REV Newsletter
Summer 2024
Vol. 1, No. 4
GRACE NOTE
Encouraging Youth to Experience Oregon’s Outdoors
As autumn approaches, we are energized by movement on campus as faculty return and the college prepares to welcome new and returning students. Our team has expanded and we are gearing up to recruit a fresh group of student interns.
Our summer was packed with activity. Ashley spent June in Cottonwood Canyon State park with students, teachers, archeologists, and artists reveling in the natural wonder of eastern Oregon. Terri represented REV at the EPIC-N Annual Conference in St. Louis and made a cross-country trip. I traveled with to the National Association of Counties Annual Conference in Florida, connected with High Desert Partnership in Burns, and crossed off backpacking in the Wallowas from my bucket list.
In the upcoming months, REV will be sending students to Salem to participate in Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development Student Planning Day and share about our work with the City of Joseph. We are working with natural resource partners to host a series of hands-on job application workshops across eastern Oregon and bolster our regional workforce.
I’ll be heading east again - to Pennsylvania this time - to meet up with rural leaders from across our nation to share and learn how other rural communities are building vibrant futures for their residents. Also, REV’s newly hired Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builder will be on the road meeting with entrepreneurs, mentors, and communities.
With all these efforts and activities, REV is looking forward to a season of continued growth and collaboration!
Grace Donovan
Executive Director
CURRENT PROJECTS
RECENT EVENTS
Student Project Receives State Award
A REV project involving EOU students Corrian Kellog and Claire Bever is being recognized by the state for their efforts in reaching out to community members. The Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development awarded the Most Outstanding Project – Small Jurisdiction: Achievement in Community Engagement Award to Morrow County and its partners who researched and developed the report, Rural Transportation Equity in Morrow County. Learn more >
Rural Planning Project
Oregon Frontier Innovation Hub
We are thrilled to announce that Carter Gudell is joining the team to support entrepreneurship and innovation in Eastern Oregon. Carter will be serving as the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builder, connecting entrepreneurs and businesses with services and mentorship to grow and scale their enterprises.
Before joining REV and the Oregon Frontier Innovation Hub, Carter served as a Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) Regional Programs Specialist with Visit Central Oregon, serving Deschutes, Jefferson, Crook, and South Wasco Counties convening private businesses, community leaders, and government partners to support economic and community development. Carter earned a bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Community Development with a concentration in Climate Change and Green Infrastructure from UMass Amherst as well as two associate degrees from Greenfield Community College (Massachusetts).
Downtown La Grande REVitalization
In conjunction with La Grande Economic Development, La Grande Main Street Downtown, and GO-STEM, REV staff are conducting interviews with local makers and manufacturers to build a vision for a more vibrant downtown, and more specifically Jefferson Avenue. Our shared goal is to encourage and support local makers in Union County while also making the city more attractive to visitors, students, and locals alike.
Businesses like KVoelz wines are at the forefront of this revitalization. The REV team spent an afternoon touring the new space and tasting regional wines.
City of Joseph
On August 26, REV, ECOnorthwest, and Eastern Oregon University faculty and REV’s student intern gathered in Wallowa County to attend the City of Joseph Planning Commission meeting to present the preliminary results of a buildable lands inventory and housing market analysis.
Our intern, EOU Senior Nathan Evans, presented data on Joseph’s housing market that he spent the past two terms working on under faculty supervision with support from ECOnorthwest. Dawn Hert, the Eastern Oregon Regional Representative for the Department of Land Conservation and Development, which provided grant funds for this project, attended. The project team met with Working Homes and local officials to discuss housing needs in Joseph, and Wallowa County more broadly.
The planning commission meeting was well attended by Joseph residents who asked substantive questions and offered suggestions about how the city can address housing needs and barriers. To access the presentation and an overview of our findings, click here.
We want to give big thank you’s to Joseph’s City Administrator Dan Larman, Mayor Lisa Collier, city councilors, Planning Commission Chair Jean Jancaitis, and planning commission members for their support and collaboration.
REV’s Project Coordinator Ashley Innis, Eastern Oregon University students and faculty led Oregon high school students with field work in geology, neuroscience, riparian ecosystems, and visual storytelling at Cottonwood Canyon State Park in June. REV encourages the youth of Oregon to explore and experience the landscape around them for lifelong learning and experiences.
Rural Leaders for Economic Mobility
Moving individuals and families out of poverty is the goal of a program Union County has been selected to be a part of. The county is one of only 10 rural counties in the nation to be part of the initiative, Rural Leaders for Economic Mobility. Union County Commissioner Paul Anderes and REV Executive Director Grace Donovan attended the National Association of Counties Annual Conference in Tampa, FL in July. NACo awarded Union County the Rural Leaders for Economic Mobility grant. Learn more >
Colleges in Rural Spaces
As a follow up to the case study published in the spring by the Chronicle of Higher Education featuring REV and EOU, Grace was in a panel discussion about colleges in rural spaces in June. "College Partnerships to Fuel Rural Development," was hosted by the Chronicle with support from Ascendium Education Group. Learn more >
Housing Summit
REV’s team was proud to participate in the Northeast Oregon Housing Summit in La Grande on August 15, where over 200 government officials, builders, construction workers, and architects came together to tackle the pressing housing challenges in Eastern Oregon.
REV is committed to working alongside our community to create sustainable, affordable housing solutions that will benefit everyone in the region. Learn more >
Meeting with Peer Organizations
REV’s Program Manager, Terri Kaiser, participated in the 2024 EPIC-Network Conference at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in June. The organization and its members' purpose is to bring together university representatives, local government officials, and organizational partners interested in adopting, adapting, and/or enhancing the EPIC Model for their institutions and communities. The model REV uses with EOU faculty and students is the EPIC-N model and we are thrilled to be part of EPIC-Network and to meet in-person and virtually to discuss community engagement, evaluation and assessment, placemaking, and more. Learn more >
US Department of Agriculture Meeting
In June, the US Department of Agriculture held its Pacific Northwest Regional Equity Convening on the grounds of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s Tamastslikt Cultural Institute in Pendleton.
This event was a gathering of representatives from area rural communities aimed at nurturing and forming partnerships essential to rural areas. The event was co-hosted by the USDA and Equity Commission members Nils Christoffersen of Wallowa Resources and Toni Stanger-McLaughlin of the Native American Agriculture Fund. Learn more >
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday, September 17, 9:30am -
During EOU’s Opening Session, REV will present “Leveraging Faculty Expertise to Bridge Students' Real-World Experience with Area Communities.” This conversation will be on September 17 at 9:30am in Ackerman 210. REV will discuss how we work to bring together the greatest resources at EOU — its professors, students, and existing curriculum — to tackle challenges faced by local communities. See how your own work could align with the model used by the Rural Engagement & Vitality Center and how it is tied to partners across the country and around the globe.
Wednesday, September 25, 11am – 1 pm -
REV will meet and greet students during EOU’s Week of Welcome at the Student Activities Fair in the Quad.
OPPORTUNITIES
With the new academic year about to begin, REV will be looking for student interns. Whether it’s helping with our social media platforms or working with youth and helping them explore the benefits of living in the eastern Oregon landscape, we have paid internships available for EOU students.
for EOU students
If you are or know of any EOU students looking for experiential learning opportunities, have them check our Student Internships.
for EOU faculty
EOU faculty members looking for opportunities to collaborate and give students a real-world experience in their chosen field, see the model REV uses and projects we’ve done.
for area community leaders
If you are a community leader seeking support for an initiative or challenge in your community, see how REV works with partners and connect with us to determine if REV is the right partner for you.
Follow REV on social media to stay informed on its events and projects.
About the REV Newsletter
Summer 2024
Volume 1, Number 4
The newsletter of the Rural Engagement & Vitality (REV) Center is an quarterly publication designed to inform its audience about activities of the center. For more information about this newsletter, contact Terri Kaiser, Editor, 1 University Blvd., La Grande, OR 97850.
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