Sisters comes together to build the Outlaw Outpost

Sisters celebrated the official opening of the "Outlaw Outpost" at Reed Stadium during homecoming festivities Friday night.

Sisters School District Superintendent Elaine Drakulich cut the ribbon marking the completion of the community project that raised over $31,000 from 38 individuals and businesses to build the open-air structure.

Building the Outlaw Outpost was a class project of participants in the Ford Institute for Community Building's Leadership Program. The institute is an initiative of the Ford Family Foundation, which contributed $5,000 to the construction of the Outlaw Outpost. The remaining $26,000 came from community members in cash, supplies and donated labor.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Drakulich said she had always believed in the concept that it takes a village to raise a child but had never seen it come to fruition until she moved to Sisters.

"This is a perfect example of a whole village contributing to our city," said Drakulich. "The Ford Institute leadership class designed it and enlisted community resources to build it."

Drakulich said the project was also an example of effective planning because the Outlaw Outpost can be used as an outdoor classroom for environmental and other studies and as a concession stand for events held at Reed Stadium.

Sisters contractor Scot Fetrow led the construction effort and donated all his labor.

"Scot was responsible for generating a majority of the donated labor and supplies from the individuals and business that contributed to this project," said Chris Mayes, owner of Design Strategies, who donated building design services and was also a member of the Ford Institute's leadership class.

When asked why he donated over $4,500 in labor, Fetrow replied, "This community has been good to me and it was a chance to give back."

Fetrow said some people even came forward without being asked and volunteered to help.

"It's just that kind of community," he said.

Joyce Akse, associate director of the Ford Institute for Community Building, thinks that it says a lot about the Sisters community that in such difficult economic times so many people contributed so much to the project. Without checking her records she guessed that the amount of donated supplies and labor was much greater than is typically seen in projects resulting from the leadership classes.

In the interest of keeping a project "doable," Ford advises keeping the project budget at around $10,000. Sisters exceeded that by $21,000.

"The Ford Institute for Community Building was envisioned as a way to contribute to rural vitality, which is part of the Ford Family Foundation's mission," said Akse.

The foundation, headquartered in Roseburg, serves rural communities in Oregon and Siskiyou County, California with populations under 30,000.

The Ford Family Foundation's involvement in Sisters is ongoing. Once it decides to invest its resources in a community, it makes a five-year commitment, which it estimates is worth about $250,000. That commitment includes offering the leadership development course in the first year.

Participants attend 14 hours of training each month on a Friday and Saturday for four months. Year two is a two-session training on "effective organizations" and in years three and five the leadership development course is repeated.

A "community collaborations" training and event is presented in the fourth year.

The Ford Institute is now entering the third year of its partnership with Sisters and is offering the leadership development training again, starting January 22, 2010 and running through April 24, 2010. The deadline for submitting an application, which can be found at http://www.tfff.org, is November 30. Contact Stacey Stonesifer at 541-419-7000 for more information.