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I was excited to spend time with the 64 other Fellows and hosts in Portland as the official kickoff to our 30-month fellowship.

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Two BRE teammates came out to watch my husband and my soccer game 

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Spent four days meeting and getting to know the RCAC Building Rural Economies (BRE) team in Sacramento. The then 10-person team participated in a training for the new Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Capital Readiness Program grant that they were awarded to provide technical assistance and business support to minority business enterprises. This deep dive into the programming and culture of the BRE team was crucial for my deeper understanding of our collective work.

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Spent a few days with the CA-based fellows and other local economic development professionals 

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Attended the California Association for Local Economic Development Annual Conference in Santa Rosa, CA 

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Attended the California Association for Local Economic Development Annual Conference in Santa Rosa, CA 

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I spent a few days learning about local economic development initiatives and resources available in the state and focused my energies on connecting with and learning about rural issues and opportunities specifically around tourism, preparedness and recovery, workforce development, and broadband. We had the opportunity to tour various parts of Santa Rosa to learn about local efforts to strengthen placemaking, the arts, small business support, and economic development.

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TA highlight: Presented to the RCAC BRE team and CAL Office of Emergency Services 

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TA highlight: Presented to the RCAC BRE team and CAL Office of Emergency Services 

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I presented to the BRE team on fellowship updates and gave them a deep dive into the ERC programming and my role on the team. By that point, I had met with almost all BRE team members 1:1 and gathered notes and insights about both team opportunities and struggles both in their work and in communities. I led them through a discussion using Miro where we discussed what the BRE team was already good at, how we could better support each other, and how we could better support community. Some great ideas came out of this discussion and we decided that the first thing to tackle would be to create a knowledge/skills assessment for the BRE team to better understand expertise within the team that could in turn support each other and communities.

Me and the three other California fellows were invited to present at the California Office of Emergency Services Economic Recovery Support Function Bi-Monthly Statewide Partner Meeting to share about what we are working on across the state. I shared out about outdoor recreation and economic development opportunities with our partners in Plumas County.

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TA highlight: Role identification and prioritization for community economic development projects in Mineral County

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TA highlight: Role identification and prioritization for community economic development projects in Mineral County

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A colleague and I led a discussion around prioritization and role identification with our partners at Mineral County to better understand all of the projects that our partners are working on and to support them in examining where they should boost their efforts or collaborate with other entities to move work forward.

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Attended the ERC Federal Resources Training in DC from May 19-22 which supported Fellow learning around data, partner resources, and opportunities for collaboration.

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TA highlight: Led community identification and branding presentation to Mineral County partners

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TA highlight: Led community identification and branding presentation to Mineral County partners

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Co-led a discussion around community identification & branding to Mineral County partners encompassing information about conducting a situational analysis, questions for future thinking, market identification, determining unique features, SWOT analysis, community engagement, and developing a brand.

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Participated in RCAC All-Staff Meeting in Sacramento

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Participated in RCAC All-Staff Meeting in Sacramento

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From June 11-12, I participated in the annual RCAC all-staff meeting in Sacramento where I had the opportunity to learn more about the culture of RCAC, departmental updates, organizational partners, and meet RCAC staff from other departments.

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Co-presented with Murriel Wiley on Certifying Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, and Value Chains during ERC Learning Week

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Co-presented with Murriel Wiley on Certifying Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, and Value Chains during ERC Learning Week

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Murriel and I shared knowledge around various topics including certifying entrepreneurship, sustainability goals and standards, and value chains during the ERC Learning week open space.

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Participated in the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED) Rural Exchange in Shasta Lake, CA 

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Participated in the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED) Rural Exchange in Shasta Lake, CA 

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The CALED rural exchange was a great opportunity to network with community partners and local experts and was particularly relevant for my work alongside Plumas County. There were around 40 attendees that joined for discussions about shared work, funding opportunities, policy, and barriers when it comes to working in rural places throughout California.

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Presented at the UC-Berkeley Society for the Study of Measurement on the Impact of AI on Economic Recovery & Outdoor Recreation in Rural California  

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Presented at the UC-Berkeley Society for the Study of Measurement on the Impact of AI on Economic Recovery & Outdoor Recreation in Rural California  

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Fellow fellow, Luciano Oviedo, invited me and several others to present as a part of an open strategy workshop as a pre-conference session for the inaugural conference for the Society for the Study of Measurement at UC-Berkeley on August 4th. The conference session was titled "Open Strategy: Developing AI-powered Futures for Learning & Work which took place at University of California Berkeley's Education building. I presented a case study about my work alongside RCAC and Plumas County about the Impacts of AI on Economic Recovery and Outdoor Recreation in Rural California. Other presenters included fellows Gaby Seltzer and Jim Cupples, and representatives from venture capital, academia, and tech. I came away from that session with suggestions for potential connections and different ways to approach this work.

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Collaborated with RCAC Communications team on two articles highlighting my fellowship and our collaborative work 

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Collaborated with RCAC Communications team on two articles highlighting my fellowship and our collaborative work 

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https://www.rcac.org/featured-news/rcac-joins-forces-with-economic-recovery-corps-to-revitalize-rural-northern-california/

https://www.rcac.org/featured-news/building-bridges-with-rcac-an-interview-with-economic-recovery-corps-fellow-carissa-patrone-maikuri/

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RCAC joins forces with Economic Recovery Corps to revitalize rural Northern California - RCAC

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Rural Community Assistance Corporation announced that Carissa Patrone Maikuri has been selected as a fellow with the Economic Recovery Corps to work alongside RCAC’s Building Rural Economies team.

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TA highlight: Reflected back RCAC BRE Team knowledge & skills assessment data and next steps 

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TA highlight: Reflected back RCAC BRE Team knowledge & skills assessment data and next steps 

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After developing a skills and knowledge assessment that all BRE team members took, I reflected back their data about areas of expertise, interpersonal skills, areas they would like to grow in, business support and TA, and more. From this two-part discussion, we decided that we would like to build out a training calendar for the BRE team to prioritize areas that they would like to be more knowledgeable in to, in turn, better support communities.

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Attended the IEDC Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado from September 13-19 alongside fellows and other economic development experts.

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TA highlight: Site visit to Hawthorne, NV (Mineral County) "America's Patriotic Home" 

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TA highlight: Site visit to Hawthorne, NV (Mineral County) "America's Patriotic Home" 

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Spent three days in Hawthorne, NV (October 7-10) and getting to know Mineral County staff and places. Me and two RCAC colleagues facilitated a Community Visioning session, had various meetings with business owners, finalized our DOT Thriving Communities work plan with County staff, and visited outdoor recreation unique features.

As a part of the Community Visioning session planning, I developed two fliers describing both asset mapping and history mapping processes.

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TA highlight: Site visit to Quincy, Plumas County, CA

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TA highlight: Site visit to Quincy, Plumas County, CA

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Traveled with an RCAC colleague (October 15-17) to get to know Plumas County staff and experience the unique features of the area. We attended the Plumas County Council meeting, held five meetings with Recreation Economies for Rural Communities (RERC) plan Goal Champions, and visited local businesses and local landmarks.

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TA highlight: Participated and took notes during the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe Relocation Partnership call 

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TA highlight: Participated and took notes during the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe Relocation Partnership call 

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My RCAC teammates and I provide coordination and administrative support for the monthly Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe Relocation Partnership calls which includes federal and local agency partners, funders, representatives, and community members who all are supporting or able to support the Tribe's upland move.

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TA highlight: Led discussion and finalized RCAC BRE team training calendar for FY25

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TA highlight: Led discussion and finalized RCAC BRE team training calendar for FY25

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As an extension of other TA discussions that I have led with the BRE team, building off of the knowledge & skills assessment, I facilitated a conversation to finalize the RCAC BRE team training calendar for FY25. This training calendar prioritizes topics that have risen to the surface around skills/knowledge that the team would like to grow in, highlighting teammates or external partners that can provide deep dives on topics including but not limited to modern ED financing tools (TIFs, BIDs), developing vacant spaces, housing, and more.

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TA highlight: Co-developed and finalized Workforce and Entrepreneurship Survey for Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe 

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TA highlight: Co-developed and finalized Workforce and Entrepreneurship Survey for Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe 

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As a part of the DOT Thriving Communities work alongside RCAC staff, Main Street America, NADO we developed a workforce and entrepreneurship survey for Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe. The Tribe is in the process of collecting data now which can be used when strategizing and planning for their uphill move due to coastline erosion, sea level rise, and threat of tsunamis.

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CA Fellow Retreat at the Golden Eagle Farm 

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CA Fellow Retreat at the Golden Eagle Farm 

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Essence hosted Frances, Gaby, and I for a three day retreat at the Golden Eagle Farm (part of the Mesa Grande Business Development Corporation) from November 8-10. We got to stay at the main house on the property which is right next to their farm store which sits on 560 acres of reservation that was recently brought back into trust #LandBack. We spent time touring the land, cooking together, sharing experiences, and learning more about the work that Essence and her community facilitate.

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TA highlight: Participated in the RCAC BRE HUD22 Convening in Globe, AZ and led two presentations 

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TA highlight: Participated in the RCAC BRE HUD22 Convening in Globe, AZ and led two presentations 

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I spent November 12-15 in Globe, AZ with the RCAC BRE team and community coordinators for the HUD Rural Capacity Guilding Grant. I worked alongside Zach Gately (Plumas County) and Carol Cohen (RCAC-BRE) to present about Recreation Economies for Rural Communities (RERC) plan implementation in Plumas County and building out the Recharge Our Community's Economy (ROCE) curriculum recipe for success.

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TA highlight: Organized and facilitated the first RCAC BRE team training on Modern Economic Development Financing Tools 

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TA highlight: Organized and facilitated the first RCAC BRE team training on Modern Economic Development Financing Tools 

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I organized the first BRE Get Connected Team Training that was co-developed with the team's input to meet their needs for their own capacity building to better serve the communities that they work with. This session was a deep-dive into modern economic development financing tools (TIFs, BIDs, TBIDs) and featured three team members and various examples from rural communities they have worked with.

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TA highlight: Finalized the draft of the Placemaking Plan for Clearlake, CA 

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TA highlight: Finalized the draft of the Placemaking Plan for Clearlake, CA 

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I worked alongside Liz Bernal, RCAC BRE team staff member, to understand what TA RCAC provided alongside Clearlake, CA to be able to draft the Placemaking Plan as a deliverable for the USDA's Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge grant that the BRE team was awarded. I took information gathered during TA sessions, research, and resources to lift up key potential placemaking efforts in the report. We will be presenting the information to City staff for their input soon.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EqPQHJ43XZsvgYIOde8rb7_hFiTpSoVJ/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109138336555079085228&rtpof=true&sd=true

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Step 4--Critically analyzing my timeline (CMPM).docx