RAYMOND — The Regional Economic Development Center broke ground Thursday on its new training center, which will provide resources to municipalities and developing businesses across the region.

The center will be located at 57 Main St. and will serve southern New Hampshire, spanning 41 towns and cities.

“What we’re doing today represents a quantum leap forward for the work REDC does in economic development,” said REDC Board President Warren Henderson. “This is a first for us.”

The business training center will house features including a reference library, computer center, classrooms and short-term office space. Conference rooms will be available for businesses to use free of charge. REDC will also donate building space that the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center may use to counsel local businesses.

“The support REDC provides will help businesses grow into thriving centers of commerce,” said U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., in a letter read at Thursday morning’s event.

REDC serves companies through providing them with counseling, pre-loan packaging, assistance in finding a location, alternative financing, and employee training. Its services for communities include guidance in planning and making infrastructure improvements, production of a comprehensive economic development strategy, assistance in determining eligibility for federal grants, and hosting training seminars.

“Our main mission is to help communities, to help companies and employees, to help them grow in good times and survive in bad times,” Henderson said.

The 5,000-square-foot building is being built on a currently vacant lot. According to REDC Executive Director Laurel Bistany, the location was chosen due to its centrality within REDC’s service area as well as its position in a growing downtown area.

“We decided to come to Raymond because we could do a lot of good here,” Bistany said.

Bistany said notable features of the building’s design will include multi-purpose rooms and a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

“Imagine how this is going to interface with our downtown,” said Raymond Town Manager Craig Wheeler. “It’s going to work so well.”

REDC’s current office is located at 37 Industrial Drive, Suite F2, in Exeter. According to Bistany, REDC began planning for the new center in 2009. The building project will be funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration. Bistany said some of those who donated to the building project are businesses that REDC has helped in the past.

“It’s a powerful message when you see clients be able to give back to their lender,” she said.

According to Henderson, REDC was established in 1994 after a group of people involved in business development decided to begin working together on a local level.

REDC Vice President Wesley Moore said, “To make all this happen over the past 20 years has required not only a vibrant board … but teamwork with banks, communities and businesses.”

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20121214-BIZ-212140378

Two economic development corporations partner to provide funding for Harbor Porpoise Protection Project

Portsmouth, N. H.—November 27, 2012 Coastal Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) and Regional Economic Development Center of Southern New Hampshire (REDC) recently combined efforts to provide a total of $58,970 in grant funding to the New Hampshire commercial groundfish fishing industry to help preserve harbor porpoise. The XI and XII Northeast Fisheries Sectors, fishing cooperatives whose membership includes 36 N.H.-based commercial fishing boats, will use the money to purchase electronic acoustic deterrent devices known as “pingers”. Pingers are attached to fishing nets and emit a high frequency sound that scares harbor porpoise away from gillnet gear; thereby helping to prevent entanglement.

The federal government was set to impose severe restrictions on N.H. commercial gillnet fishermen as a result of too many harbor porpoise entanglements. Instead, fishermen worked together to submit a congressionally-supported proposal that successfully altered the timing of the restrictions from fall 2012 to spring 2013. The proposal showed more harbor porpoise would be protected by closing in the winter months rather than maintaining a fall closure. To further their effort to conserve harbor porpoise, fishermen have committed to more selective fishing practices, in part through the use of new light emitting diode (LED) technology pingers, which were purchased through this funding.

Dr. Joshua Wiersma, manager of both N.H.-based sectors, noted that “The new LED pingers will help fishermen and regulatory authorities who test pinger functionality to know instantly whether pingers were working or not—a severe problem associated with the old pinger technology. The new pingers provide us with absolute certainty that they’re working, making it much easier to use and maintain over time.” Wiersma also said, “This funding allowed us to purchase 800 new pingers to be used immediately, which completely overhauls our fleet. It also allowed us to partner with the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund to help subsidize the purchase of an additional 3,000 pingers that will be distributed to both N.H. and Massachusetts fishermen over time—making us part of the largest harbor porpoise conservation program in the world.”

The funding was obtained by CEDC and REDC through various means, but primarily as part of a $473,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Block Grant Program. A total of $417,585 of that funding had previously been used as financing for the purchase of two federal multi-species fishing permits, which are now owned by the N.H.-based Sector and used by Sector members.

Photograph: Dan Gray, Managing Director of CEDC, and Laurel Bistany, Executive Director of REDC, join Dr. Josh Wiersma, Manager of the NH Fishing Sector, at the commercial fishing pier in Portsmouth, to deliver the final check for the grant to purchase pingers.

Contact:

Daniel Gray, Managing Director

Coastal Economic Development Corporation

(603) 929-9244; dgray@coastaledc.org

Exeter- Laurel Bistany, Executive Director for the Regional Economic Development Center (REDC) of Southern New Hampshire, announced the award of a $400,000 USDA Rural Development Intermediary Relending Program (IRP) loan to the REDC. This will be the REDC’s third IRP loan program.
REDC was designated as an Intermediary Lender with USDA Rural Development in 2004. To be designated as an Intermediary Lender, an organization such as REDC has to demonstrate commitment to and have experience in economic development as well as have an ability to run a successful revolving loan fund. Through this IRP Relending Program, REDC has loaned funds to new as well as challenged companies throughout the region over the past eight years, aiding in start up costs, financing growth and development, and providing working capital to bring new jobs to the area as well as support the retention of current jobs.
USDA Rural Development’s mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life in Rural America. This is done by providing financial and technical assistance to foster growth and new opportunities for business development, home ownership, and critical community and technology infrastructure. To learn more about USDA Rural Development programs visit the web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/NH-VTHome.html.
For more information on how these funds are used to help businesses in our region, please contact Laurel Bistany at 603.772.2655 or visit the REDC website at www.redc.com.