Economic Development

The City of Harrisburg is devoted towards strengthening our downtown and commercial district!  We encourage our community to support our existing businesses, by shopping local first, before heading to nearby metro areas.  We have a great base of restaurants, plus assorted retail and service businesses in town.  We also have over 80 home occupations in town.  We'd like to develop a much stronger commercial core, and hope with the improvement in the economy, that we can attract new commercial businesses to our community.  If you are interested in developing businesses in Harrisburg, please contact Michele Eldridge.  

RAIN, which stands for the Rural Accelerator & Innovation Network, supports businesses and cities throughout the Willamette Valley.  They focus on entrepreneurship and start-ups.  They wrote a grant to produce a commercial that promotes the City of Harrisburg.  You can find that video by following the link below:

Harrisburg Business Video:  Harrisburg Business Video

We are fortunate to have a very strong industrial presence in town, with businesses ranging from agricultural manufacturing, processing and supply support businesses, to forest products manufacturers, trucking, and even aeronautical supply.  These businesses help to support family wage jobs to people in our community, and surrounding cities. 

The City is a member of the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce.  We provide a small grant through the Chamber that will pay half of the first year's dues for a Harrisburg business who is joining the Chamber of Commerce.  For more information, contact the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce at http://www.tri-countychamber.com/.

Resources for Businesses

Harrisburg is home to the Harrisburg Enterprise Zone, which offers property tax breaks for businesses who operate in our jurisdictional boundaries, which choose to expand their businesses, and thereby adding to their employee base.  You can find out more information about this program by clicking on the Enterprise Zone menu on the left.

The State of Oregon also provides many resources, through Business Oregon, and their Corporation Division.  The link below will take you to the Oregon Business Xpress page.  This provides resources such as a start-up tool kit, compliance checklists, and access to information in relation to business loans and funding.   http://www.oregon.gov/business/pages/index.aspx

Some other funding tools are available through some of our regional partners, such as the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments.  OCWCOG  They operate several programs that can assist you in expanding your business, or starting a new one. 

HARRISBURG BELONGS TO THE REAL ORGANIZATION!

REAL stands for the Rural Economic Alliance.  This is an organization created by the Cities of Lebanon, Brownsville, Sweet Home, Halsey, Harrisburg, Philomath, and Adair Village.  We've been joined by Monroe and Tangent.  These  cities work together on a regional plan in order to utilize resources that help us reach our goals in relation to Economic Development.  REAL is launching a new website to combine the assets in all of our communities; find that link below!

Rural Economic Alliance (REAL) launches new website

LEBANON, OR ­– Mid Valley Partners (MVP) has been renamed Rural Economic Alliance (REAL) to more clearly reflect its efforts to support the region’s economic growth.

Along with its new name, the group announced the launch of its website (ruraleconomicalliance.com). The site serves as a resource for entrepreneurs, current business owners and prospective investors.

Rural Economic Alliance elected its new name, in part, because of the acronym, REAL.

“When you do business in Linn and Benton counties you are working with REAL people in REAL communities doing REAL business,” said Hilary Norton, city administrator of partner-city, Halsey. “In bigger cities when you look for help you are usually sent to an automated system with formulaic information that may or may not fit your business. In our communities, you talk with a real person who can help with your specific needs.”

REAL partnered with Pacific Northwest-based agency, JayRay Ads & PR, for the rebranding effort. The agency held three in-person brand workshops and several virtual meetings with REAL members to uncover their brand, select their new name and design their visual identity.

“During our branding work we identified some incredible strategic advantages to doing business in our region,” said Scott McDowell, City Administrator of partner-city Brownsville. “We found doing business in Linn and Benton counties to be easier and more welcoming than working in larger cities.”

REAL is committed to lifting up members of the local business community, sharing resources, and acting as a resource themselves to help serve the business community.

If you are interested in partnering with REAL or seeking help with your business in Linn or Benton counties, email info@ruraleconomicalliance.com or visit ruraleconomicalliance.com.