Sisters eyes grant for community center

The drive to fund a community center in Sisters got a boost Thursday, December 19, with an endorsement of the project from the city council. The endorsement clears the way for the city to ask for a $600,000 community development grant to fund the project.

Sisters Kiwanis and Rotary clubs are assessing community needs and studying potential sites for a community center that could house teen and senior activities and community organizations such as SOAR, the Sisters chapter of the Central Oregon Council on Aging and the Family Access Network.

According to Carole C. B. Davis, who is helping to coordinate the undertaking for the Kiwanis, the project is still in the initial phase of study. No site has been decided upon and planners do not know whether the center will be put in an existing building or if a center will be constructed.

"We have not discounted anything," Davis told The Nugget. "We're keeping an open mind and a positive attitude."

Davis said the planners will send out questionnaires in January asking a wide range of people for input as to what the Sisters area needs. Information from the questionnaires will be analyzed in a needs assessment forum in February.

Kiwanis and Rotary anticipate a year-long study before launching the project. They plan to be ready to apply for the Community Development Block Grant from the Oregon Economic Development Department in January, 1998. The City of Sisters or another public agency must handle the actual grant application.

According to Davis, planners hope to get the center started without creating any cost to the city and its residents. She noted that funding ongoing maintenance and operations costs, estimated at roughly $25,000 per year, will be a challenge. A portion of the hoped-for grant could be used to pay those costs, Davis said.

The City of Sisters is eligible to apply for a 1997 grant. The council received a request to apply for a $10,000 technical assistance grant on behalf of Skillful Means, a women's support group. The organization did not appear at the December 19 meeting to make a presentation, so the council deferred a decision to a later meeting.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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