News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Leaders from various institutions in the Sisters community gathered Monday night, May 15, to kick off a $102,000 project that is geared to produce a long-term strategic vision for the Sisters community.
The “summit” of institutional leaders included representatives of the City of Sisters, the Forest Service, the library and school districts, Habitat for Humanity, the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce and others.
The meeting will be followed by a community survey and events that will bring a wider public into the approximately eight-month process.
That wider involvement is viewed by all the key leaders as essential to making a plan that will lead to action rather than gathering dust on a shelf.
“We have incredible leadership capacity in this community,” said Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony, who serves as president of the board of directors for the Community Action Team of Sisters (CATS).
Collaboration between agencies and institutions is a clear goal of the project and, according to Anthony, critical to any success.
The group, facilitated by Heidi Clark of Rural Development Initiatives, went through exercises listing the successes and positive characteristics of the Sisters community, then brainstormed ways in which to make the project better.
Most of those ideas centered around outreach and creating a stake in the process for a broad range of participants, with one group also recommending a shorter timeline for the project and an emphasis on “leadership” over “vision.”
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.
Reader Comments(0)