TWST Blog

Baker City, Baker County, OR

Baker City is the last stop on this TWST. A group of 20 met with me at City Hall.

The concerns I learned about in eastern Oregon echoed those of the communities in central Oregon. The geographical remoteness and aging population with few large employers challenge those who live here. There is also the lack of family wage jobs, lack of accessible affordable health care, and inadequate state funding for services like alcohol and drug treatment. It made me wonder why folks choose to live in such isolated communities. But after listening to them, I understand they do it because they share a deep sense of community, relationships, and connections to each other. They are resilient and creative and enjoy bringing things like art and culture to their community. We had folks representing performing and visual arts as well as some who work to preserve the community’s railroad history. As agriculture production has shifted from food to nursery and seed stock, groups are taking up the food insecurity and nutrition issues with farm to school and education activities. The nonprofit community is taking care of those who experience domestic violence and addictions, and focus on preventative health care services. They tell me what they need most from funders are grants that are not project specific and that allow them to support their core work: general support grants. This is not the first time we have heard this concern, but it is the first time that I was able to tell them that the Meyer Trust is now providing grants for core operating support. We also talked a lot about how they still must raise local dollars to support their work and the importance of having resources from as many different sources as possible to build their operating budgets. This was a very get-down-to-business group. As soon as we were done, they began talking to each other: problem-solving and offering suggestions.

The rain returned and was pouring down as I left Baker City. This was a great TWST. Thank you to everyone and every group who came out share. We learned a lot and look forward to new partnerships with groups who are doing great work.

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