REDMOND, OR -- Central Oregon’s community action agency is planning its next two years. "We are trying to gather community feedback on needs of people and needs of communities," says NeighborImpact Executive Director Scott Cooper.

He tells KBND News listening sessions held throughout August will help the regional agency develop its next strategic plan. "We take the feedback, we look around to see if there’s a partner we can work with, to be able to do that work, first. It doesn’t have to be us. Or, we look around and see if there’s some sort of grant program out there that’s already doing that kind of work, and say, ‘how can we bring that to Central Oregon?’ And either implement it ourselves or work with a partner to be able to fund them to implement it." He calls NeighborImpact a "conduit" for state and federal funds, providing utility and rental assistance, and other programs. 

Cooper says past community feedback has led to new ideas, like the mobile food pantry, launched several years ago, "As we talked around about food deserts, and the difficulty some people had in being able to get to food sources, or not having food pantries in their area. So, now we have the mobile pantry; it goes in and fills in those gaps while we’re able to work on building other structures."

Listening sessions are 5-7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and will rotate around the seven communities served by NeighborImpact, "We will be in Bend, Redmond, Prineville, Warm Springs, Madras, La Pine and Sisters." Cooper says the conversations will focus on specific themes, "What are the challenges that are out there, what can we do to better fill the gaps that may be existing? One of the key questions: how do we get information to people? How are people getting information. Because the system is so fragmented now, it’s hard to know what channels people use, and they’re different in different communities. And then, what are we overlooking and what else can we do?"

Bend

Tuesday, August 1, 5:00-7:00 PM

Deschutes Public Library Brooks Room

601 NW Wall St. Bend, OR 97703

Redmond

Thursday, August 3, 5:00-7:00 PM

Redmond City Hall Civic Room 208

411 SW 9th St. Redmond, OR 97756

Prineville

Tuesday, August 8, 5:00-7:00 PM

Bowman Museum

246 N Main St. Prineville, OR 97754

Warm Springs

Tuesday, August 15, 5:00-7:00 PM

Community Wellness Center, Social Hall

2200 Hollywood Blvd, Warm Springs, OR 97761

Madras

Thursday, August 17, 5:00-7:00 PM

Inn at Cross Keys Station, Conference Room

66 NW Cedar St. Madras, OR 97741

La Pine

Tuesday, August 22, 5:00-7:00 PM

La Pine Senior Activity Center, Conference Room

16450 Victory Way, La Pine, OR 97739

Sisters

Thursday, August 24, 5:00-7:00 PM

Sisters Parks and Rec, Meeting Room #1

1750 McKinney Butte Rd. Sisters, OR 97759

 

To participate in any of the above meetings by Zoom, follow this link and use Meeting ID: 873 2042 8504; Passcode: 306104.