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News of MERIT
Greetings!
Don't know if self-employment is right for you? Try this visualization exercise from GOOD:
Close your eyes and imagine yourself several years from now. You have a career and life that is both right for you and good the world. Amazing. It is morning and you are feeling good as you prepare for your day.
As you watch yourself, pay attention to what you are wearing. Is it a uniform? A suit? A lab coat, or maybe something funky? Follow yourself around as you get ready for work. What do you eat for breakfast? Where do you eat it? How do you get to your job? Do you take the train, a car, or maybe you amble down the hallway to your kitchen? As you arrive at your job, what do you see? A big building? A small office? A forest?
Sign up for the next information session near you if your ideal job is one you create for yourself- MERIT can help.
And don't forget to connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date with our courses and keep us updated with business successes or other things you've got happening.
Forrest Peck 
Program Director
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MicroBuilders! Grant
Great news - We were recently notified that MERIT has been chosen as a sub-grantee for the MicroBuilders! Capacity Building Program.
As a result of this award MERIT will receive about $15,000 in consulting services from Friedman Associates, for the purpose of building institutional capacity to serve low-income and other underserved populations. Jason Friedman is considered to be the go-to expert in microenterprise organization development in the U.S. This is a big deal for us and we are truly honored to be selected.
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Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
The Oregon Folklife Network seeks traditional artists to apply for grants available through our Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP). TAAP facilitates the passing down of traditional arts from generation to generation within the culture groups where they originated. These traditional arts are defined as artistic practices that have a community base (for example, ethnic, tribal, occupational, or religious) and express that community's heritage.
Among the many traditional folk arts of Oregon are: Southeast Asian dance, Northwest logger poetry, Native American basket weaving, Middle Eastern embroidery, Americana fiddling, African-American gospel singing, saddle making and rawhide braiding for working cowboys.
Mentors and apprentices apply together (as a team) and the applications are scored based on criteria concerned with both parties' artistic excellence (or potential), their relationships to the community from which the art originates, as well as any threat of perpetuity that may exist to the culture or the art. Fill out the application or contact the OFN office for more information at 541-346-3820.
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Yamhill County Food Collaborative is Hiring
The Yamhill County Food Collaborative seeks to create a holistic food system in Yamhill county that improves food security and addresses healthy food habits, while leading to a stronger local economy and community.
The collaborative is looking to hire a Food Collaborative Research Coordinator to analyze the current county food system to better understand the components that work and clearly articulate the shortcomings. The mission of this work is to link efforts together and create a holistic food system in Yamhill county that improves food security and addresses healthy food habits, as well as build a stronger local economy and community. This is a full time, temporary position. Read more about the position here or contact Tricia Harrop at 503-883-4170.
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Strategic Couponing
Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Looking for new ways to save money? Strategic Couponing is a free class offered by Maps Credit Union, in partnership with Consumer Credit Counseling and Apprisen Financial Advocates. The class will focus on reducing your grocery bill through coupons, menu planning, stockpiling, and more.
Date: February 21
Time: 6:15-7:45 pm
Location: Maps Credit Union, 451 Division St NE, Salem
Pre-registration required, online at mapscu.com or by calling 503-588-0181. Donations of canned and non-perishable food items are being accepted at this workshop to benefit Marion-Polk Food Share, as well.
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Register for an Information Session!
Information sessions for the next MERIT Explore and Define Your Business series are coming up in Independence and McMinnville. Register on our website.
Independence:
Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 6-7:30pm, HALO annex, 1319 Monmouth Street
McMinnville:
Wednesday, March 7, 2012, 6-7:30pm, Housing Authority of Yamhill County, 135 NE Dunn Place
We also still have some seats available in our Explore and Define Your Business series in Spanish that will be held beginning February 22 in Salem. Those interested should act quickly and contact Ana Rubio at 503-399-5088 in order to participate.
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Meet Kristen Mozian, MERIT Resource Director
The Stateman Journal did a wonderful article on Kristen Mozian, read more about who she is and what she's doing for the Mid-Willamette Valley community.
Here's an excerpt from the article: "There is a new resource available for area small-business owners: the Mid-Willamette Valley Guide to Small Business Financial Resources. The publication is a comprehensive guide to business financial resources that are available locally. It was researched and developed by Kristen Mozian, a MERIT volunteer who came to the area via the VISTA program." Click here to read more.
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Get Your Finances in Order with NEDCO
NEDCO is a community and economic development corporation that offers several beneficial workshops on financial education and home ownership in Salem in both English and Spanish. Upcoming courses include Threshold Homeownership Program, The ABC's of Homebuying, Default Invention Workshop, and Financial Recovery. The Financial Recovery workshops will be held on March 14th and 28th at NEDCO's office at 2700 Market St NE, Salem. Visit their website to register.
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Sparkle of Excellence Awards Dinner
Job Growers, Inc. is hosting their Sparkle of Excellence Award Dinner this year in the Salem Conference Center on April 19, 5:30-8:30.
At the dinner, a few lucky entrepreneurs will be awarded a scholarship which will give them $2,000 worth of business start-up/growth and support services from the Chemeketa Small Business Development Center and MERIT. To apply, fill out the application and return it to Job Growers' office in the Chemeketa Center for Business and Industry, 626 High St NE in Salem. The deadline is March 23.
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Project Space
Salem Art Association seeks artists to participate in Project Space, a dynamic temporary art venue in downtown Salem and in Bush's Pasture Park that offers juried exhibits by regional artists, studio space, temporary outdoor sculpture as well as performances and other events that encourage community dialogue. "Work in Progress" is the theme, designed to bring out the experimental, creative and unexpected. Artists working in any media are invited to participate in the program. Exhibits will rotate two to four times over a two month period starting June 15 and ending August 15.
For more information please contact Kathleen Dinges, Community Arts Education Director.
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Consider investing in a donation to MERIT
Your donations to MERIT allow us to better serve our clients. MERIT is a 501c3 organization. Thank you for your support!
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