Small business owner Jim Wilcox is the mayor of a small town that’s had a big influence in Washington, D.C.

The community of The Dalles, Oregon, is 2,700 miles and a world away from D.C. Set along the eastern part of the Columbia Gorge, 80 miles east of Portland, the scenic community of 14,400 is known for its primary crop—sweet cherries—and as a recreational haven with easy access to rafting, hiking, windsurfing, fishing, and rock climbing. 

But it’s also had to survive the decline of two of its traditional industries—timber and aluminum smelting. Martin Marietta, the first aluminum plant in The Dalles, closed in 1984, eliminating 1,200 jobs. Northwest Aluminum reopened that plant in the late 1980s, only to close it again in 2000, leading to 1,000 lost jobs. At the height of the 2001–2003 recession, Wasco County, in which The Dalles is located, had an annual unemployment rate of 9.7%.

That’s when The Dalles Area Chamber’s then-director Susan Huntington, her husband, Northern Wasco Co. Public Utility Commissioner David Huntington, and former The Dalles Mayor Robb Van Cleave created The Dalles Community Outreach Team. “Our community was headed for the tank again, and we didn’t want to fall in the same hole as we had in the 1980s,” says current Mayor Jim Wilcox. At the suggestion of Rep. Greg Walden, the Huntingtons and Van Cleave brought together officials and staff from the city and county, the port authority, the city economic development district, and the local community college to find ways to revitalizeThe Dalles.

A group of 7 to 10 members of the team travel to Washington, D.C., twice a year to meet with members of Congress and staff from agencies overseeing various projects important to the area. “We go as a team, and we hang together,” says Wilcox. “We figure that if we can pull something in and it works in our trade area of five counties, we’ll gladly make it happen.”

Since 2002, The Dalles Community Outreach Team has brought more than $30 million in federal funds to the community. Over the years, these funds helped create nursing and renewable energy training programs at Columbia Gorge Community College, enabling hundreds of students to obtain employment at regional hospitals and wind farms. Federal funds also went toward creating a fiber-optic network that was key in attracting a Google data center that employs 200 people. Other assistance helped create a modern 911 operations center, construct a maritime dock, and reestablish the community’s connection to the Columbia River after it was severed by freeway construction in the early 1960s. “Everything we do is aimed at improving infrastructure and community resources to support employment,” Wilcox says. 

This year, the Outreach Team is focusing on removing some of the regulatory barriers that are blocking further economic growth, including a water mitigation permit for a 24-acre development by a large national retailer that would create 200 to 250 jobs and $650,000 a year in local, state, and federal tax revenue. The stricter water standards proposed by federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, would impact not just the retailer but other projects, Wilcox says. “It would paralyze and stop development of all kind.”

Wilcox, who owns Fadness Realty, says that while he represents his city on The Dalles Community Outreach Team, he’s also there to represent the voice of business in a group made up largely of government leaders. But, he says, sometimes it feels like he’s the only business owner out there fighting the battles. “My biggest frustration as mayor is that businesses won’t get off their butts and fight for things. They’ve got to be willing to fight.”