Meet our Students: Sarah Allison

Community and Regional Planning

What city, region, state do you call home?

Oregon

In which graduate program are you enrolled?

Community and Regional Planning

What is your area of concentration?

I am focused on the strengthening of geographic communities through hazards planning and socio-economic development.

What will you be doing for the Community Service Center?

I will be helping to develop a Strategic Plan for the Emergency Management Departments of Douglas County and Coos County, and a Regional Strategic Action Plan for how they can work together to better accomplish their goals.

How does your involvement with the Community Service Center (CSC) relate to or inform your graduate studies?

My project with the CSC looks at the organizational needs of planning for hazards and emergencies of all kinds. Hazards planning is one of the focuses of my graduate studies because of the inherently local nature of hazards, and the ability of the issue to bring communities together.

What can you say about the value of your Community Service Center experience?

This project not only gives me a greater understanding of the challenges of emergency management, it also offers real world experience with the political realities of how change is made, and a broader view of the strategies needed to plan for that change. I gain a great deal from the experience of actually doing (rather than simply studying the relevant theory), and hopefully make a difference on the ground at the same time.

What outcome are you hoping for when your project ends?

I hope to deliver a plan that the county can take ownership of and implement because it serves their goals in a way that feels authentic to them.

More about the Community Planning Workshop(CPW)