initiatives to develop alternative energy sources and to reduce local energy consumption

Business Retention and Attraction: developing information resources and working with other agencies

Branding McCloud: working towards developing a universal “brand” image for McCloud while uniting the community through public events and an inclusive visioning process.

To each and everyone of you who have watched us develop, helped us along, put in your time and energy, and have spread the word about us to your friends and neighbors, we could not have gotten this far in one year without you! It is truly astounding and inspirational to look back and see our progress as we look ahead to all that is possible to accomplish in the future.