The Latest

​This winter and spring, we've been spending lots of time with Central Oregon communities and our partners Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council and Let's Talk Diversity Coalition. Thanks to funding from Meyer Memorial Trust, our partnership group - led by COIC and also including the Ford Family Foundation’s Ford Institute Leadership Program alumni, the communities of La Pine, Sisters, Madras, and Prineville, as well as other partners - has been supporting Central Oregon communities to increase and broaden community engagement around economic development issues, priorities, and projects in each city. 

In winter, Oregon's Kitchen Table hosted an online consultation on people's hopes for the future of downtown La Pine.  Over 700 people shared their thoughts and ideas to help inform decision the City of La Pine is preparing to make about downtown and about a vacant lot purchased by ODOT for a transportation use. Participants were asked about their current use of downtown La Pine followed by a series of questions about what they would generally like to see more of.  The next section of questions focused on the particular property that would have a transportation use but also has the potential for other uses; these questions tested out preferences for what kind of a space people would like to see as well as what particular uses they would like to have.  Read the report on the results here. ​

Next up: We're in Sisters in April and May to provide support to Sisters Country Horizons, a visioning effort for Sisters and surrounding areas.  If you live in, work in, or often visit Sisters Country, help shape a vision for the community's future - attend a community meeting, share your input via an online survey, or host your friends, neighbors, or family members in a discussion from the comfort of your own table.  Check out all the ways you can get involved.

Image - Patrick Davenport, Sisters

The City of La Pine wants to know how people who live in or visit La Pine often use downtown now and how they would like to use downtown in the future.   Oregon’s Kitchen Table will be hosting a public input survey online from January 19 – February 19, 2018 for people who live in or around La Pine or are visitors to La Pine to share their thoughts on downtown.

Also, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the City just bought a vacant lot where Highway 97, 4^th Street, and Huntington Road meet.  That property must be used in some way for public transportation for the City.  But we can use that space for more things like food, greenspace, or other kinds of uses.  The survey will also collect what the public would like to see there.

The City wants to hear what hopes you have for downtown La Pine as a whole and for this lot.  But, reaching that vision will take all of us. We need as many people as possible who live in and around La Pine to share your opinions.  So please fill out this survey at https://consultations.oregonskitchentable.org/la-pine. We value your opinion!

Like many communities in Oregon and around the country, Gilliam County is suffering from a lack of housing for people already living here as well as people who want to move into the community to work and raise their family.  Recently, a group of community members from Arlington and Condon created a collaborative workgroup to help create strategies to improve housing options in Gilliam County. That workgroup wants to hear from you about your values and priorities regarding housing in the county. We want to hear from current Gilliam County residents as well as others who own property in Gilliam County, who work in Gilliam County, and those who would consider moving to Gilliam County if they could make it work for themselves and their family.

If you live in Gilliam, own property in Gilliam, work in Gilliam, or would consider moving to Gilliam - share your thoughts on housing in the county on Oregon's Kitchen Table from June 14 - July 14.

Photo by K'Lynn Lane 

Whenever we hold a public consultation with Oregonians here on Oregon's Kitchen Table, we bring you into a conversation with elected officials, public agencies, or other community leaders who are making important decisions.  Often, your input on those decisions is one step in that decision making process, and we know it isn't always easy to see how what you had to say played a part in how that decision comes out.  That's why we bring you the results of every public consultation and - even better - we try to bring the leaders back into the conversation to share with you what they heard and where they're going next.  Over on Meyer Memorial Trust's blog this month, you can read what the Educational Portfolio team heard from you this spring / summer on the foundation's educational priorities and investments and where they're going next.  

Today we're sharing a blog post from Meyer Memorial Trust’s Matt Morton, Meyer’s Equitable Education Portfolio Director, about our latest project to get your input.  Head over to Meyer’s blog or check it out below.  

10 minutes to help Meyer invest in equitable education in Oregon

Since arriving in January, I’ve been focused on developing Meyer’s investment strategy to improve educational equity in Oregon. Now I’m hoping you will weigh in at Oregon’s Kitchen Table. The survey is available in both English and Spanish.

To Meyer, equitable education is defined as improving outcomes so that students of color, first-generation students and students living in poverty all achieve educational success. It also means identifying and reducing the disparities in how our most underserved students experience education. In early 2017, we will begin inviting organizations to submit proposals on educational equity; your input now will ensure that Meyer’s strategy represents the views, and articulates the needs, of stakeholders across Oregon.

It’s important to Meyer to have feedback about Oregonians’ values on equitable education. Meyer wants to hear from people at educational institutions, coordinating councils, school districts, early learning hubs, municipalities, institutions of higher education, government, foundation partners and other Oregonians who care about education. Your insights will help Meyer as we work to develop strategies that improve Oregon student achievement and close gaps in educational opportunities and outcomes.

Your feedback will be compiled by Oregon’s Kitchen Table, and all responses are anonymous. Following an inclusive engagement process with stakeholders, a summary report will be shared later this summer.

Go to Oregon’s Kitchen Table, pull up a chair and share your thoughts now. We want to make sure all Oregonians are heard!  And please share with your friends, neighbors and colleagues. Oregon’s Kitchen Table will be collecting input for Meyer through 5 p.m., Wednesday, May 25th.

Thank you in advance for participating in this process, and please don’t hesitate to contact us at questions@mmt.org should you have any questions.

SURVEY: EQUITABLE EDUCATION PORTFOLIO (IN ENGLISH)



ENCUESTA: PORTAFOLIO DE EDUCACIÓN EQUITATIVA (EN ESPAÑOL)

— Matt

With the help of over 217 Oregonians and friends from across the nation, we successfully completed our first civic crowdfund here at OKT.  We are thrilled to announce that Josephine Community Libraries Inc. met their goal, raising over $40,000 for First Chapters and making it possible for JCLI to update their children’s libraries in order to better meet the needs of the smallest readers!

When we first heard the story of Josephine County's libraries, it inspired us: hundreds of community members have ensured that their libraries have continued to operate, despite no regular source of public funding. At one point, the library system had to actually close down due to lack of funding. More than 82,000 people were left without access to books, programs, or a safe space to be. It was a devastating time for their community members. With resiliency, hope and determination, volunteers banded together and brought the four branches that make up Josephine Community Libraries Inc. back in force! Much like 2007, community members showed in numbers this past month for a unique online fundraising opportunity, putting children at the forefront of their hearts and minds.

With their community’s continued passion, coupled with our uniquely tailored platform and fundraising tools, we reached our goal and made a few friends in the process! Thank you to everyone who participated. Stay tuned for future civic crowdfunding opportunities throughout the State. And if you know of a civic crowdfunding project that might be appropriate for OKT, be sure and let us know!

Today we're sharing a blog post from Josephine Community Libraries volunteer Jennifer Sherman Roberts about the story of how Josephine County residents lost their library system and then brought it back.  Head over to her blog (where she's got a number of pieces about libraries) or check it out below.  It's an inspiring story of a community's resilience and love! 

Libraries Matter, No Matter What 

Jennifer Sherman Roberts

In May 2007, all four branches of the library in Josephine County were closed due to lack of funding. More than 82,000 people were left without access to any library whatsoever.

(Over eight years later, I still feel a little shocked writing that.)

A past library levy had been absorbed into the county’s general fund. When the federal government failed to renew a decades-old subsidy (meant to reimburse county governments for the loss of income from logging on federal lands) and voters (mistrustful of county government) failed to pass a measure establishing an independent library district, the libraries were closed.

I was there, and I was devastated. I kept thinking about how a whole generation of kids would grow up receiving the message–from their own community–that books, literacy, and knowledge don’t matter. That learning about the world outside their borders doesn’t matter. That libraries don’t matter.

In August 2007, a group of concerned citizens banded together to form Josephine Community Libraries, Inc. (JCLI), and after 18 months of fundraising—stuffing envelopes, staffing information tables, and begging councilors and commissioners for money—volunteers reopened the Grants Pass branch of the library. Committed to providing library services throughout the county, the board of directors made it a priority to reopen the other three rural branches as soon as possible after the opening of the main branch.

I’ll never forget the opening of the Children’s Room on that cold December day in 2008. I was standing at the circulation desk so I could take pictures. On the other side of the ceremonial ribbon stood crowds of excited and curious kids. When the ribbon was cut, the kids streamed into the room. When it came time to check out, they had stacks of books in their arms and magic in their eyes.

On that day, we sent a message to the kids in our community: we care. We care about their education and imagination. We care that they have a future in the larger world.

Last fall, citizens placed a library district on the ballot in Josephine County that would have provided long-term, sustainable funding for libraries in Josephine County. Sadly, it didn’t pass. If it had, renovating the Children’s Room would have been one of the first priorities.

However, despite our disappointment in the results of the election, JCLI remains determined to provide quality library access for the children in our community by launching First Chapters, a project to modernize and enhance the Children’s Libraries in Grants Pass and Cave Junction.

The project will fund updated books, mobile bookshelves kids can reach, and furniture that actually fits them. It will provide technology that matches their need to learn and resources that fit their need to play.

JCLI has also partnered with Oregon’s Kitchen Table, a group of non-partisan, non-profit community organizations that is helping JCLI with crowdfunding, so that as many people as possible can donate to the project, to feel ownership of the amazing work libraries are doing in our community. If you’d like to help out, you can make a donation here.

By reopening the libraries, we transformed the message we were sending to our kids. Instead of telling them that books, knowledge, and culture are expendable, we taught them the importance of lifelong learning and connection with community and the outside world. With First Chapters, we can reinforce that message. We can teach them that libraries matter, no matter what.

Josephine Community Libraries wants to hear the community's thoughts on how the libraries can best serve our youngest readers as they begin their lifetimes of reading.   Share your experiences and opinions about our Josephine Community Libraries children’s spaces, resources, and programs.  The responses you provide will be compiled by Oregon’s Kitchen Table, ensuring all that responses are anonymous, and overall survey results will be shared with the community and JCLI staff this summer.  Josephine Community Libraries will use the results to improve our children’s libraries.

If you live in Josephine County, log in now or if you don't have a log in, create an account to access the consultation questions. 

The consultation will be active until June 29th, 2015. 

We've got some exciting news to share this week!

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, recognized Oregon's Kitchen Table this week as one of four finalists for the Roy and Lila Ash Innovations in Public Engagement in Government Award. These initiatives represent the committed efforts of city, state, and federal governments to engage with the communities and citizens they represent and were selected by a cohort of policy experts, researchers, and practitioners. We're incredibly honored to be recognized – and that all of your efforts in being a part of this work are recognized, too. Oregon's Kitchen Table IS the over 13,000 Oregonians who have taken their seats and participated in important discussions, decisions, and projects around the state. You can read more about the award here. We're also not too surprised to see that a few other Oregon-based programs making up the state's tapestry of civic engagement opportunities are also included as Top Ten Programs!

As part of our partnership with Oregon Business Council's Poverty Reduction Task Force, we are working to support Oregonian-to-Oregonian micro-lending and help reduce Oregon's poverty rate. Our partner in crowdfunded microlending,Community Sourced Capital, has a new Oregon small business seeking funding to expand to new stores around Oregon, Washington and California. Hot Winter – a producer of fermented hot sauce – contracts with growers in the Willamette Valley to grow heirloom varieties not available in most markets. Interested in helping see small Oregon businesses prosper? Participate now in helping fund Hot Winter! Thanks to many Oregonians like those of us around the Kitchen Table, two other Oregon small businesses have already received their funding.

Tomorrow, May 8th, is the final day for anyone within the Portland Public Schools district – parents, staff, teachers, community members residing in the district – to weigh in on important decisions facing the district, especially around boundary changes. Today's second graders will be graduates in 2025: what do we want their schools to look like between now and then? Give your input now here at Oregon's Kitchen Table.