BUSINESS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2021
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
Center helps local businesses navigate pandemic
Business Resource Center
plans to evolve as pandemic
wanes
By KATY NESBITT
FOR THE HERMISTON HERALD
A year ago the Umatilla Electric
Cooperative’s Business Resource
Center opened to assist its business
customers navigate federal and
state relief funding opportunities
aff ected by COVID-19 restrictions.
Today the center is transitioning to
help area businesses adapt to an
ever-changing marketplace.
In April 2020, UEC fi rst opened
the center in Hermiston to pro-
vide businesses free assistance
with grant applications for pro-
grams made available through the
CARES Act, including the Pay-
check Protection Program. It has
since helped businesses with new
assistance programs under the
American Rescue Plan as well.
Executive Adviser Greg Smith
said the center went from an idea
to a reality in four days.
“UEC reached out to me just as
the COVID crisis was beginning
and asked for advice,” Smith said.
“They were concerned their busi-
ness customers were not going to
know how to access (Paycheck
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
Workers sit behind clear panels at Umatilla Electric Cooperative’s Business
Resource Center in Hermiston on April 10, 2020. The center was set up to
help businesses apply for Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Protection Program) and (Eco-
nomic Injury Disaster Loan)
funds. They asked, ‘If we get you
a space can you get up and running
immediately?’”
Within a few days UEC opened
the Business Resource Center in
an offi ce at 1475 N. First St. in
Hermiston.
Emily Cecil, the lead business
advisor at the center, said after
helping businesses access federal
and state relief funding, the nature
of assistance transitioned to cre-
ating websites to help managers
adapt to the new norms of shop-
ping online.
“We are here to help out in any
way possible,” Cecil said.
According to Steve Meyers,
UEC’s Member Services adminis-
trator, over the last year the center
has assisted 103 businesses in per-
son, held 718 advising calls and
198 one-on-one advising meet-
ings. To ensure the region’s busi-
nesses were aware of the cen-
ter’s services, staff contacted
every member of the Hermiston,
Umatilla, Boardman and Pilot
Rock chambers of commerce and
reached 1,712 UEC members
through email blasts.
Meyers said, “When the PPP
began accepting applications last
year confusion reigned as the
complex and quickly assembled
program unfolded nationwide,
with tens of thousands of small
business owners seeking immedi-
ate funding.”
Now that the crises have sub-
sided, the center’s staff assists new
businesses to launch and exist-
ing businesses to thrive in today’s
marketplace. Cecil said Smith
held a webinar series for small
businesses on YouTube that cov-
ered topics like creating a bud-
get, advertising for vacancies and
interviewing candidates.
Smith said he is pleased with
the results of the progress over the
last year and the center continues
to grow.
“I think people appreciate that
they can get free, one-on-one
advising as they are starting or
Rondon named pest management director
HERMISTON HERALD
Dr. Silvia Rondon has
been named as the new
director of the Oregon Inte-
grated Pest Management
Center.
Rondon
is a pro-
fessor and
entomol-
ogy spe-
cialist
at
the Herm-
iston Agri-
Silvia Rondon
cultural
Research
and Extension Center. and
has worked there since
2006. While her new
director job has typically
been done from Corvallis,
she said she negotiated to
work from HAREC for at
least a couple of years so
that she can also continue
some of her work she has
been doing in Eastern
Oregon.
“Our entomology pro-
gram will be kept going
here at HAREC, maybe
with some modifi cations,”
she said.
The Oregon IPM Cen-
ter, part of Oregon State
University, works to pro-
vide farmers in Oregon
with sustainable pest man-
agement options that are
aff ordable but also reduce
harm to humans and the
environment. Its projects
range from research to
educational programs.
Rondon’s work at
HAREC has been part of
that, but now she will also
manage other researchers
throughout the state and
work to make their fi nd-
ings available to grow-
ers everywhere. She said
she is excited to familiar-
ize herself with the work
being done in other parts
of the state and fi gure out
how to better pool their
resources and skills.
“My colleagues are
doing great things in dif-
ferent parts of the state, but
I think what is missing is
that connection, and look-
ing at sharing resources,”
she said.
Rondon’s specialty is
entomology, or the study
of insects, and she said a
majority of the work she
is doing at HAREC now
revolves around protect-
ing potato crops. As part
of the Oregon IPM Cen-
ter, she will be working
with experts more familiar
with other crops and other
pests, from weeds to fun-
guses to birds.
The part of the job she
is also looking forward to
is the mentorship aspects,
she said. She has enjoyed
getting to mentor students
and newer staff at HAREC
and is looking forward to
doing that more widely.
She also serves on the
Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion task force for the
Entomological Society of
America.
expanding a business,” Smith said.
Besides advice, Smith said the
center can help business owners
and budding entrepreneurs access
UEC’s revolving loan funds with
interest rates at 3.25%.
With a recovering economy and
job vacancies across northeastern
Oregon, Smith said the center is
moving into the housing arena and
coordinating with Eastern Oregon
University’s internship program to
develop housing projects.
Smith said the center’s services
will continue to evolve alongside
the economy.
“We want to be fl exible to meet
the needs as they arise,” Smith
said. “It will be interesting to see
where it goes from here.”
UEC Board President Bryan
Wolfe praised the center’s work at
the utility’s annual meeting April
17.
“The center has become such
an integral part of our community,
and we have committed to fund-
ing it for at least one more year,”
Wolfe said.
For more information, call the
center at 541-289-3000. Staff are
available to advise businesses by
phone, video conferencing or at
the offi ce. Offi ce hours are Mon-
day-Friday from 8-5 p.m., with a
closure for lunch from 1-2 p.m.
Arrow Dental clinic
opens with focus on
Medicaid patients
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Moda Health is working
to address shortfalls in rural
access to dental care with
the opening of Arrow Dental
in Hermiston.
The clinic is focused
mostly on serving patients
on Medicaid, known in Ore-
gon as the Oregon Health
Plan. It is a full service den-
tal clinic that includes pedi-
atric specialists.
Moda opened the original
Arrow Dental in Salem in
2014, and has since opened
locations in Astoria, Clats-
kanie, Eugene, Milwaukie
and Hermiston as well as
a mobile clinic that serves
patients in the Portland area.
Greg Hansen, director of
dental Medicaid for Moda,
said conversations with
coordinated care organiza-
tions pinpointed Hermiston
as an area with high need for
more dentists who take Ore-
gon Health Plan patients,
particularly for providers
See Dental, Page A8
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