RDI Board of Directors
Nikki Whitty, Board Chair
County Commissioner, Coos County
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
Loss of employment opportunities and reductions in government revenues causing a decline in service when the need for those services is high.
Greg Ellis, Board Co-Chair
City Manager, City of Independence
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
In small rural communities there is a lack of involvement by a diverse and broad base group of residents in the community. There is usually a small group of dedicated people involved in change in the community. The problem arises when that small group effects change that does not have the support of the larger community. Unfortunately, the lack of support is not found out until after change has been implemented. The result is a great deal of wasted effort. The solution is to find a way to get the people involved earlier in the process.
Doris Penwell, Board Secretary and Treasurer
Economic Development Consultant, Association of Oregon Counties
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
Being positive about the future in the current economic situation.
John Burt
Executive Director, Farmers Ending Hunger
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
In the short-term I believe it is job creation/retention and assisting those organizations working within this arena. RDI should be well positioned to assist communities developing strategies related to jobs.
Cindy Finlayson
Director Economic Development and Regional Affairs, Umatilla Electric Cooperative
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
Managing their way through the current economic downturn.
Kathy Long-Holland
President, LongSherpa Design
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
Economics – less economic depth to survive this extreme downturn and the length of the economic downturn.
Maui Meyer
County Commissioner, Hood River County
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
Food and housing. As society shifts, we are seeing new challenges arise daily, and the whole concept of rural vitality is under strain. Fortunately, we hold the raw assets in our rural communities, and we must now, in this time of change, choose how to redeploy and reallocate those assets. Food and housing are the two most basic community building blocks, yet we seem to always get so caught up in tax credits, employment, new development strategies, that we rarely stop, and ask the question, “are our people clothed, and fed?” It seems a simple question, but it is a tough one to ask, and an even tougher one to answer. The answer in my county is “no” and that is a failure on my part, one that I’m working to change, over time. We need better access to living economy structures, better understanding of our rural interdependency, better networking, better commitment to the concept of real community, community that works together so that we can move past these two key issues, not as a matter of accomplishment, but as a matter of course.
Antone Minthorn
Chairman, Board of Trustees, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
Under consideration
Scott Reed
Vice Provost, University Outreach and Engagement Director of OSU Extension Service
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
Rural communities do not exist as islands. They depend upon relationships both within and outside of themselves. A pressing concern is to identify and cultivate the interdependencies that allow rural communities to build upon their distinctive characteristics.
Greg Wolf
Executive Director, Policy Consensus Initiative and National Policy Consensus Center, Portland State University
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
The most pressing concern I have for rural communities is the scarcity of resources needed for infrastructure and the need to connect urban and rural Oregonians.
Gordon Zimmerman
City Administrator, City of Oakridge
What do you see as the most pressing concern currently for rural communities?
The biggest concern for any community is sustainability – financial and leadership. The ability to find new revenues, better utilize existing revenues, to do more with less is a difficult preposition at best. With uncertain financial foundations in our communities the uncertainty is compounded by a seemingly continuous lack of leadership. Small groups of leaders who have been involved for a long time sometimes suffer from burnout. Some cities alternate leadership between different political adversaries which causes whiplash across the community. Sustainability and consistency in financial and leadership is a must for rural communities.