Tag: City of Springfield Oregon

Eugene’s Unhoused Veteran Population

Posted on by Julia Havens

Henry Hearley Eugene Rest Stop and Micro Village Program EvaluationMy first encounters with Eugene’s unhoused population was during my time working at the Veteran’s Affairs Behavioral Health Recovery and Reintegration Services (BHRRS) Clinic in Eugene, Oregon. It is here where I first came across the veterans that had served in the U.S. Armed Services. A 2009 report commissioned by the Veteran’s Affairs estimates that on any given one night there are 107,000 veterans that are homeless across America. The VA has identified ending veteran homelessness as one of its main goals in the coming years, a goal shared with Lane County, Eugene and Springfield.

In 2014, Saint Vincent DePaul (SVDP) secured a 3 million dollar grant from the Veterans Affairs’ Supportive Services for Families program. The new program is called “Operation 365” and will involve a collaborative effort with Lane County, Eugene and Springfield the mission is to provide a home to a veteran each day for the next year with a goal of 365 homes secured by Veterans Day 2015. The program will disperse the funding evenly over the next 3-years with 1 million dollars being allocated each year. SVDP estimated there are between 300-400 unhoused veterans living on the streets throughout Lane County. Operation 365 is seen as a way to ending homelessness among military veterans in Lane County. Click on the link to view KEZI’s newscast regarding “Operation 365” (http://www.kezi.com/collaboration-to-end-vet-homelessness/).

I was excited to work on the issue of the unhoused in Eugene because of the new trend in housing people that experience homelessness called micro-villages, or “tiny-home living”. During the course of the next six-months, our Community Planning Workshop team will be conducting a process evaluation of micro-villages. We intend to look at the current state of Eugene’s rest-stop pilot program, which allows for legal camping on approved sites and its sole micro-village, Opportunity Village, which currently has 30 micro-homes, all funded by a one-time donation of $100,000.

Moving forward in the next few months, my CPW-Community Planing Workshop Team, ‘Eugene Rest Stop and Micro Village Program Evaluation’will start to develop a survey. The first survey will be provided to local residents and businesses near rest-stops and Opportunity Village to gauge their perception and impacts on Eugene’s rest-stop policy and Opportunity Village. A second survey will be distributed to residents of Opportunity Village and users of rest-stops. Our goal of this second survey is to gauge the effectiveness of these programs and provide input on recommendations how to better serve the unhoused population through these programs. My team is looking forward to the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of citizens of Eugene that are homeless.

 

Henry Hearley Eugene Rest Stop and Micro Village Program Evaluation About the Author: Henry Hearley received his Bachelor’s Degree in Geography from the University of Oregon in 2014. During his free time he enjoys hiking outdoors with his girlfriend and doing CrossFit. Hearley, originally from Wisconsin, has fallen in love with Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

The History of the Eugene Producers’ Public Market

Posted on by Julia Havens

Lane County Regional Food Hub CPW Community Planning Workshop

My Community Planning Workshop (CPW) team is working on the “Lane County Year-Round Regional Public Market and Food Hub Market Analysis.” Our project is an in-depth investigation into whether there is enough buying power in Eugene and Springfield to support a potential year-round public market and food hub.

Early in the research process we began sitting down with local food experts to talk about the challenges and opportunities facing our regional food system. Through these meetings, we learned that from 1915 until 1959, the Eugene Producers’ Public Market served as Lane County’s one-stop location for fresh local food. With that, we decided to take a moment to pause …one-two-three-four… and learn more about Lane County’s rich history of agriculture.

Since the time Eugene Skinner first arrived in 1846, agriculture has a played a major role in the lives of those who call the south Willamette Valley home. As Lane County farmers developed their craft, they began producing a larger and more diverse yield. Despite their success in the fields, the cost of transportation consistently kept Lane County farmers on the edge of economic hardship during these early years. These struggles led local farmers to organize around a mutual need for a central market place in Lane County.

On September 4, 1915, the Eugene Producers’ Public Market officially opened for business in a small open-air structure that featured 22 stalls facing a central walkway. On this first day, visitors flocked to the market, promptly buying numerous vendors out of stock.

By the late 1920’s, it become clear that the market needed additional space and an updated facility. The existing market offered little protection from the elements, which meant market users battled through wind, rain, and cold temperatures during winter months. On August 24, 1929 a new market hall, constructed of concrete, opened at the corner of Broadway and Charnelton Street. The new market boasted 91 permanent stalls, two refrigerated storage rooms (one for meat and one for vegetables), a retail grocery store, a pharmacy, and a lunch counter all under one roof. Open six day a week, the new market hall was met with wild enthusiasm and record sales.

With the onset of the Great Depression and a shift in the food shopping habits of many Americans, business at the public market began to slow down. On May 4, 1959 the Eugene Producers’ Public Market closed its doors.

Today, we are seeing a revival of the local food culture that thrived in the first half of the 20th century. As a result, the City of Eugene and Lane County (our clients) want to learn more about how they can build on this momentum. Now, as we move forward with our project, we can look to the legacy of the Eugene Producers’ Public Market to inform our work and help shape our findings.

The future is bright for local food in Lane County and team food hub has an appetite for learning more about how we can reach our full potential!

RARETraining2013 About the Author: Stephen Dobrinich is a first year Community and Regional Planning Graduate Student at the University of Oregon. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Stephen moved to Oregon in 2011 to serve as a part of the RARE AmeriCorps – Resource Assistance for Rural Environments program. While in RARE, Stephen served as Community Development Coordinator for the City of Creswell. He is interested in community and economic development.