Category: Meet Our RARE AmeriCorps Members

A RARE Experience

Posted on by Titus Tomlinson

By Marina Brassfield

A highlight from the past four months in my RARE position as an Economic Development Specialist has not been one single occurrence, but it has been the continuous building of relationships with community members – specifically, with one volunteer who has been engaged, motivated, and possesses an excitement that’s contagious to those around her.

At our first ad hoc committee meeting, dedicated to business relationship building and networking, the group brainstormed potential projects we wanted to focus our energies on for the next 11 months. This particular volunteer came up with the idea to plan an event celebrating the local products and businesses unique to the Fern Ridge Area. Not only would it encourage residents to shop local, but it would also allow for business-to-business networking and encourage membership in the local Chamber of Commerce.

She’s had lots of ideas since then, such as talking to the Eugene Chamber of Commerce for event planning advice, fundraising ideas, entertainment and game ideas for the day of. She also reached out to venue owners, and because of her efforts, our event will be held at one of the nicest spots in West Lane County, free of cost.

I’ve found that we are extremely effective in working together. After meetings with her, I always leave motivated, with improved ideas and plans I had been contemplating but unsure of how to execute. For this committee, my focus has mostly been project management and organizing, research, and outreach; however, I feel she has been most forceful in moving this project forward, by exciting other committee volunteers and coming up with creative ideas to work through.

This volunteer is still in school for Business Administration, and recently asked me more about my position, besides the context she works with me in. She said she is interested in pursuing economic development as a career; surely, she would have found a passion with or without having a RARE placement in her community, and the ad-hoc committee I am working on would have likely progressed with or without me. But being a part of someone’s experience, and sharing the work of a meaningful project with someone who loves, cares about the future of their community, and gives back to it has been an incomparable experience.

A bit about Marina Brassfield:

  • B.A. in Environmental Studies and a Minor in Planning, Public Policy, and Management – University of Oregon.
  • I spent each summer of my childhood sailing in the Hawaiian Islands with my dad and my sister. When I was nine years old, we sailed across the Pacific Ocean to return the sailboat from Honolulu, Hawaii to Port Townsend, Washington.
  • Before studying abroad in Italy, the experience seemed very attractive to me but unattainable. I worked restlessly to apply for loans and additional scholarships, sold possessions I did not need, used savings from high school, and continued to save a little from each paycheck. Through my planning and efforts, I obtained enough for the program and travel costs.

Does community development work interest you?  Are you looking for a life changing experience in rural Oregon?  Learn more about serving with the RARE AmeriCorps Program via our website: https://rare.uoregon.edu/

Inspiring The Next Generation

Posted on by Titus Tomlinson

By Elisa Dawson

Along a beautiful stretch of the Rogue River is the River’s namesake, the City of Rogue River. The river is a predominant feature of the city, and you can see how people here value the Rogue River though the murals which feature it, the fisherman on the river, and the way residents speak of the river. For me, the River was the driving force in my move here. I love water in all forms, and if I had to choose a favorite river it would be the Rogue.

As luck would have it, the RARE AmeriCorps position I served in enables me to work directly in areas of water quality through helping the City of Rogue River meet their Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements. A TMDL permit is issued to cities by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. TMDL permits establish water quality standards and establishes the maximum amount of an impairing substance that a waterbody can assimilate to. Part of this permit is not only about controlling pollution, but also requires Cities to perform outreach and education around water and water quality within their communities.

Upon arriving in Rogue River, it was part of my charge to establish and effectuate some of these outreach and education activities. One partnership I created was with the local Elementary School. I was able to meRiparian Workshop Flyer 8x11et with two fifth grade teachers who were interested in having their students participate in a project with the City. Through our meeting, we came up with having the students work on a water quality project on their school grounds. We partnered with a kindergarten teacher who had recently acquired funds to build a Monarch Butterfly Wayfinding Station and began brainstorming ways to turn this Monarch Butterfly Wayfinding Station into an outdoor classroom, incorporating water conservation and water quality techniques into the Monarch Butterfly Wayfinding Station project.

The 5th graders worked through several educational classes related to water quality. One session included having the students make a “Recipe for Healthy Soil” where they learned about what percentages of sand, silt, clay, air, and water make a soil ideal. The students also calculated how much water would run off of their school roof in a 1 inch rainstorm. For their final project, all of the 5th graders from the two classes at Rogue River Elementary got their hands dirty and  participated in planting over 100 native plants at the Fleming Park Riparian Demonstration and Learning Site, as part of a project I was able to secure grant funds for as a RARE AmeriCorps participant in Rogue River.

Education and outreach can sometimes feel like a daunting task with a project, and can often lead to question like “where should I start?” Creating partnerships is key to this process. In Rogue River, by cold calling a few teachers I was able to create a yearlong project for students to be involved in. It has been a highlight of my service for me to be able to teach these young citizens about water quality, and about what their city is doing to try to protect water quality. For most of them, this is their first opportunity to participate directly in local government. My goal is to help the students feel enabled to participate in local government in their future, and even inspire them to become environmental stewards in the process.

Elisa Dawson

Elisa received her bachelor’s degree in both Geography and in Community, Environment, and Planning with a minor in Global Health from the University of Washington. As a student, Elisa worked with the King County Department of Parks and Natural Resources in Seattle, WA, where she worked to support outreach and communication on natural resources and King County programs to diverse communities. After attaining her bachelor’s degree, Elisa served in AmeriCorps at Purgatoire Watershed Partnership in Trinidad, CO, where she designed and executed resource planning and public engagement documents such as the Purgatoire River Watershed Plan, the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and the City of Trinidad Source Water Protection Plan.  Elisa spent a second year of service with the City of Rogue River via the RARE AmeriCorps Program where she conducted long range land use planning projects and assisted with public works water quality projects.  Elisa recently accepted a job as a Planner for Snohomish County Surface Water Management in Washington State where she is working with the Shellfish Protection program and the Marine Resources program, doing regional water quality studies, partnership building, and restoration work throughout the north Puget Sound.