Columbia Economic Team gets $81K from USDA
Published 1:58 pm Friday, December 19, 2025
Editor’s note: The Columbia Economic Team announced it will permanently close Jan. 15, 2026. It is unclear how the impending closure impacts the receipt of this grant.
Columbia Economic Team, the nonprofit organization focused on developing Columbia County’s business scene, just got a significant boost from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
CET is one of seven organizations in Oregon to receive funding from the USDA’s Rural Business Development Grant Program. The program awards grants to organizations which are supporting economic development in rural America.
Of those seven, CET was awarded the second-largest grant at $81,510 — coming behind the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, which was awarded $250,000.
The funds will be used to augment CET’s business development programs — including the Columbia County Small Business Resource Center, GRO-Greater and more — which offer advising, classes and other resources to help local business owners find success.
Introducing cohorts
The grant will allow CET to introduce cohorts in its program, which will allow business owners to connect with and learn from each other, CET Director Paul Vogel said. Even businesses that do completely different work can run into similar challenges, and hearing how others found solutions can be useful.
“We’ve learned that, particularly startups and new business owners, benefit greatly from the peer-to-peer connection,” Vogel said.
However, the cohorts will also enable targeted work with businesses in the same sector, Vogel said. For example, the food sector includes not only restaurants, but also growers, butchers, farm stands, food hubs and more.
“Getting those folks together — it’s not easy to connect them — but when they get in a room together, you see all these points of contact and resonance,” Vogel said. “It’s really, really productive.”
The first sectors CET will begin this work with are food, manufacturing and veteran-owned businesses, Vogel said.
Moving forward
This is the first grant that CET has received from the USDA, and it comes at a time when the nonprofit is working to secure grant funding from numerous sources following its detachment from the Oregon Small Business Development Center Network, Vogel said.
While CET no longer receives funding from the Oregon SBDC Network, converting to an independent model has allowed CET to address local business needs more effectively, Vogel said.
“We have a lot of support out there for small businesses,” Vogel said. “There are a lot of people walking around with a business idea, and not all of them are going to do it. But if you’re thinking about it, let’s at least have a conversation and you decide.”
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