Strategic Initiatives

Skilled tradespeople are at the core of vibrant rural communities and economies. They are trained specialists who provide the essential services that keep our homes, businesses and community services running smoothly. They help us prevent, respond to and recover from community disasters. And they are key players in bringing rural economic development innovations to life. Careers in skilled trades also provide a pathway for people to stay in rural communities and make a stable living.

Access to reliable, affordable, quality child care and early education supports healthy children, self-supporting families, stable businesses, and thriving rural economies. Access to child care is, in fact, fundamental to rural workforce development. Yet, in many rural communities, the lack of child care and early education presents significant workforce challenges and family hardships.

Arts, culture and storytelling create safe and healing spaces to connect deeply to who you are, process trauma, and harness the power of clarity and resilience. They can reconnect you to culture, traditional wisdom and language, and build relationships across generations. They nurture joy and cultivate community.

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. 

Rural Oregon’s agricultural assets are exceptional, abundant and crucial to local communities. Reliable access to healthy, locally sourced and culturally relevant food is inextricably connected to thriving people, sustainable environments, prosperous economies and community resilience. Looking forward, we know that adapting agricultural practices to meet the challenges of climate change and leveraging and expanding our agricultural assets for mutual benefit and prosperity are foundational to a thriving rural future.

Lack of access to healthcare creates multiple barriers to successful rural communities, impacting individuals, families and the workforce. It is hard to learn, work or create when you and your loved ones are unwell, in pain or can’t get services to stay healthy. It is difficult to run a business or get needed services when workers are out sick. Yet, many rural communities do not have access to the health care they so sorely need. Of urgent concern are the recent closing of rural pharmacies and constraints on reproductive healthcare, both of which exacerbate the already tenuous health care situation for rural Oregonians.

In Oregon, people may live in or visit a house with a firearm. Firearms can be part and parcel of rural culture, where they are used for hunting, protecting livestock and self-protection. Often the unintended consequences of readily accessible firearms are not discussed as communities face stressors inherent in agriculture, live in remote places where mental health services are sparse, and have an independent spirit that hinders asking for help. It is not difficult to find people in rural and Indigenous communities who have experienced the deep grief of firearm-related injury, suicide or violence in their family or community. Suicides make up 75% of all firearm deaths in Oregon, and more than half of all suicides in Oregon are by firearm. We all share a common goal: we want our family, friends and neighbors – and ourselves – to be safe and healthy.

Democracy thrives when people have access to reliable information that reflects multiple perspectives, including the views, experiences, strengths and challenges of those closest to the issues. At a time when many of our society’s most pressing challenges — how we get our energy, sustainability of our food system, access to clean water, and navigating climate change — are centered in rural spaces, the perspectives, experiences and wisdom of rural and Indigenous communities are imperative. Yet, too often, their stories are not being told or are being told without their voices by people from outside the community for distant audiences.