Michael Kraft
North Edge represents kind of a weird nonprofit, in this way: they don’t want a donation from you. When I asked my friend Susan Seaman, the Program Director, how citizens can help her organization, she says “shop local and support the businesses that we’re supporting.” As a long-time participant in various aspects of North Coast economic development, if I could provide one mantra for locals when it comes to creating a vital economy, that line from Susan would be it.
Those businesses have included some of the most quintessentially Humboldt companies, such as Wing Inflatables, North Coast Children’s Services and Holly Yashi. If that sounds Arcata-centric, it’s for good historical reasons. The organization was born in Arcata, to serve Arcata, almost 50 years ago.
Over time, however, wider community needs arose and North Edge—then AEDC, which originally stood for Arcata Economic Development Corporation—expanded, eventually moving to Eureka. North Edge now actively serves Del Norte, Siskiyou, Trinity, Lake and Mendocino counties, as well as Humboldt. The organization finally bit the bullet last year and rebranded to the current identity. “It was hard to decide to change the name,” Susan says, “but once we did it there was almost zero resistance and there’s been great acceptance.”
As a lender, with a deep list of lending products and sources, there are three things that Susan wanted to mention. One is that North Edge, as an economic development lender, makes loans that support local businesses, often when banks can’t. The second is that, “as a borrower during these tumultuous economic times, it’s important to know who your lender is and who will work with you when times get tough. You may be able to find a loan online, but it could contain predatory terms you don’t spot.” And, third, “we have some deep institutional knowledge. Our loan director Kelli Sterling has been here for 25 years and remembers Bubbles in Arcata as one of her first loans.” To explore the loan products available, go here: https://www.northedgefinancing.org/loans.
While many think of North Edge for small start-ups, they have also become a go-to partner for assembling large capital stacks of funds for community development projects. One of North Edge’s designations is as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). The CDFI Fund serves mission-driven financial institutions that support economically disadvantaged communities, injecting new sources of capital into neighborhoods that lack access to financing. Using that designation, approaching local funding partners and bringing in funding from larger CDFIs from outside of the region, North Edge has been able to make large projects possible, like Open Door Community Health in Eureka and Life Plan Humboldt in McKinleyville.
North Edge folks pride themselves on taking the time necessary to build partnerships. This applies to the multi-county area and to the work of Executive Director Ross Welch. It shows in the organization’s longstanding engagement with Native American constituencies, which contributed to landmark achievements such as the renovation of Eureka’s Carson Block and the revival of a much-needed grocery store in Hoopa. In fact, last year, the Northern California Indian Development Council (NCIDC) presented the first ever Indian Country Prosperity Award to Ross for his significant contributions to the workforce and economic development of Native communities.
Welch also helped found the California Finance Consortium, a non-profit with four other economic development agencies in rural Northern California who work together to create a “bigger basket” making our region more attractive to funders and bringing more money from outside into our region.
Susan says “we spent 40 years building a foundation in small businesses lending, which helps us to be financially independent. We’re not guided as much by where we can get operational funds, which provides us the freedom to work where we think it’s important in economic development.”
This leads to the other side of North Edge, which houses several economic development programs. You can take a deep dive here: https://www.northedgefinancing.org/programs.
Those programs include a deep commitment to child care, where they act as the administrator for the County of Humboldt for programs that provide child care retention bonuses, hiring bonuses, and forgivable loans for childcare facilities, as well as subsidies for parents. You can learn more about those programs at humboldtchildcare.org.
The organization serves as the fiscal home for Redwood Region RISE, a four-county economic development initiative that recently funneled $9 million to projects in those counties.
The third major programmatic initiative is hosting the yearly Regional Economic Development Summit. Susan calls it a “big city quality summit” The summit rotates through the North Edge service territory, with this year’s coming up on November 6-7 in Lake County. To check out the conference and register, copy this link: https://www.northedgefinancing.org/redwood-coast-region-economic-summit.
North Edge stands out as a unique nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering economic development on the North Coast. Through their efforts, North Edge continues to make significant contributions to the prosperity and well-being of the expanded list of communities they serve.
Good Work is a series written by Michael Kraft, who volunteers on behalf of the Northern California Association of Nonprofits (NorCAN). NorCAN supports connections between people and organizations that work every day to keep our communities healthy and strong by offering professional development, board support, networking connections and more. Learn more at https://norcal-nonprofits.org/. To nominate a deserving nonprofit organization to be profiled, email michael@kraftconsultants.com.
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