Your fellow Oregonians on the Oregon Citizen Assembly invite you to join them in helping shape recommendations to decision makers on Oregon's recovery from COVID19 and the economic crisis.
We want to share with you a new effort we are launching this summer with our friends at Healthy Democracy - the Oregon Citizen Assembly. This summer Oregonians from all walks of life will participate in our state’s first virtual Citizen Assembly to weigh in on what could be some of the state’s most important policy considerations in a generation as the state recovers from COVID.
If you live in, work in, or own a business in Multnomah County, now is the time to help shape important decisions that will affect our region! Along the Columbia River - from Smith and Bybee Lakes near Historic Vanport to the Portland Airport and to the Sandy River in Troutdale - a levee is protecting us from flooding.
Water and water supply affects all aspects of life in the Mid-Coast region - and now's your opportunity to weigh in on planning for the region's water. The Mid-Coast Water Planning Partnership is made up of people with many different water interests from Cascade Head to Cape Perpetua and is working to balance a number of water needs and factors in our region. And now - they want to hear your thoughts and ideas.
Calling Portland Metro residents! The Portland metro area is hosting its first-ever Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR), facilitated by Healthy Democracy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit based in Portland. Up for review: the Metro Region Affordable Housing Bond Measure.
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.
On January 30th, Oregon’s Kitchen Table is launching a crowdfunding campaign for the restoration of the iconic network of trails that are around Multnomah Falls. We're inviting you to join us and Be There for The Gorge!
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.
Hood River is facing one of the most serious housing shortages in Oregon. This has been an issue for some time, and the City is looking at a variety of policy options to continue to make housing more affordable and available. As part of this process, the City wants to hear about your values and hopes for housing and our community as a whole.
Street scene in historic downtown Condon with a lamppost, brick building, and storefront displaying potted plants. Photo by K'Lynn Lane
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.
Like many communities in Oregon and around the country, John Day is considering its economic future. Recently, a team of community leaders came together to consider possible strategies to help make John Day and all of Grant County as economically strong and vibrant as possible. As part of that process, the team is considering a number of ideas to strengthen and diversify the economy. They want to hear from you about your values and priorities!
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.
This spring, our home base at Portland State University, the National Policy Consensus Center, worked with the City of Hillsboro to engage and prepare a diverse group of residents to serve in a range of civic leadership capacities within the city.
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.
Portlanders, pull up a chair and share your values and beliefs with the City of Portland about some important decisions coming up for our community about an important part of the Willamette River.
We know that public mistrust in government is at an all-time high. In fact I read today that only 13% of Americans believe that Congress is doing a good or very good job, though that is up from a low of 7% a year ago. Despite the circus atmosphere that surrounds national political coverage and the run up to a presidential election year, most Americans believe that politics could be more civil, respectful, and functional if elected officials put their minds to it.
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!
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!
Last week we launched Oregon's Kitchen Table's first civic crowdfund on our new site to raise $40,000 for Josephine Community Libraries children's libraries in Grants Pass and Illinois Valley. And it's off to a great start with over $15,000 raised and over 100 Oregonians participating!
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.
We are excited to announce a new development over here at Oregon’s Kitchen Table! In partnership with Oregon Business Council’s Poverty Reduction Task Force, we are working to support Oregonian-to-Oregonian micro-lending. By supporting small businesses, we can all pitch in to make our state more prosperous!
A couple of months ago we shared our new partnership with Community Sourced Capitol, a Pacific Northwest B-Corps working with Oregon small businesses and entrepreneurs to access loans from within their own communities. Already, Oregonians have helped two businesses gain funding to expand and grow – Genki-Su and TeaScape. We’re excited to see that our partnership has helped raise $27,350 with 87 folks participating so far!
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.
In 2025, today’s second graders will be graduating seniors, but between now and then, Portland Public Schools will be making a number of decisions that will affect these students. This week is the final week to weigh in on those decisions!
