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Monday Mailing

Year 22 • Issue 25 14 March 2016 1.

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Sorry I Didn’t Read Your “Rural Is Dying” Article Economic Gardening Is Growing, But What Is It? Small-Town America Is Facing Big-City Problems Guide: Building Stronger, Safer Communities Citizens' Institute on Rural Design Three Powerful Ways To Use Dialogue In Your Next Presentation Cultural Trust Now Accepting applications for Cultural Development Grants Oregon Land Use Planning Online Training Event and Live Stream: Harney County & the Sagebrush Rebellion How ‘Ugly’ Fruits and Vegetables Can Help Solve World Hunger OAPA 2016 Legislative Recap Webinar

1. Sorry I Didn’t Read Your “Rural Is Dying” Article …but I was busy serving the people who are innovating in rural places today.

That’s not actually true. I did read your article. And I shook my head through the whole thing. And I set aside being busy long enough to write down a few thoughts in response.

Quote of the Week: "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." ~Beverly Sills

Oregon Fast Fact: The western Oregon climate is very similar to that of the Burgundy region in France where the Pinot grape is from.

Western Oregon has several wineries which produce Pinot Noir wine.

You went with the “this town is dying, all of rural is dying” theme. (The only other ones that I see used very much are “small towns are the idyllic past” and “rural people are a bunch of nuts.”) I’d rather talk about the #SmallTownNow than your same old stories.

I disagree with your fundamental premise. Rural has a future. Small towns have long-standing relevance in growing food, raising livestock, processing foods, producing natural resources and protecting the environment. That relevance is never going to go away as long as we need food, utilize natural resources and care about our environment.

Professor Ivan Emke goes so far as to point out that rural will save civilization. Small towns have new relevance in a work-from-anywhere, anywhen world. I think you wrote about ruralsourcing once, years ago.

Thanks!

To access the full story, click here.

2. Economic Gardening Is Growing, But What Is It? Nearly 30 years ago, city officials in Littleton, Colo., put a novel theory to test: Could a small group of local businesses, with assistance from the city, boost Littleton out of its downward spiral?

The Denver suburb was reeling in 1987 after its then-major employer, missile manufacturer Martin Marietta (today Lockheed Martin) left town, laying off about 7,800 people over an 18-month period. The company also left about 1 million square feet of industrial and office space. That year, the city council directed its economic team to figure out how to not just fill the hole but to make sure Littleton was never that vulnerable again.

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“As good a citizen as Martin Marietta was, they were headquartered out east,” says Chris Gibbons, Littleton’s business director at the time. “Our future was being determined by people far, far away.

They didn’t have to see the people in the grocery store on Saturday that they laid off.”In urban areas, many riders have reason to be nervous, and that in itself is part of a vicious cycle.

To access the full story, click here.

3. Small-Town America Is Facing Big-City Problems A new farm-to-table restaurant selling locally sourced pork and seasonally appropriate vegetables moves into a rehabbed insane asylum. A famous director renovates an 80-year-old theater in the heart of downtown. Coffee shops, breweries and more restaurants pop up and begin serving all their drinks in mason jars. Popularity soars and the rents rise.

Sound familiar? It’s not Pittsburgh or Brooklyn or Detroit. The affordable housing crunch and firebreathing NIMBYism often associated with America’s rapidly gentrifying cities has reached our resort towns — from the Rocky Mountains to Northern Michigan. Small towns, they’re just like us!

Traverse City, Michigan, with its waterways and nearby ski slopes, is experiencing such a boom.

Portland, Maine, a funky town and artists’ haven, is mired in an affordable housing debate that has pitted longtime residents against developers trying to foster smart growth. And Breckenridge, Colorado, has morphed from a town filled with ski bums and bartenders to a destination where the jet set flock to their million-dollar second homes. The rise of telecommuting, the retirement of upper-middle-class baby boomers downsizing into more manageable homes near city centers, and the urban preference of millennials has quickly turned these dream towns into dream cities.

To access the full story, click here.

4. Guide: Building Stronger, Safer Communities Building Stronger, Safer Communities: A Guide for Law Enforcement and Community Partners to Prevent and Respond to Hate Crimes offers leadership strategies and actionable tactics to help law enforcement agencies work with community partners.

Real-life examples, documented by the Not In Our Town movement against hate and intolerance, illustrate how agencies can work with community stakeholders to create an atmosphere where hate is not tolerated and take positive steps in the aftermath of a hate crime. This guide also explains the history of the Not In Our Town movement and provides multiples lists of resources to promote action, engagement, and empowerment for the community and law enforcement.

You can get the guide in two ways: Download the digital guide here as a PDF, or Request a free hard copy from the U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office (free shipping included).

Multiple copies can be requested for trainings, community task forces, and other events.

For more information, click here.

5. Citizens' Institute on Rural Design Residents in America’s small towns and rural communities care deeply about the future of their towns and value their uniqueness, strong sense of community, and special places. However, they increasingly face urgent challenges: How can they add jobs and support local businesses? How do they create a positive future for their kids? How can they honor and protect local character and history? How do they use limited financial, human, and natural resources wisely?

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Developing locally-driven solutions to these challenges is critical to the long-term vitality of these communities, and the arts and design can play a powerful role in this process. Across the country, community leaders and residents are coming together to tackle these challenges and to find creative strategies that address:    

How to build strong economies and grow jobs; Where to locate new growth or redevelop older areas; How to design efficient transportation systems; How to protect the community’s historic and culturally significant resources.

Rural design is an important tool for rural communities to build upon existing assets and improve the way a community looks, its quality of life, and its economic viability. However, few rural communities have access to design assistance or the expertise to tackle these challenges on their own.

The Citizens' Institute on Rural Design™ (CIRD) provides communities access to the resources they need to convert their own good ideas into reality. CIRD works with communities with populations of 50,000 or less, and offers annual competitive funding to as many as four small towns or rural communities to host a two-and-a-half day community design workshop. With support from a wide range of design, planning and creative placemaking professionals, the workshops bring together local leaders from non-profits, community organizations, and government to develop actionable solutions to the community's pressing design challenges. The community receives additional support through webinars, conference calls, and web-based resources.

To access the CIRD Website, click here.

6. Three Powerful Ways To Use Dialogue In Your Next Presentation You're used to hearing how storytelling is such a compelling form of public speaking. After all, it's an ancient human habit, and our brains may even be hardwired for it. But there's one key element of any great narrative that's easy to overlook when you're preparing a presentation: dialogue.

Sure, you don't want to sound like you're talking to yourself—but you don't have to. To figure out how to do it well, look no further than some of the most powerful public speakers alive right now.

Here's a look at three popular TED Talks that each highlight a different way to incorporate dialogue into your presentation.

To access the full story, click here.

7. Cultural Trust Now Accepting applications for Cultural Development Grants The Cultural Trust's annual competitive grant cycle for arts, heritage, history, preservation and humanities nonprofit programs has opened. Grant guidelines for FY2017 Cultural Development grants are posted. Applications must be submitted online by 5 pm Friday, April 22, 2016.

Cultural Development grants are for project activities that occur between August 1, 2016 and July 30, 2017 that:   

protect and stabilize Oregon's cultural resources; expand public awareness of, access to, and participation in quality cultural experiences in Oregon; ensure that Oregon cultural resources are strong and dynamic contributors to Oregon's communities and quality of life; Page 3 of 5

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build an understanding of the value and impact of culture to Oregonians.

Cultural Development Grants recognize and support significant cultural programs and projects through four grant categories:    

Access: Make culture broadly available to Oregonians Preservation: Invest in Oregon's cultural heritage by recovering, preserving, and sharing historic assets and achievements Creativity: Create and/or present cultural or scholarly work; Support the development of artists, cultural experts, or scholars who promote culture as a core part of vibrant communities Capacity: Strengthen cultural organizations to increase stability, improve sustainability, or measure/share cultural impacts

For more information, click here.

8. Oregon Land Use Planning Online Training Welcome to the Oregon land use planning online training, an overview of planning principles and practices in Oregon. The purpose of this program is to help you…citizens and decisionmakers…have a greater understanding of Oregon’s Statewide Planning and Coastal Management programs and how they relate to your local government planning efforts.

The curriculum has nine chapters. You may follow at your own pace and access the program at any point. Listen and watch. You may also read the content on your screen as we go along. Confirm your understanding by reviewing the scenarios that follow each chapter. For further information about how to use this site, please click the "Using This Site" button on the site index column on the left side of the screen.

For more information about Oregon’s Statewide Planning or Coastal Management Programs, contact us at (503) 373-0050.

To access this series of online trainings, click here.

9. Event and Live Stream: Harney County & the Sagebrush Rebellion Join us March 15, 2016 from 4-5:30 pm for a live stream event on Harney County and the Sagebrush Rebellion, with a discussion of past and present issues in federal land management. The event will be featuring Environmental Studies alumna Amanda Peacher and visiting lecturer from Stanford University, David Hayes.

Peacher, who now works for Oregon Public Broadcasting as a multimedia reporter and producer covering Central Orego, has been covering the occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and related issues since the occupation began.A former wildlife ranger, she has masters degrees in literary nonfiction journalism and environmental studies from the University of Oregon. David Hayes is a visiting lecturer at Stanford University, where he teaches on renewable and conventional energy, wildlife trafficking, NEPA reform, natural resources, and climate change. He served as deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the Department of the Interior under Clinton and Obama.

There will be a viewing of the live stream on March 15th in Knight Law Center, room 175. You can also view the live stream online here.

For more information, click here.

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10. How ‘Ugly’ Fruits and Vegetables Can Help Solve World Hunger Tristram Stuart has 24 hours to produce a restaurant meal for 50 people—to plan a menu, gather food, then welcome guests to a venue in a city not his own. Complicating what sounds like a realityshow contest is a singular rule: Nearly all the ingredients must be sourced from farms and vendors intending to throw them out.

After racing back to New York City from a New Jersey farm where he gleaned 75 pounds of crookneck squash deemed by the farmers too crooked to sell, Stuart bolts from a car creeping through traffic and darts into a Greenwich Village bakery. Tall and blond, with a posh English accent, he launches into his ten-second spiel: “I run an organization that campaigns against food waste, and I’m pulling together a feast tomorrow made with food that won’t be sold or donated to charity. Do you have any bread that we could use?” The bakery doesn’t, but the clerk hands him two broken chocolate-chip cookies as consolation.

Stuart flings himself into the car. His next stop: the Union Square farmers market, where he spies a chef wrapping fish in squares of brioche dough, then trimming them into half circles. “Can I have your corners?” Stuart asks, with a meant-to-be-charming smile. The chef, uncharmed, declines. He’s going to make use of this dough himself. Undaunted, Stuart sails on through the market, delivering his pitch and eventually procuring discarded beet greens, wheatgrass, and apples.

To access the full story, click here.

11. OAPA 2016 Legislative Recap Webinar Grab your lunch and join us for a recap of land use related legislation that passed and failed, and what we are likely to see in the 2017 Legislative session.

When: Friday, March 18, 2016 Time: 12:00 pm to 1 pm Speakers:    

Damian Syrnyk, AICP, OAPA Legislative and Policy Advisory Committee Chair Becky Steckler, AICP, OAPA Program and Policy Manager Dan Eisenbeis, DLCD Legislative Coordinator Erin Doyle, League of Oregon Cities (tentative).

This event is free, but registration is required.

To register for this webinar, click here.

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