REDI Responds to COVID-19
A message from Jon Stark Sr. Director of REDI in response to the COVID-19 virus. Click the photo to view the message on REDI's YouTube Channel.
Greetings REDI supporters and Redmond neighbors…
While many are working from home offices and staying quarantined, myself included, I’m happy to report that REDI is still operating at full capacity, providing business expansion and recruitment assistance, placing interns, and reaching out to businesses. To provide a little optimism, our traded sector businesses are still operating! There are nearly 2,000 employed by 120 traded sector companies and some, like Consumer Cellular, are still hiring. REDI has reached out to 20% of these firms and surprisingly, many report they are doing well. They continue to fulfill strong orders, are making products and providing paychecks and medical insurance, and are keeping safe social distances and adding several hygiene and sterilization processes to their work. While we haven’t talked to every company yet, we are making our way through the list to stay informed and let them know we are here to help them through the Coronavirus outbreak. Top concerns we’re hearing so far are:
- How long they will have to weather this storm
- What might happen to their supply chain, and
- How they can continue to keep their workers healthy
While we don’t know the answers to all of these questions, REDI is closely monitoring events and is providing connections to resources as soon as they are available. Visit the links below this video for more information.
REDI is also working with several local businesses looking to expand operations. In fact, just in the last week, a half dozen firms from outside the area have begun a site selection process. Yes, there are still businesses that see this as a good time to shop for space or land and are looking to move to Redmond.
While we know this is a time of significant challenge for most of our community and we certainly aren’t trying to suggest everything is fine, we do want to share some good news and optimism. Redmond has come back from economic challenges before and is very good at rallying as a community.
Keep taking care of yourself, your businesses and your loved ones. Stay in, stay safe, and hang in there. We will get through this!
As always, please reach out if we can be of help.
COVID-19 Business Resource Links:
https://edcoinfo.com/covid-19-central-oregon-business-resources/
https://www.visitredmondoregon.com/the-chamber/covid-19-resources
https://centraloregonsos.com/