Ecotrust to put $45 million in New Markets Tax Credits toward jobs, innovation

Apr 262013
 

Just days after the public launch of a successful New Markets Tax Credit-supported project, Ecotrust has learned that its subsidiary, Ecotrust CDE, was awarded $45 million of additional New Markets Tax Credit allocation. Ecotrust will put the new federal financing toward innovative initiatives that create economic, social and environmental benefit in rural and disadvantaged communities in the Northwest and beyond.

Ecotrust used past allocations of New Markets Tax Credits to support the Bullitt Center, the world’s leading-edge commercial green building, which opened on April 22, 2013. The 50,000-square-foot building, which continues renewal at the edge of Seattle’s Central and Capitol Hill Districts, will generate all of its own energy and use a rainwater filtering system to meet all of its water needs. Construction created 160 jobs and invested $30 million into the region’s economy.

The Bullitt Center under construction last year. Photo by John Stamets.

The Bullitt Center under construction late last year. Photo by John Stamets.

“The Bullitt Center is the latest example of how Ecotrust uses New Markets Tax Credits and other forms of capital to push environmental and social innovation while creating jobs and successful new business models,” says Spencer Beebe, chairman of Ecotrust.

Ecotrust’s latest allocation is part of $3.5 billion in New Markets Tax Credit awards to 85 organizations nationwide by the Treasury Department. This money is to be invested in creating and protecting jobs in disadvantaged and distressed communities.

This is the fourth allocation of New Markets Tax Credits that Ecotrust CDE has received since 2003.

Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) celebrated the news. “This is great news for Ecotrust and the entire Northwest,” said Merkley. “Ecotrust has been an incredible partner to Oregon’s rural communities, supporting economic development in environmentally sustainable industries ranging from forest products to clean energy. I look forward to seeing this new funding turn into jobs and economic activity across Oregon.”

Washington Governor Jay Inslee said:  “Wood products is a backbone, legacy industry in the Northwest. This support for innovation in green building will help spur new jobs in distressed rural communities with deep roots in the forestry sector. I applaud this opportunity to leverage public and private funding to support cutting-edge projects and ignite sustainable economic growth.”

Past Ecotrust allocations, totaling $122 million, have supported clean energy projects, a new model of timberland management, and forest products innovation, including:

  • Ochoco Lumber Company, which refinanced and stabilized the last remaining mill in John Day, Oregon and included the construction of a new pellet fuel facility.
  • Chobani, Inc, formerly Agro-Farma, Inc, to renovate and upgrade its yogurt manufacturing facility located in an economically distressed county of New York, and to finance the installation of a biogas plant to convert wastes from the yogurt production process into energy.
  • Ecotrust Forest Management<http://www.ecotrustforests.com/>, to support the purchase of 12,500 acres of timberland in Washington and Oregon and the conversion of the land to Forest Stewardship Council-certified  management, for multiple outcomes of timber, jobs, carbon sequestration, clean water and wildlife habitat.

Ecotrust CDE plans to use some of the latest NMTC allocations to support innovative new projects across the Northwest, including Northwest tribal governments’ re-acquisition of traditional lands.

“This allocation will provide critical financing for businesses and organizations in rural communities across the Pacific Northwest,” says Bettina von Hagen, Managing Director of Investments and Community Engagement of Ecotrust CDE. “We have a very exciting pipeline of projects, which includes the conversion of an abandoned retail space into a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, and the rejuvenation of shuttered facilities, including a paper mill, a sawmill and a biomass plant that will generate hundreds of family-wage jobs in highly distressed communities. We are particularly excited about the opportunity to work with tribes on land repatriation and the launch of related tribal forest processing businesses.”

Through Ecotrust CDE, Ecotrust uses New Markets Tax Credits as one tool in a wider strategy of impact investing to improve social, environmental and economic conditions up and down the West Coast. Over the last twenty years, Ecotrust has turned $30 million in grants and program- and mission-related investments into $800 million in assets at work throughout the region. Learn more about Ecotrust’s impact investing approach and history here.

The New Markets Tax Credit program, established by Congress in December 2000, permits corporate taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making equity investments in vehicles known as Community Development Entities, or CDEs. The credit provided to the investor totals 39 percent of the cost of the investment and is claimed over a seven-year period. For every dollar invested by the federal government, the NMTC Program generates over eight dollars in private investment. President Obama’s FY14 budget included an expansion and permanent extension of the New Markets Tax Credit.

In the latest funding cycle, 282 CDEs applied for allocations, requesting a total of approximately $21.9 billion in allocations.

  • Allocation awards totaled $3.5 billion, or about 16 percent of the total amount requested by applicants.
  • Thirty percent of the total applicant pool – 85 CDEs – were awarded allocations.
  • Allocation awards range in size from $15 million to $80 million. The median allocation amount was $40 million and the average allocation amount was about $41.2 million.

More on this year’s awards and the New Markets Tax Credits program is here

National Working Waterfronts gathering: seeking innovation in coastal communities

Feb 212013
 

Across the United States, shorelines are getting squeezed.

Expanding populations, industries, and potential uses for coastal areas add up to increasing conflicts over access to waterfronts. Communities both large and small are seeking creative solutions to address evolving waterfront challenges.

The third National Working Waterfronts and Waterways Symposium — scheduled for March 25-28 in Tacoma, Washington — will address these challenges. The event will provide a forum for diverse users to address common dilemmas, and share solutions.

World population numbers are increasing, as are the challenges in accessing shorelines. This national symposium will provide a forum for diverse users to discuss solutions to some of these issues. |Photo: otEcotrust|

World population numbers are increasing, as are the challenges in accessing shorelines, which impacts the maritime, fishing, and boat building industries, among others. |Photo: Ecotrust|

Washington Sea Grant, in coordination with Oregon Sea Grant, is sponsoring the symposium, where planning professionals, elected officials, and interested citizens can learn first-hand about:

  • Economic and social impacts of and on working waterfronts
  • Successful local, regional, state, and federal strategies to address working waterfront issues
  • The future of working waterfronts, including potential impacts of changing uses and climates
  • Keeping waterfront industries commercially viable

One of the panels, moderated by Ecotrust’s VP for Fisheries Ed Backus, will focus on the way community-based fisheries are inherently intertwined with and dependent on access to working waterfronts and waterways.  Panelists will include members of the Community Fisheries Network, a group of 15 community-based fishing organizations and supporting organizations from around the United States that have joined together to address common challenges faced by small-scale fisheries.  The panel will focus on the critical role working waterfronts play in supporting community-based fisheries and how successful fishing businesses can help communities preserve their working waterfronts. By investing in their infrastructure, their businesses, their communities, their deckhands and crew, and by engaging in creative marketing, small-scale fisheries across the country can help ensure there is enough revenue crossing the wharves they rely on to ensure the long-term sustainability of their communities.

Attendees are expected to include local, regional, tribal, and national decision-makers; members of the commercial fishing, marine, and tourism industries; developers and property owners; business owners; community planners; and waterfront advocates.

Following a 2007 Maine Sea Grant report, Access to the Waterfront: Issues and Solutions Across the Nation, the first national symposium was held in 2007 in Norfolk, Virginia, followed by a second one in Portland, Maine, in 2010.

Working waterfronts provide valuable economic and environmental resources to coastal communities. |Photo: Ecotrust|

Working waterfronts provide valuable economic and environmental resources to coastal communities.
|Photo: Ecotrust|

After the Maine conference, team members secured a grant from the federal government to continue building a network. The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) funded a year and a half study to identify strategies, practical methods, and finance mechanisms to address current economic challenges of coastal communities. The project was a collaborative effort among the Island Institute; the Maine, Virginia, and Florida Sea Grant College Programs; the National Sea Grant Law Center; the Urban Harbors Institute; and Coastal Enterprises, Inc.

The final results from the study will be presented at this year’s conference, which begins with a full day of field trips around the Tacoma waterfront and region.

For more information, contact Washington Sea Grant Coastal Management Specialist Nicole Faghin, conference coordinator, at wwaters2013@uw.edu or 206.685.8286 (office)

Legislators taste a whole new lunch

Nov 022012
 

To celebrate Farm to School Month, dozens of Oregon legislators headed to school cafeterias this October to check out what’s new on the menu.

Why did these legislator lunches take place? Statewide funding and legislation is key to growing Farm to School efforts in Oregon. House Bill 2800, passed in 2011, provides just under $200,000 in statewide funding to bring more Oregon-grown and processed foods into school lunches and support food, agriculture, and garden-based educational activities. Starting last week, school districts have the opportunity to apply for this funding to expand their Farm to School efforts.

Congressman Kurt Schrader (D, District 5) and Representative Brian Clem (D-Salem, District 21) eat a fruit- and vegetable-filled lunch with students after touring the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation’s (SKEF) Learning Gardens at Grant Community School.

Although the $200,000 will be awarded to just a few Oregon districts as part of a pilot program, Ecotrust research shows that every dollar spent on Oregon-grown and -processed foods has a significant multiplier effect on Oregon’s farming and processing industries.

In 2013, a growing group of Farm to School advocates will return to the legislature to ask for an expanded $5 million Farm to School grant program. These advocates, co-led by Ecotrust and Upstream Public Health, invited legislators to lunch to showcase the real impacts that Farm to School and school garden programming have for hungry kids and hard-working farmers in their communities.

Healthy school lunch gives young Oregonians – including the large number who experience food insecurity – a daily, balanced meal. Garden-based education helps increase children’s food literacy and teaches life-long healthy eating habits. Farm to School supports regional food economies and creates new markets for Oregon farmers.

Ecotrust helped organize three lunches: at Cascade Elementary in the Lebanon Community School District, Centennial Learning Center (CLC) in the Centennial School District, and Grant Community School in the Salem-Keizer School District. Increased funding from the state will allow schools like Cascade, CLC and Grant to sustain and expand their innovative programming and allow more schools across Oregon to develop successful programs.

Legislators get a taste of how school lunch is changing
On Food Day, October, 24, Representative Sherrie Sprenger (R-Scio, House District 17) toured Cascades Elementary. Student guides gave a tour of the district’s Planting Seeds of Change edible teaching and production gardens, which produced 800 pounds of food for the school meal program and a local hospital last year! (Learn more about the visit in this Democrat Herald story.)

On October 26, Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson (D–Gresham, District 25) and Representative Greg Matthews (D-Gresham, District 50) visited Centennial Learning Center. They experienced their innovative lunch program, which incorporates farm fresh produce. In August 2012, the district began incorporating a weekly share of vegetables from Dancing Roots Farm into its school lunches. All students learn to cook in the culinary program, which prepares breakfast and lunch daily for the school. Centennial Learning Center was also the first school in Gresham to pilot composting food scraps.

Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson (D–Gresham, District 25) and farmer Brian Dickerson of Dancing Roots Farm listen as Conrad Schumacher, Centennial Learning Center chef and teacher, describes the lunch they are about to eat, prepared by CLC students using vegetables from Dancing Roots.

Rep. Greg Matthews (D-Gresham, District 50) points out what’s on the menu for lunch at the Centennial Learning Center, highlighting vegetables from Dancing Roots Farm. He is flanked by the Oregon Department of Education’s new Farm to School Coordinator Rick Sherman, FoodCorps fellow Emily Ritchie, principal Jamie Juenemann, and the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School Specialist, Michelle Ratcliffe.

On Halloween, October 31, Congressman Kurt Schrader (D, District 5), Representative Vicki Berger (R-Salem, District 20), and Representative Brian Clem (D-Salem, District 21) ate school lunch at Grant Community School. They joined Food Service Director Dave Harvey; representatives from the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, and Ecotrust; and elementary students to tour the school garden, learn about the school’s composting program, participate in an apple taste test, and experience how the district is changing what students eat and how cafeterias source food. (Learn more about the visit in this Statesman Journal story and this Capital Press story.)

A raised bed in the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation’s Learning Gardens at Grant Community School overflows with abundant fall produce. Students at Grant report that kale is one of their favorite vegetables (!) – they turn it into tasty kale chips with School Garden Coordinator Brenda Knobloch.

FoodCorps service member Chelsea Thomsen and Salem-Keizer Education Foundation School Garden Coordinator Brenda Knobloch serve tastes of several varieties of Oregon apples to students in the cafeteria at Grant Community School.

From left: Representative Brian Clem (D-Salem, District 21), Representative Vicki Berger (R-Salem, District 20) and Congressman Kurt Schrader (D, District 5) check out the composting setup in the cafeteria at Grant Community School in the Salem-Keizer School District.

Photos by Stacey Sobell.

Ecodistricts Summit will work on smarter, more resilient cities

Oct 112012
 

The Portland Sustainability Institute will host the 2012 Ecodistricts Summit October 23- 26, as part of the ongoing effort to build smarter, more resilient, and more livable urban districts across the world. Policymakers, planners, developers, business leaders, and financers from around the world will forge solutions to some of the more pressing issues facing metropolitan areas.

Simply put, an Ecodistrict is a neighborhood or district dedicated to sustainability. The Ecodistricts Summit will allow for forward-thinking, collaborative ideas, bringing together some of the world’s best minds to tackle population, pollution, civic engagement, and community development.

Leaders will share tools and strategies for neighborhood-scale sustainability within cities.
[Photo Credit: Sam Beebe, Ecotrust]

 

 

Keynote speaker Carol Coletta is currently the leader of ArtPlace, an American initiative created by banks, foundations, and agencies (like the National Endowment for the Arts), that seeks to transform communities by investing in art and culture. She hosted and produced a nationally syndicated public radio show called Smart City, served as president of CEOs for Cities, and directed the Mayor’s Institute on City Design in Memphis.

Coletta has highlighted the importance of compact, local, intimate communities for creativity and connection.

PoSI is a nonprofit dedicated to building partnerships and incubating solutions that efficiently and strategically address infrastructure, transportation, and energy sectors of urban landscapes. This past spring, leaders from Austin, Bellingham, Boston, Charlotte, Cleveland, Guadalajara (Mexico), Mountain View, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Vancouver (B.C.) met at Ecotrust for the first-ever Ecodistricts Institute to discuss neighborhood-scale planning in their respective cities.

To connect with the summit on social channels follow @pdxinstitute on Twitter and Facebook with hashtages #ecodistrictssummit and #greencities.

 

 

Restoration=Jobs

Aug 312012
 

While the presidential contenders argue about where the jobs of the future will come from, there’s no debate about this: watershed restoration and similar activities throughout Oregon are creating serious employment and economic growth right now.  In a new study, Ecotrust has found that restoration projects in the state generated $977.5 million in economic activity and as many as 6,483 jobs between 2001 and 2010.

A Northwest road being decommissioned. Courtesy Bengt Coffin, USFS.

Much of the activity has come in rural communities that are in the midst of a long-term employment crisis, with measured unemployment rates up to twice the national average. This ongoing employment crisis has undermined local tax bases, leading to the collapse of vital public services and infrastructure. The lack of local opportunities, and the resulting brain and youth drain to urban centers, threatens to unravel the social and cultural fabric that has defined many rural communities for generations.

“Restoration can drive economic development and job creation, particularly in rural communities that have suffered from persistently high unemployment rates,” says Spencer B. Beebe, president and founder of Ecotrust. “And, unlike in many other sectors of our economy, restoration jobs can’t be outsourced to far-off places.”

The investments in restoration have created jobs for construction workers, landscapers, heavy equipment operators, and technical experts such as engineers and wildlife biologists. And the projects also create demand for local businesses, such as plant nurseries, quarries, and others.

Restoring habitat also benefits the economy in the long term. Habitat improvements intended to bolster fish runs promise to increase sport and commercial fishing opportunities in the coming years — already big business in Oregon. So investments in ecosystem restoration can be seen as the first steps in the evolution of a new natural resource economy.

“Habitat restoration jobs pay dividends twice, first in creating good, local jobs immediately, and then, for many decades to come, through increased benefits from fisheries, tourism and resiliency for coastal communities,” said Eric Schwaab, assistant administrator for fisheries for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA provides technical expertise and funding to restore coastal, marine, and migratory fish habitat in Oregon and around the nation.

Bob Carlin Sr. and son, Bob Jr., take a break from restoration work on Sucker Creek in Southern Oregon. Photo:Sam Beebe, Ecotrust.

A recent national study published in Marine Policy analyzing job creation and other economic impacts from NOAA restoration projects found that an average of 17 jobs were created for $1 million invested. That rate of job creation is significantly higher than other industries, including coal, natural gas, or road and bridge construction.

Congressman Earl Blumenhauer, who represents Oregon’s 3rd district and recently introduced HR 6249, the “Water Protection and Reinvestment Act,” a bill that calls for investment in clean water infrastructure across the nation, commented: “For too long, we have treated our rivers and waterways like machines to the detriment of water quality and quantity. Investing in restoration not only improves habitat for fish and wildlife, it creates jobs and bring much needed revenue to local communities. Oregon has tremendous opportunities for restoration that can serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”

A recent University of Oregon report found that an average of 90 cents of every dollar spent on restoration stays in the state, and 80 cents of every dollar spent stays in the county where a project is located. For example, of the nearly $400,000 invested to restore Little Butte Creek in Southern Oregon from 2009–2011, 72 percent was spent in Jackson County, and 97 percent was expended in Oregon. Over half of those dollars went to salaries that directly benefit Oregonians.

Mike Herrick, Owner of Aquatic Contracting said, “Over the last 10 years, restoration projects have allowed us to provide a sustainable living for our employees. They can use their skills in construction and feel good about what they are doing. We have grown from just a couple of employees to as many as 20. Without restoration funding, we would not be able to provide these opportunities and support the local economies where we work.”

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