Community Capacity & Disaster Relief

Time and again, rural Oregon communities have demonstrated extraordinary strength, resourcefulness and grace in the face of wildfires and other disasters. We have learned important lessons, expanded our leadership, deepened our connections with each other, and built immeasurable social capital and capacity. Strategically growing and leveraging these community assets will be crucial in minimizing risks and strengthening our ability to withstand and recover from future climate change and other natural and environmental disasters.

News & Highlights

The Roundhouse Foundation Supports Access to Broadband

Today access to broadband internet is a vital utility that allows people access to job opportunities, education, and healthcare as well as being an important tool for public information and safety.

Oregon Desert Land Trust Programs Support Conservation and Community Engagement

Since it was founded in 2017, the Oregon Desert Land Trust (ODLT), with offices in Bend and Burns, has been conserving and restoring both wild and working private lands throughout Oregon’s high desert country.

McKenzie Watershed Council’s Firewood Program Aids Rural Oregon Residents

The program began in December of 2021, spurred in part to help those affected by the Holiday Farm Fire.

Resources

Podcast Episode

Cari Cullen: All Funders are Disaster Funders

During times of crisis, we often see the disparities in community resources, especially in rural and remote communities. Cari Cullen from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy offers ways philanthropy can and should be showing up in the communities we serve during and after disasters. Cari reminds philanthropists it’s not ‘if’, but ‘when’, with disasters. Funders need to plan ahead, in partnership with government agencies and community stakeholders. And perhaps most importantly, we need to be listening for what the communities actually need.

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Strategies

  • Develop a “quick activation” mechanism to deploy funding for community relief and recovery efforts following a state or federally-declared environmental disaster
  • Develop a “quick activation” mechanism to deploy technical assistance for communities affected by disaster to receive funding from government programs
  • Encourage and support rural capacity-building efforts so that communities can minimize risks, have a plan and are prepared to mobilize, access resources and respond to immediate needs when the next disaster strikes
  • Support efforts to leverage wildfire recovery funds and mitigation strategies as a way to support prevention, mitigation and long-term recovery
  • Support exploration of approaches to protect and restore community infrastructure
  • Identify opportunities to strengthen and expand rural CTE programs that support community resilience by leveraging climate change and wildfire recovery funds, infusing traditional ecological knowledge and empowering youth (in collaboration with CTE initiative)
  • Gather others in philanthropy to influence government and clarify where the “doors” are for communities to access help and resources