News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters will receive particular attention in a regional "housing needs" survey conducted by the Central Oregon Regional Housing Authority (CORHA) and funded by the Northwest Area Foundation.
The housing survey is one of several demonstration projects backed by the foundation, which is developing a partnership program with Central Oregon that could bring as much as $20 million in grant funding to communities in the Deschutes River watershed over the next decade, according to Ted Viramonte, director of the Community Action Team of Sisters (CATS).
CATS has been serving on contract as temporary staff for the Northwest Area Foundation in Central Oregon.
Viramonte and Bill Willitts of Sisters Area Affordable Housing Solutions (SAAHS) pushed for a Sisters-area survey, Viramonte said. The foundation decided to conduct a region-wide survey, but with a break-out of information for the Sisters area.
"There's evidence that the need for affordable housing is most critical in Sisters -- the greater Sisters area," Viramonte said.
That evidence was provided by SAAHS, Viramonte said.
Viramonte and Willitts are part of an approximately 50-member volunteer task force that is "in the process of determining what the partnership between Central Oregon and the Northwest Area Foundation is going to look like," according to Viramonte.
The foundation, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, is the "benevolent arm" of the Great Northern Railroad. It covers Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The foundation recently changed its focus from granting funds for individual projects to developing long-term, intensive community development partnerships with urban, rural and watershed areas, according to the foundation's website.
According to Viramonte, the housing survey is expected to be finished in May. Housing activists and interested agencies will then present the survey to city and county governments in hopes the survey will be adopted for planning purposes.
In Sisters, Viramonte said, "SAAHS is going to be able to utilize (the survey) to determine what projects it's going to go after."
The partnership task force is currently reviewing applications for a community facilitator, who will coordinate foundation projects and funding throughout Central Oregon.
Bill Willitts serves as chair of the task force personnel committee reviewing the applications, and Viramonte is the committee facilitator.
CATS' role in developing the Central Oregon partnership with the Northwest Area Foundation has been substantial, according to Viramonte. CATS has received funding through its contract with the foundation that has helped pay for office space at city hall and for Viramonte's position in the past few months.
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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