Senator visits Grays Harbor to discuss economic grant

Sen. Maria Cantwell visited the county, touring Grays Harbor College and meeting with county notables to discuss a $500,000 Recompete grant aimed at identifying obstacles for employment for prime-age workers in the county.

Recompete, an abbreviation of the Economic Development Administration’s Rebuilding Economies and Creating Opportunities for More People to Excel program, makes grants available to persistently economically distressed areas. Grays Harbor has the one of if not the worst rate of employment for residents in prime working age in a multi-state region, said Darrin Raines, recently announced as the new CEO of Greater Grays Harbor, Inc.

“We want to get within 3%,” Raines said in an interview. “(Grays Harbor County) is the worst in the five-state region.”

The grant will help identify the obstacles to employment to help mitigate that 15% difference from the national employment rate of prime-age employees, Raines said.

“A community of this size never has the resources to do the kind of deep research or analysis to decide what to do,” Cantwell said during a round table session hosted by the college. “Where are you going to get the money?”

The grant, which lays the tracks for much larger grants, such as the $35 million grant recently awarded to Clallam County under the Recompete program.

‘We want to be data driven,” said Bernie O’Donnell, the president of Rock Project Management Services, who will be the project managers for the $500,000 grant. “We want to find out based on the evidence that’s out there and develop those solutions based on what we know about some of those challenges to overcome.”

Cantwell described the difficulties she and U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-6th District, encountered in getting the Recompete Act pushed through.

“We fought very hard, and Derek fought very hard, for Recompete,” Cantwell said. “It was definitely not an acceptable premise for many people.”

There could be many obstacles keeping working-age folks from entering the workforce here in the county, Raines said, from lack of affordable childcare, to healthcare or housing availability, to infrastructure issues. Grays Harbor is partnering with Pacific County for the grant, which shares many of the same issues, if to a lesser extent, Raines said.

“Housing is a big problem here in Grays Harbor County. Pacific County as well, but more so here,” Raines said. “We’d like to see our rail services improved. Some of our highways and things like that.”

Removing those obstacles and giving the county and its residents a chance to flourish is crucial, Cantwell said.

“You don’t know where the next two Bills are coming from … Bill Gates and Bill Boeing. They could be right here in Grays Harbor,” she said, referring to industrial pioneers whose industries made Seattle into an economic power of the Pacific Coast. “I’m convinced if you empower Americans, they will do the rest. If I empower you, you will do the rest. That’s the only objective here.”

Cantwell also talked about possible industries that could grow in the area, from the expansion of the Port of Grays Harbor to the geopolitical pivot toward the Indo-Pacific region.

“We’re on the Pacific …,” Cantwell said. “Where’s our shipyard capacity? Where’s our fuel capacity? If we’re really gonna support our military in the Pacific, what do we need to be doing here?”

Rock Project Management will oversee the grant-funded look into what the obstacles are and how to eliminate them, Raines said.

“They specialize in big projects like this that can keep us on task for the two-year time frame,” Raines said. “We definitely need a next phase of funding to implement whatever changes we want to make.”

Cantwell expressed her faith in the residents of Grays Harbor.

“I want somebody to nail it with Recompete and show it was a success,” Cantwell said. “I’m not trusting (the Economic Development Administration) as much as I’m trusting Grays Harbor.”

Raines thanked Cantwell and Kilmer for their efforts.

“We definitely want to thank Sen. Cantwell, and most definitely Rep. Derek Kilmer for pushing this through,” Raines said. “We wouldn’t be where we’re at without them.”

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or michael.lockett@thedailyworld.com.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Sen. Maria Cantwell talks next to the training dummies with nursing students at Grays Harbor College.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Sen. Maria Cantwell visited Wednesday, meeting economic and political figures during a round table at Grays Harbor College.