Biz Beat

Jazz, Coalesce, Sequential and more

• April is Jazz Appreciation Month (shouldn’t that be every month?) and the Willamette Jazz Society is celebrating. The nonprofit has been providing the Eugene area with live music since 2005 at the The Jazz Station, 124 W. Broadway. The all-ages concert venue includes an art gallery and community gathering space. The society also promotes jazz appreciation through outreach and scholarship programs for middle school through college. See thejazzstation.org for more information.

• Coalesce Juicery and Whole Food Kitchen was closed for the winter but has reopened in a new location, according to owner Karina Wolford. The food cart featuring organic, live and raw foods and juices, opened April 11 at 164 W. Broadway, in the alley between the Wayward Lamb and Oregon Contemporary Theatre. The cart was previously at 725 Olive Street and travels to summer music festivals and other events.

• SeQuential is a vertically integrated Eugene company that refines and distributes biodiesel from used cooking oils. Following the passage of SB 324, Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program, SeQuential has expanded, rebranded and formed new partnerships, the company says. Some 150 new employees were hired last year as SeQuential replicated its Eugene model into Washington, California, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. SeQuential gets its used oils and grease from multiple sources now, including Kettle Foods and Burgerville, and partners with Pacific Biodiesel, Tyree Oil and Star Oilco.

• Employees at Ninkasi Brewing have gotten an unusual benefit over the past four years. The more than 100 people on staff can take advantage of half-price CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) memberships through Phoenix Farm, formerly Berggren Farm, located along the McKenzie River in the Berggren Watershed Conservation Area. “This demonstrates new ways businesses can connect with local food purveyors,” says Ali Aasum of the company. “Our employees win by having their grocery bills lowered and getting fresh-from-the-farm produce and meats delivered right to our place of work.”

• Displaced workers who signed up with the Lane Workforce Partnership now have access to the entire training library of the Eugene-based CBT Nuggets, a leading information technology (IT) training company. The programs target laid-off workers and out-processing military personnel interested in a variety of IT careers. Find out more at cbtnuggets.com or call 541-743-8975.

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