Second Oregon Rural Congress Meeting Held
The Oregon Rural Congress (ORC) held its second meeting (in 2008) on December 5, 2008 (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) in North Bend, Oregon at the Mill Casino & Convention Center (photo above of Mill Casino & Convention Center in North Bend, Oregon), 3201 Tremont, North Bend. The meeting agenda can be downloaded below under Printable Reports.
The August 21-22, 2008 Oregon Rural Congress meeting in Cascade Locks, Oregon included discussion on issues, solutions and ideas relating to Natural Resources, Economic Development, Health Care and Telecommunications. The December meeting added discussion on Transportation and Rural Financing to the agenda along with the issues from the August 2008 meeting. The intent is to create a report for the upcoming 2009 Legislative session after the December meeting.
Included in the meeting materials for the December 2008 meeting was a document entitled A New Way of Doing Business in Rural Oregon (copy of document can be downloaded below under Printable Reports) which was a multi-year effort by the Eastern Oregon Rural Alliance (EORA) and the newly established Oregon Rural Congress. This document is a framework that establishes a broad set of solutions to identified issues affecting rural Oregon, to be considered and acted upon by communities, regional groups, state elected officials, state agencies, federal agencies and federal officials and other stakeholders. It is expected that the development of this statewide effort to unite all rural areas of the state will be an on-going process that will adapt and grow with the continued input received from other rural areas of Oregon.
OCZMA was one of the organizers of the Oregon Rural Congress. The concept is to have regional organizations like OCZMA partner with our counterparts from other parts of Oregon like the Eastern Oregon Alliance (EOA).
Since the meeting in mid August 2008, OCZMA has been working with Dr. Bruce Weber in the Rural Policy Program at Oregon State University (OSU) to develop a collaborative approach to support the work of the Oregon Rural Congress. OCZMA has dusted off the idea of doing a community-level data project to give local leaders in Rural Oregon socio-economic profiles of their community at the city and unincorporated community level.
Presently, socio-economic information is usually only available at the county level (although some cities have data for their jurisdiction). Breaking soci-economic information down to the community level would be invaluable for grant writing and many other applications. Getting this kind of data in the hands of local leaders would immediately boost local capacity in Rural Oregon. The other organizers of the Oregon Rural Congress strongly support this effort. It makes sense to work closely with the University Community on this and other initiatives. Indeed, if we are successful in raising funds, we would start by generating information for the seven coastal counties and maybe three other rural counties in Oregon. Then as soon as possible, we would seek resources to take the effort statewide across Rural Oregon.
In addition, OCZMA will continue to spearhead a telecommunications planning effort through the Oregon Rural Congress. We will build upon the work of the Oregon Telecommunications Council (ORTCC). The ORTCC, which OCZMA Director Onno Husing serves on, is laying the groundwork to develop a State of Oregon broadband policy.
Printable Reports
Oregon Rural Congress North Bend/Coos Bay December 5, 2008 Meeting Agenda