Vision team offers progress report

The Sisters Country Vision Implementation Team (VIT) recently published its 2023 Progress Report.

The Vision report highlights progress toward long-term goals for Sisters Country and details efforts of local agency representatives, organizational leaders, and community volunteers to make Sisters Country more prosperous, livable, resilient, and connected. The report can be viewed at http://www.bit.ly/sistersvision2023.

“With so much growth and change over the past few years, we know that there are many in our community who are unfamiliar with the Vision and VIT,” said Sisters City Manager Jordan Wheeler. “This report is intended as a first step toward reintroducing local residents to these initiatives.”

Around 2,000 community members participated in the 2018 original visioning project and created the Vision Action Plan (VAP). VAP has four focus areas and 20 core strategies to inform, inspire, and guide local stakeholders committed to creating a more thriving community. The VAP can be viewed at http://sistersvision.org.

The VIT is responsible for catalyzing and tracking progress of Vision and meets regularly to identify challenges, brainstorm solutions, coordinate broader community engagement, and secure support for Vision-aligned initiatives.

Current VIT members include representatives from the City of Sisters, Sisters Camp-Sherman Fire District, Sisters School District, Sisters Park & Recreation District, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Sisters Ranger District, Economic Development Central Oregon (EDCO), Explore Sisters, Deschutes County, Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council (COIC), and several at-large community members. The VIT is facilitated by Citizens4Community (C4C).

The 2023 report highlights upcoming challenges, including infrastructure development – the City, Sisters School District, Sisters Library, Sisters Ranger District, Sisters Park & Recreation District, Black Butte Ranch, Black Butte School, and several residential developers all either broke ground or announced plans for new or renovated buildings, housing, parks, and roads.

Other community accomplishments in 2023 included: Explore Sisters, a new destination management organization (DMO) aimed at balancing economic development with local livability through tourism; EDCO’s recruitment of several new businesses to the area, fostering job creation and economic growth; The hiring of a new city manager; Partnership between the City of Sisters and Northwest Housing Alternatives to develop a new 40-unit affordable rental apartment complex; St. Charles Family Care expanded local lab service hours and Mosaic Community Health assumed operations of the Sisters School-Based Health Center (SBHC); The Ranger District, Fire District, C4C, and several neighborhoods advanced new projects designed to improve the community’s emergency preparedness and wildfire resilience.

The VIT invited the community to nominate local individuals who have made outstanding, yet under-appreciated, contributions to Sisters Country. The VIT is celebrating “Unsung Heroes” of the Sisters community: Peggy Tehan, Dixie Eckford, Robine Bots, and Grant Norlin. Read more about each of these in the full Vision report.

The VIT is prioritizing three local challenges in 2024 – childcare, housing, and arts and culture. They will be seeking new ways to inform, support, and advance community initiatives around these topics. The VIT will publish quarterly press releases regarding these priorities and a Vision website will soon offer more tools and resources to keep residents informed and engaged.

The VIT is seeking new community members to serve in at-large roles with the working group. Members serve two-year terms, with meetings happening five to six times per year. Contact the VIT facilitator at [email protected] to learn more.