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10 <br />Brief Statement of Board /Commission's Assigned Charge and Responsibilities. <br />• The Advisory Board works cohesively with Orange County's Economic <br />Development staff and other economic development partners to help market <br />Orange County as a competitive location for the recruitment & retention of business <br />ventures, new & expanding capital investment, and the promotion of innovation <br />start -up small businesses. <br />• The Advisory Board also supports the growth and recruitment of agricultural & foods <br />systems related local businesses, promotion of entrepreneurial talent via the <br />"LAUNCH Chapel Hill" innovation facility, and the expansion of new, high - <br />technology employment opportunities that pay at or above a living wage. <br />What are your Board /Commission's most important accomplishments? <br />• The Advisory Board approved 18 small business grant awards, totaling $69,570.00 <br />from the Small Business Investment Grant program in 2017. <br />• The Advisory Board also assisted in the Agriculture Economic Development Grant <br />program seeing 9 grant awards approved totaling $72,453.98 in support of Orange <br />County's small farmers and food processors in 2017. , <br />• Overall, grant award activity benefiting small business & small farmers injected a <br />total of $142,023.98 in Article 46 funding throughout the County & all 3 towns for the <br />year in 2017. <br />• The Advisory Board met with the County Manager's office to help shape the <br />County's plan to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) & conduct interviews with the <br />top 4 professional consultant applications which would conduct an economic <br />development - themed SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, <br />threats) of our industrial zoned sites. The Advisory Board & County Manager's <br />office worked together to select Timmons Group as the SWOT analysis consultant, <br />and that firm in now completing a year -long review of the business recruitment <br />development potential of the 3 economic development districts (EDDs) & <br />commercial business nodes. <br />List of Specific Tasks, Events, or Functions Performed or Sponsored Annually: <br />Describe this board /commission's activities /accomplishments in carrying out BOCC <br />goals) /priorities, if applicable. <br />• The Advisory Board's normally scheduled meetings are held at noon on the first <br />Tuesday of every other month, and are tentatively scheduled for 2018 as follows: <br />January 9, March 13, May 8, September 11 and November 13. <br />• Members also meet, as required, in various subcommittee gatherings to discuss <br />specific topics. For example, special meetings in 2017 included quarterly reviews of <br />small businesses' applications received for the Small Business Investment Grant & <br />Agriculture Economic Development Grant programs, which are funded by Article 46 <br />