School board candidates’ forum
A candidates’ forum for the only local elective race that will be on the Aug. 1 primary ballot — Methow Valley School District board of directors Position 5 (at large) — will be held on July 13 at the Mazama Community Club, starting at 6 p.m.
Invited to the forum are incumbent Frank Kline of Winthrop, and challengers Michael Liu of Twisp and JT Sawyer of Winthrop. According to organizer Ann Diamond, Kline and Liu have agreed to appear but Sawyer will out of town.
All three candidates have been sent a few preliminary questions to answer at the forum; Sawyer will have the opportunity to respond in writing and his answers read at the event. Additional questions will be solicited from the audience.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. for mingling; the program will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Local nonprofits win grants
The Community Foundation of NCW, in partnership with the Icicle Fund, Thriving Together NCW, and the Methow Valley Fund, has awarded $65,000 in strategic consulting grants to 13 nonprofits across the region, including several in the Methow Valley.
Local grant winners are C6 to Farm, Friends of the Pool (Twisp), the Methow Conservancy and Room One.
The grants provide nonprofits with a consultant to help guide them through their organizational strategies and planning goals for long-term growth and sustainability, according to a Community Foundation press release.
“We know how challenging it can be as nonprofits to find the time, money, and human resources to work with a consultant on strategy and planning work” said Claire Oatey, director of community grants for the Community Foundation. “This funder collaborative gives local nonprofits an opportunity to invest in themselves, including their resiliency and effectiveness, which we know will ultimately benefit all of us and make our region stronger.”
“We have seen the prior recipients of this grant take great leaps in growth and sustainability as a result of this program” said Christine Morgan, executive director of the Icicle Fund.
Sign up for Fourth of July Parade
The 132nd annual Twisp Fourth of July Parade, presented by the Twisp Chamber of Commerce, is looking for participants to take part in the event, which will be themed “Outer Space.”
This year the parade will reverse its traditional course. Staging will begin at 10 a.m. at the Town Park at the north end of Lincoln Street, and the parade will proceed south down Glover Street from Twisp Avenue to Fifth Avenue, starting at 11 a.m.
As soon as the parade concludes, the Methow Arts Festival will begin, this year on the TwispWorks campus.
The event is supported in part by the Town of Twisp and Okanogan County lodging taxes. Contact Juliet Kennedy at TwispWashington@gmail.com for additional information, or visit http://twispwa.com/fourth-of-july to find the parade application form. Fill out the form and email it to twispwashington@gmail.com, or print out the form and submit to Twisp Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 686, Twisp, WA 98856.
Applications should be submitted by July 1.
TwispWorks wins state grant
TwispWorks was recently selected by the Washington State Department of Commerce for a $50,000 grant to help bolster the regional economy, TwispWorks Executive Director Sarah Brown announced last week.
TwispWorks is one of only four organizations in the state selected for the grant, which will be used to fund an “Innovation Cluster Acceleration Program,” Brown said in a press release.
“TwispWorks gathered a team that will use this grant to learn about innovation clusters and circular economy,” Brown said.
Innovation clusters are groups that work together to bring new ideas or more efficiencies to a region for economic growth, according a press release. A circular economy is one that relies on sustainable use of natural resources for growth, reduces waste, and works to create new modes of production for sustainable consumption.
The TwispWorks core team working on ideas includes Methow Recycles, WasteWise, Methow Cycle and Sport, Western Washington University’s Sustainability Pathways Program, and local leaders, Brown said in the release. The grant is for one year and will provide strategic guidance to TwispWorks and the core team in building an innovation cluster and to identify areas of growth and constraints in the regional economy.
