New SCOEDD director talks goals, resources

Kevin Winter Lake County Examiner

Thu May 19 2022 07:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Denise Stilwell, the new executive director of the South Central Oregon Economic Development District (SCOEDD), was at a recent Town Council meeting introducing herself and her goals to help businesses and organizations in Lakeview.

Denise Stilwell, the new executive director of the South Central Oregon Economic Development District (SCOEDD), was at a recent Town Council meeting introducing herself and her goals to help businesses and organizations in Lakeview.

Stilwell grew up in the Klamath Basin and most recently had been working for 20th Century Fox in distribution and licensing until the company was purchased by Disney.

Stilwell said she is working on restructuring and overhauling the programs SCOEDD offers along with getting SCOEDD’s name out into the community. She is looking to work with local governments and organizations to get the word out about SCOEDD can help businesses.

One of her goals is to remove the silos between different operations and to streamline the accounting process to make it more transparent to the public and different organizations across Lake and Klamath counties. Stilwell had nothing but praise for former SCOEDD executive director Betty Riley, who retired after being with the organization for over 20 years. She said the accounting system was largely understood by Riley and Stilwell has been working on understanding how the accounting system works.

Stilwell told the Council that SCOEDD distributed nearly $600,000 in COVID relief funds to businesses in the Lakeview area.

She said her future goal is to hire additional staff to provide outreach to businesses and organizations across Lake County and Lakeview. Stilwell also plans to spread the word about the low-interest revolving loans, state and federal funds that can help businesses grow and expand.

For more information about SCOEDD call 541-884-5593.