MODERATOR:Mike Watsonis the director of AARP Livable Communities.
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We’re so excited to have you with us live.
Lloyd Purdy:Happy to be here, Mike, from sunny Oregon.
Mike Watson:Love that.
It is not the case here in D. C., so glad, glad you have this on.
So, so glad you’re here for that.
Lloyd Purdy:Happy to be here at Universal Plaza in downtown Tigard.
It’s the home of the LaunchPod.
Mike Watson:That’s awesome.
What was the challenge that you wanted to solve and how has this project impacted that?
Lloyd Purdy:Sure.
We could provide the space to an entrepreneur.
So this is a way to focus on economic mobility and entrepreneurism.
And I’ve run out of space.
And then I realized, we’re outside of Portland, Oregon.
We have a food cart culture here in this region, in this community.
We provide business support for entrepreneurs, the coaching they need.
We reduce rent, which helps support the financing, and we provide, access to a marketplace.
as well as connecting people to an open marketplace.
And I know it was inspiring for the people as well as the places.
And throughout this workshop.
We are talking about that.
We’re talking about places and people and how they contribute to the economic development of the community.
Lloyd Purdy:Absolutely.
As I mentioned, I’m at Universal Plaza.
It’s a new urban style park in the suburban community of Tigard.
So while we have recreation opportunities at this space.
A cafe right next door, a cafe across the street.
So this is something our residents in Tigard have asked for, for years.
They want to see more local restaurants, more entrepreneurism in our community, and through the Launch Pod.
We’re, we’re nurturing that, we’re cultivating that, we’re supporting that.
The other way that we’re impacting the community is through the people.
The entrepreneurs like Jules, Juliana Moseley, who opened up Harvest Moon Experience behind me in this cart.
It’s at, in fact, the first Sangria bar in Oregon.
Both of my entrepreneurs in this program are first time business owners, first time entrepreneurs.
They get to experiment and explore.
That’s investing in people, in entrepreneurs.
Mike Watson:That is really incredible.
Lloyd Purdy:Yes, entrepreneurship is absolutely about supporting individuals.
So we very much focus on economic mobility, helping people improve their livelihood.
We focus on individuals.
We talked about working with individuals.
We talked about the holistic support program.
So I had to build that support system, that web link of community benefit organizations to support entrepreneurs.
And we do that here with organizations like the SBDC, Livelihood Northwest, Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon.
It takes, it takes a team.
Mike Watson:Lloyd, that’s fantastic advice.
and non-profit partners and others.
And it sounds like y’all have done that so well.
This is truly an inspiring project.
Really, really wonderful, amazing work.
So thank you again for being with us.
Lloyd Purdy:Happy to talk with you, and good luck everybody in all your work.
Mike Watson:Thanks, Lloyd.
