PORT TOWNSEND — A cohort of seven Jefferson and Clallam county business people have begun a 40-week advisor training with EDC Team Jefferson.
The program is one of three from the EDC funded by $1.2 million in Recompete grant dollars.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded $35 million in grants in Recompete dollars across Jefferson and Clallam counties, said Executive Director Cindy Brooks, who will depart from the position on June 25.
EDC Team Jefferson is a subrecipient of Peninsula College, the grant’s lead recipient, she added.
Brooks described challenges in the economy in Jefferson and Clallam counties, saying they are disproportionately full of micro enterprises or small businesses with five or fewer employees.
“There are limited opportunities for economic development because we’re not on a rail line, we’re not on an interstate highway, we have some employment challenges, we have childcare and housing challenges,” Brooks said. “Often it’s difficult to attract businesses, which is a common feeling in economic development.”
EDC Team Jefferson has honed its focus on helping existing businesses, Brooks said.
“Our feeling is that we need to work with who’s here,” she said. “And help businesses that are already here work better and work better together, to create a resilient network of interconnected industries that are providing for our local needs and feeding our economic ecosystem.”
Brooks said half of businesses in Washington fail in the first five years. That’s because they don’t receive adequate support, she said.
Solid information and business advising is one thing that could undermine that statistic, Brooks said.
The cohort is Charlotte Richardson, Justine Wagner, Kit Malone, Sean deVries, Devin González, George Sawyer and Chauncey Tudhope-Locklear. The group is the first to go through the program run by the Economic Development Council (EDC) Team Jefferson.
The diversity of business backgrounds in the cohort will widen the range of business advising expertise available on the Olympic Peninsula, EDC Business Advisor Patty Schmucker said.
“All seven of the people who were selected to the program have lived experience, the human side of coaching and motivation and being able to inspire business owners to strive for success,” Schmucker said. “They’re already there in terms of being those people that a business owner will take advice from and be inspired by. What we’re fine tuning is the tools that allow them to quickly and effectively ascertain what’s going on in the business and to be able to provide a clear pathway to developing the business. ”
Trainees are nearly complete with the first five-week block of weekly seminars. They are just starting the process of co-advising local businesses, Schmucker said.
Schmucker will be present with trainees for the co-advising sessions, she said. The cohort will complete eight blocks of five-week sessions, she added.
The program seminars will be formatted as workshops facilitated by former Business Advisor Douglas Hammel, who authored “Succeed!”, the training’s curriculum.
“Based on 30 years of his experience doing this kind of work, he’s codified a system by which to approach businesses which are already in business,” Schmucker said. “There’s a lot of documentation and training to support businesses that are in ideation, in a start-up mode. There’s not as deep a reservoir of information for businesses that are already operating.”
The book and the program focus on helping business owners identify the first and most important step that they should be putting their attention on in order to move their business from where it is to the next step, Schmucker said.
The curriculum covers financial analysis, marketing strategy, systems thinking and leadership development, all framed around sustainable practices, according to an EDC press release.
“We start with the financials,” Schmucker said. “For the advisers, going deeper to understand how to read financials, how to make assessments on those financials to determine what’s really going on behind the scenes.”
Understanding the financials can help make the invisible become visible and provide business owners with tools to make informed decisions on how they run their business, Schmucker said.
Participants will receive an advisor certificate following completion of the program.
The EDC plans to train 25 business advisors across the North Olympic Peninsula, according to the release.
Over the next 4 1/2 years, the EDC is pursuing the goal of generating 900 living-wage jobs in Jefferson and Clallam counties through programming made possible through the Recompete grants, Brooks said.
Business owners interested in growth or people interested in developing business ideas can learn more about receiving advising by emailing services@edcteamjefferson.org.
EDC Team Jefferson currently has openings for new clients. The EDC offers its business advising for free, Brooks said.
“We encourage businesses within the community to tap into EDC Team Jefferson, we’re here for them,” Schmucker said.
Those interested in joining the 2026 business advisor training cohort should send their resume to services@edcteamjefferson.org with “2026 Business Advisor Training Program” in the subject line.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
