Month: May 2014

Stories From the Field: A RARE AmeriCorps Perspective

Posted on by Julia Havens

Life in RARE: Oh the places you’ll go!

Howdy Neighbor
Blake Helm St Helens RARE Americorps Program Resource Assistance for Rural EnvironmentsOne of my favorite things about life in the RARE AmeriCorps Program – Resource Assistance for Rural Environments is not just living and working in my community, this is generally true for most of us, but RARE allows you to engage your community in ways that I feel you would not otherwise be able to. In a sense, it gives one a platform, and here in St. Helens we are taking advantage of our platform.

A Little Confidence
We have a great thing going in St. Helens. Life is good, we live next door to the Columbia River, have ample recreational opportunities, a major city right down the highway, and some great independent minded and creative people. However, the shadow of Portland looms large in our part of Columbia County and it’s sometimes hard for residents to see all the local character. With a little push from the right people, us local AmeriCorps representatives (3 RAREs and a VISTA) started a YouTube Channel called ‘We Are St. Helens.’

Blake Helm St Helens RARE Americorps Program Resource Assistance for Rural EnvironmentsSmile for the Camera
‘We Are St. Helens’ looks at all parts of the community and celebrates them; our community’s history, businesses, environment, and hearts. We’ve made two videos so far that focus on St. Helens’ big heart, the local group called Community Meals and the nonprofit SAFE. These two organizations provide a service to the community that can’t always be quantified but should always be applauded. Local businesses are getting the spotlight as well with a video on Alterations by Heather, a local alteration shop that promotes its employee’s hand crafted wares.

What’s Next?
We hope that these videos can inspire local residents, help them to appreciate all the great things around them, and eventually for them to connect and participate with their community. ‘We Are St. Helens’ will soon post its 6th video about the city’s lone distillery, Ye ‘Ole Grog Distillery, so be on the lookout!

 

Blake Helm RARE AmeriCorps Resource Assistance for Rural EnvironmentsAbout the Author: Blake received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in GIS from Penn State University. Blake has worked with Lane Council of Governments, Willamalane Parks and Recreation, and the Army Corps of Engineers on an array of GIS related projects. Blake applied to the RARE AmeriCorps Program in hopes of further developing a skill set that will allow him to find work in his most desired career field – planning and community development. Blake placed with the Port of St. Helens, where he is utilizing his GIS experience to develop a more sophisticated map of Port properties for marketing and development efforts. He is also assisting with the complex permitting process needed for further development of the Port Marina; assisting with compiling various grants; and, helping address an increasing need to develop more robust Emergency Management Plans.

Reflections: The First Term of our Community Planning Workshop Project

Posted on by Julia Havens

Elizabeth Miller Madras Hazards Integration Plan CPW Community Planning WorkshopAs our team wraps up the winter term, I think it’s a good time to reflect back on our progress on our Community Planning Workshop project. Before my team started our project of incorporating the Madras Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan into the City of Madras’ Comprehensive Plan, few (if any) of us had never read a comprehensive plan. Similarly, most of us had not considered natural hazard mitigation planning as an important task for a city planner.

At the early stages of this project our team was given a considerable amount of reading to do. Between gaining a good understanding of the significant documents, the regulating agencies at play, and our scope of work, it took us almost three weeks to wrap our heads around our project concept, the keys players and documents involved, and task at hand that is our project. Not only did we have to learn these concepts for ourselves, but we also had to quickly figure out how to present the scope of our project and these concepts to our Community Planning Workshop class. Even more intimidating, our team would also so have to present to a committee of community leaders (our Technical Advisory Committee) in our fast-approaching meeting with them. Needless to say, there were several conversations with our project manager and our project advisor that entailed them re-explaining concepts to us, as well as there were many times when we found that we had to go back and re-read the numerous documents.

Our team had both the benefit and the misfortune of having our meeting with the Technical Advisory Committee pushed back three weeks due to a snow and ice storm (the irony of that situation wasn’t lost on us), requiring us to think on our feet and re-work our entire schedule. During these three weeks our team did further investigation of case studies and other relevant documents, so that by the time we reached our meeting, we really knew our content. What’s more, the meeting was a great learning experience, and solidified all of the knowledge we had been gathering throughout this process.

Recently our team did our final presentation of the term to our Community Planning Workshop class. Our team was only able to spend a small fraction of the time on this presentation than we did our previous presentations, and some of us were even set to speak on content that we had never done before. Despite this, our presentation went exceptionally well. The following day our team asked ourselves how we managed such a successful and succinct presentation. Ultimately our team’s understanding of our project, which came from the many hours of research, discussion, and experience discussing it in a professional setting, allowed us to speak confidently with our content.

Our team is now at a point where we’re synthesizing all of our research and work into major deliverables that include stakeholder interviews, a public survey, the initial process of drafting our key documents, and planning a public forum for next month. At the beginning of this term, I looked at these tasks with apprehension and nervousness. As we are going through this process now however, excitement has replaced apprehension. There’s something to be said about doing your homework, and something even more to be said about the professional experience that CPW offers.

 

Elizabeth Miller Madras Hazards Integration Plan CPW Community Planning WorkshopAbout the Author: Elizabeth Miller is a Community and Regional Planning student at the University of Oregon, and is additionally pursuing a certificate in Nonprofit Management. She is from Kalispell, Montana, and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame with degrees in Fine Arts, Political Science, and Peace Studies.