The Community Development Partnership (CDP) will hold their 30th Annual Meeting on Thursday, May 19, at 5:30 p.m. at Wellfleet Preservation Hall. Lower and Outer Cape residents, along with supporters of the organization are invited to attend.
The annual meeting acknowledges the organization’s achievements and shares plans for the future. At the event, the CDP will also honor members of the community with two annual awards, the Gwen Pelletier Award for Excellence in Community Service and Norm Edinberg Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship. In addition, new board members and officers will be elected, and a new strategic plan revealed.
The 17th Annual Gwen Pelletier Award for Excellence in Community Service will be presented this year to Fran and Alan McClennen of Orleans.
Fran McClennen retired from her career as a psychotherapist in 2006 and has spent her retirement as an advocate for critical issues affecting the Lower Cape. She was board member and president of the Orleans Pond Coalition and participated in creating and managing the Celebrate our Waters weekend festival in Orleans. She is also the Orleans alternate designee to the Pleasant Bay Alliance, a municipal organization formed by Orleans, Chatham, Harwich, and Brewster to coordinate the resource management plan for the Pleasant Bay ACEC. For the last six years she has served on the CDP Board of Directors and is a member of the Town of Orleans’ Affordable Housing Committee.
Alan McClennen has used his experience as a former town planner to help the Town of Orleans address the challenging issues of water quality and housing affordability. As a member of the select board he helped secure funding for a multi-million-dollar wastewater treatment plant, and as chair of the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners, he is helping to see the project through to completion. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Cape Cod and Island Protection Fund. As chair of the Orleans Affordable Housing Trust, he has led the committee in advancing several important housing projects.
The CDP’s 8th Annual Norm Edinberg Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship will be presented to Katherine Reed, CEO and co-founder, of Chequesset Chocolate in Truro.
Chequesset Chocolate was founded after Reed returned to Wellfleet from a trip to Costa Rico where she was inspired by local cacao farmers. In 2014, with startup funds from the CDP’s small business loan program, the chocolate factory and café opened in Truro. Since then, Chequesset Chocolate has won multiple awards and been recognized as one of the best craft chocolate makers in the United States.
Registration is required and a $25 donation is requested to help defray the cost of the event. To register visit: www.capecdp.org/upcoming-events/30th-Annual-Meeting
