As Thanksgiving approaches, I reflect on all that we are thankful for at RDI which includes having an awesome staff, a financially stable organization, great partners to work with and an energetic and engaged board providing leadership as we navigate through these tough financial times. And speaking of tough financial times, I know we all have to adapt on a personal level and where we volunteer and work. 

RIPPLE, the website run by RDI as a resource for people in rural areas, is getting a facelift. Or an upgrade. Or a makeover. RDI is calling it a “total strategic redesign” and come January you should expect to see a new RIPPLE that will be more user-friendly, streamlined, beautiful, and exciting.

Were you one of the 35,443 Oregonians and students who participated in Take Care of Oregon Days in May of 2009? If so, take a moment right now, stand up, and give yourself a round of applause! You were part of the largest volunteer effort in Oregon’s history!

For Kathy Cancilla, economic development is a way of life. Cancilla, a graduate of the Ford Institute Leadership Program (FILP), spends her days working for the Training and Employment Consortium (TEC) in eastern Oregon. Her job is to help reduce unemployment and under-employment by providing retraining opportunities and help people find jobs. This past summer Cancilla cobbled together grants and opportunities in a summer youth program—”...my specialty,” she says—and provided work for sixty youth and six adult crew leaders.

“We focus on helping them complete their education, explore career opportunities and then get into some kind of continuing education program,” says Cancilla about the goals of her programs. “Right now, with so many adults unemployed, the minimum wage jobs that used to automatically go to our youth are being filled by those out of work adults. There is nothing left for the youth to do.” She notes that the economic downturn being experienced throughout the state right now is what eastern Oregon has been experiencing for the last ten years.

But Cancilla is nothing if not resourceful, and she has found some very innovative ways to create programs and projects, build partnerships and work with what she has. Cancilla has taken Appreciative Inquiry and Asset Based Community Development to a new level—take what has worked in the past and build on it; leverage what you already have—if you have eggs, make egg salad.

Grant County was formerly a timber based economy, but closed mills have limited those opportunities. Many of the families she deals with are ranchers, and the youth she assists have experience with livestock, haying and heavy equipment. “Most of them have a very good work ethic,” she says. But her job is to try to move them outside of their family’s sphere of influence, help them see what else the world has to offer and “...help them figure out what they want to be when they grow up,” she says.

With limited funding available, Cancilla often finds herself having to look outside the box. During a normal summer program, Cancilla might hire and supervise two or three crews of five to six youth with an adult crew leader for each. This past year, she received ninety-three applications. There was obviously a greater need, so Cancilla rolled up her sleeves and got to work finding funding to create more opportunities. She located Federal Stimulus Funds that could be applied, wrote and received grants through the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service, found leftover Title 3 Funds, partnered with the Oregon Youth Conservation Corps, and tapped into her local county court system. Since government is the area’s largest employer, Cancilla figured, “Why not get the kids involved?

All told, Cancilla raised almost $250,000 in grant funding and developed $150,000 more in matching in-kind and cash funding. With those funds she hired sixty youth workers and six adult crew leaders for Grant County summer programs.

Of course, Cancilla didn’t do all this work herself. “By nature I am a ‘Convener’ and find it natural to bring all the players to the table to accomplish common goals,” she says. “As with all the projects I work with, it takes a community partnership to make it happen. I am only one small spoke in the wheel.”

Not only did Cancilla find work for the youth in her area, she took it a step further and created “meaningful” work for her clients. And not only was she resourceful in finding the needed funding, but she was innovative in the ways she partnered with the grantees to create programs that helped teach life skills for the youth, not just provide physical labor. “I have a dedicated staff that works with the partners to develop projects, brainstorm about funding possibilities and help me think outside of the box. Partners, staff and I collaborate to make it happen.”

Among the many programs that Cancilla developed, she is especially proud of a pilot summer food program that one of her crews helped manage. Because so many local school students qualify for school breakfast and lunch programs during the school year, Cancilla sees a need for some similar type of program during summer vacation. Those programs fill a huge need in Grant County where the hunger rate often exceeds 25%. “Larger metropolitan areas often have parks and recreation summer programs that provide a free lunch for participants,” she explains. “That is often the only nutritious meal many kids get each day.  We don’t have those opportunities here.”

Cancilla put together a few grants, found a local non-profit to act as fiscal manager, found food storage and a school kitchen not in use during the summer, and a school cook who was used to coordinating large meal service that meets USDA requirements for food programs. The program ended up serving 2,700 lunches to kids aged 1—18 throughout the summer, and was so successful that Cancilla expects to be able to operate it again next year.

Again, Cancilla attributes the success of this project to all the partners who participated. “My role was to bring certain resources to the table, but each of the partners brought equally important resources to the table as well,” she says.

The number of lunches served wasn’t the only part of the program that Cancilla was proud of. What she found specifically in this program, but in general in her work with youth, was that the youth really responded to the opportunity to give back to their communities. She often has the chance to work with troubled youth, youth who are having trouble fitting into the regular school system, kids who supposedly resent authority, kids with a reputation for not caring. “What I have found is that if you take the time to really listen to these kids, you can often find out what motivates them,” says Cancilla. She works hard to get to know the youth she works with and then matches them to programs where they will have the best opportunity to succeed. “I had one youth known as a troublemaker, and I figured out that he liked to be in charge. He didn’t like to be told what to do, but when I put him as a kind of supervisor on a project, I was amazed at what he was able to do!”

This brings us back around to making egg salad with your eggs and how FILP has played a role in how Cathy Cancilla runs her programs. “I routinely use activities from the FILP program as Ice Breakers,” she says, “And I am much more aware of how each of us operates differently. I am always looking to define what role will be best for each of them—are they a convener, or are they an implementation champion—the one who sees a project through. I try to put them where they will be empowered and recognize their importance.”

And that last piece might be the most important lesson Cancilla passes on. “I try to build the idea of ‘community stewardship’ in all my crews,” says Cancilla. I try explain to them that they are the future of this community, that without them their rural community might just die and go away. And when they start to understand that they have can have a real impact, that ‘...it depends on me’, I have really seen these kids step up.”

“I try to bring them together to work on a common goal. I want them to understand who they are and how they can help their communities,” says Cancilla, “And I think that is what RDI is all about. “

“How do we get where we want to go?” is a question that is asked by Native Americans working to build effective governments, develop strong tribal economies, solve difficult social problems, and balance cultural integrity and change in their communities.

“RDI has been helpful to regional tribal leaders who wrestle with these difficult yet pertinent questions. A recently received USDA Rural Business Opportunities Grant to establish a Native American Leadership Academy may hold some of the answers to those pressing questions. A celebration is planned in Celilo Village for November 19th that would honor Celilo Village and its rich cultural history as well as the start of this new program and opportunity for the community.

Dr. Az Carmen has been working with tribal leaders in Celilo Village to develop a youth leadership program, and the recently received grant will help kick start a program that Carmen thinks has a lot of potential. “What we can do with this grant is exceptional,” says Carmen. Carmen noted that the Rural Business Opportunities Grant was one of only two awarded in the state of Oregon this year.

Carmen is specifically working to develop a youth leadership curriculum that will be designed by traditional tribal chiefs, chairs, committees, and family members. “We intend to utilize lots of people to identify what tribal leadership is on the Columbia River and then build a curriculum that will be taught to the youth,” says Carmen in explaining the vision of the program.

A Native American Leadership Academy that teaches students to become both critical thinking learners and teachers who set their own standards of excellence is fundamental to creating a legacy of positive Native American leadership in any Native American community,” says Carmen.

The celebration in Celilo Village on November 19th kicks off the one year program, scheduled to be completed in September of 2010. Carmen hopes the Native American Leadership Academy will be ongoing, with the possibility that the curriculum that is created could be copyrighted and marketed to other organizations.

“The need to institute successful self-government principles through the legacy of teaching positive Native American Leadership skills is crucial to the continued existence of a community,” says Carmen. “The means to create and maintain leadership and coordination of education programs that encourage the teaching of appropriate Native American-centered leadership may be the answer to the question: how do Native American people get to where they want to be?”

Many of our readers who live in rural Oregon have probably heard of Cycle Oregon, the world renowned week-long bicycle tour, now in its twenty-third year, that charts a different route across hundreds of miles of scenic Oregon roads each summer. In fact, if you live in a small rural Oregon community, chances are your town has played host to Cycle Oregon, where they probably stopped and had lunch or stayed overnight and had a significant economic impact where you live.

What you might not know is that Cycle Oregon and Rural Development Initiatives (RDI) have a long standing relationship that goes back to the early days of Cycle Oregon, a relationship that RDI is hoping to expand as both organizations look into the future. This is a great thing for rural Oregon!

RDI has created a proposal that would form a strategic partnership with Cycle Oregon to look at ways to help build a bridge between the rural and urban people of our state. Not that that hasn’t already been the work of both organizations in the past—but a formalized partnership with specific goals is something new. “RDI and Cycle Oregon have very aligned values and a mission to impact the state of Oregon,” says Craig Smith, the Executive Director at RDI.  “We’ll be working together to define that mission, specifically looking at the interdependence of urban and rural communities here.”

Cycle Oregon is a bicycle tour that describes itself as, “... the best combination of scenery, challenge, amenities, camaraderie, and philanthropy of any ride out there. A fun-loving mix of back-road riding and two-wheeled tent revival…” It’s a new route and a new experience each and every year that’s become known as the “The Best Bike Ride in America” by its riders. And if you’ve never experienced it, hosting a visit from Cycle Oregon literally doubles and often triples the populations in the communities they visit.

Every summer thousands of bicyclists from all over the world congregate in Oregon to ride through and camp overnight in our small rural communities. It takes an amazing amount of planning, logistics and volunteers as towns get to show off local talent, attractions and hospitality—and receive a much needed economic infusion for a couple days. It’s a sort of mini Economic Stimulus Package that arrives each summer to selected regional communities. Additionally, Cycle Oregon is a non-profit dedicated to transforming individuals and communities through bicycling. Proceeds from the ride go to the Cycle Oregon Fund, which helps support community development projects throughout the region as a whole.

RDI’s Smith has a long history of interacting with Cycle Oregon. Smith was a somewhat casual cyclist who started riding regularly in 1987 for exercise. Cycle Oregon took its first tour of Oregon in 1988.  In 1990, a friend of Smith’s suggested he join the tour that summer for almost 500 hundred miles of Oregon cycling bliss. “My first thought was, ‘Oh my god!—what would it take to ride that much in one week?’” recalls Smith, “‘That’s someone’s idea of fun?’”

But Smith did that ride in 1990, Cycle Oregon’s third tour, and he was hooked, coming back again and again. Smith rode in Cycle Oregon #3—#11. But he ended up doing more than just tagging along for the ride.

Although this was back before Smith joined RDI, he was working in rural Oregon communities on a small business program called Rural Oregon Marketing Project. “Cycle Oregon was going through all these communities that I had been working in, communities where I knew people and had connections,” Smith says. “What they were doing really meshed with my vision for rural Oregon.” Smith started working for RDI in 1992 and began to get more engaged with Cycle Oregon. He ended up working with the ride committee, giving them assistance with planning routes and introducing them to leaders for host communities.

“It takes a lot to plan a Cycle Oregon overnight stay,” says Smith. “A community really needs a solid leadership network.” And Smith’s connections in the communities where he had previously worked helped provide that local leadership in the early days.

Over the years Cycle Oregon has refined and evolved the hosting responsibilities, bringing in more outside help to handle many of the logistical issues like catering, showers and tents. Communities still assist in many ways, but in the early years they depended even more on the communities to play hosts for the visit.

In return for playing host, rural communities get an economic boost—money directly from Cycle Oregon for providing services like luggage hauling, entertainment and meal service; opportunities for civic groups to fundraise; and a chance to show off their communities. The economic impact can be far reaching.

Smith says he took a hiatus after Cycle Oregon #11 to stay home each summer and help raise a young family.  But this summer he got back on that bike and joined Cycle Oregon #22. He and his family have also joined a few of those weekend rides. Smith says he runs into people he knows in almost every community where Cycle Oregon stays. “The people running the events in the communities are very often graduates of RDI leadership programs,” says Smith with a chuckle.

Candace Hissong, is a graduate of the RDI leadership training program Rural Futures Forum, a program RDI offered prior to the Ford Institute Leadership Program (FILP). Candace also served on the RDI Board of Directors. She has been the Cycle Oregon Community Coordinator in Glendale, Oregon, during three of the four times the ride has passed through her town. Craig made the initial introduction, and Candace convinced Cycle Oregon to include Glendale. “Every organization in town was involved,” said Hissong. “Every civic group, every school group, club and team—every possible group we could pull in.”

Hissong noted that the economic impact was immediate, with a direct injection of money, which continues long after Cycle Oregon leaves. “It’s huge for our local businesses—our grocery store and hardware store were there to meet the needs of the cyclists on the days of the event,” says Hissong. But she also commented on the long term benefit of being a host town. “It’s a chance for the community to show itself off to people who would never see us otherwise.  And they come back—they definitely come back for other events that we have here.”

“This type of event exposes these communities to a different kind of economic project,” added Hissong. She sees value for rural communities that have been devastated by regulations that have impacted economic opportunities—regulations and impacts on natural resource harvests that rural communities are often unable to control. “It’s a far reaching impact beyond the scope of the overnight visit.”

Karen Derry is an FILP graduate and has been a Community Trainer as well. Derry is the Director of the Family Resource Center in Happy Camp, California, and helped coordinate a Cycle Oregon visit this past September.  Derry said the economic impact was, “...wonderful!,” and that she expects more than a few of the cyclists to come back just to visit. “They really enjoyed our River Park,” said Derry.  “Quite a few said they will be back.”

But Cycle Oregon is about more than just the economic stimulus they bring to rural Oregon. The cultural exchange is an added value as well—an exchange that goes both ways. Derry called the visits with cyclists “...a breath of fresh air,” for Happy Camp. Hissong noted a substantial impact from having visitors from all over the world visit her Glendale. “The interchange that happens between our small town rural communities and the Cycle Oregon riders can’t be quantified.”

RDI’s Smith noted that this past summer’s visit to Glendale was a wonderful example of that cultural exchange. Smith explained that members of a local Glee Club staged a special show as evening entertainment for their guests, “A History of Glendale in Song.” “It was incredibly creative,” said Smith, noting that the show went back 150 years, included period costumes and explained about regional economic boom times—all in song. “This is just one way that local hosts have been able to connect the cyclists with rural Oregon—show them what life is like here in these communities,” says Smith.”

And that’s what the new strategic partnership between RDI and Cycle Oregon will be all about. “There really is interdependence between rural and urban communities, and yet we often only see the divide,” says Smith. “We hope to highlight and expand the opportunities for urban and rural Oregonians to work together, because really, neither can survive without the other. It’s so important that we help people understand each other better, help strengthen that bridge between rural and urban and get beyond the divide.”

RDI held their first Made at the Kitchen Table training in a new Spanish language curriculum that has recently been developed. The initial training was held in the Klamath County region in Merrill, Oregon, and was attended by eleven participants.

Made at the Kitchen Table is a curriculum developed and supported through funding by CORE (Connecting Oregon for Rural Entrepreneurship)—a statewide project supporting rural entrepreneurs and initially funded through a W.K. Kellogg grant.

According to RDI Staff member Sara Curiel Robles, who helped the deliver the Spanish language curriculum, the concept of the training is designed to help people turn hobbies into small businesses by teaching them skills they may not have previously had. “We cover things like understanding profit margins and indirect costs, marketing and advertising, how to secure small business loans and elevator speeches about their product,” said Curiel Robles.

CORE initially funded the development of the Made at the Kitchen Table curriculum and piloted it in Lake County. “The CORE program is about connecting people with resources that would meet their needs,” said Kathy Weber of RDI, who helped develop the original CORE project. “CORE helped show us how valuable it is to connect entrepreneurs in rural isolated areas to each other.”

Weber noted that the Made at the Kitchen Table program was developed with a bottom up approach. “It was done through the eyes of the entrepreneur,” she said.

Through a series of collaborations with regional economic development partners, RDI has taken the CORE developed Made at the Kitchen Table curriculum and put it into the hands of their own staff trainers who have already been delivering leadership training in Spanish to Oregon’s Hispanic communities. “We saw an opportunity to open some doors and help create thriving businesses,” says Weber. “It is a direct result of need.”

“The whole idea is to show them how they might turn a hobby into income,” said RDI trainer Jessica Rodriguez who also helped with the initial presentation of the training. “How they might supplement their current income and eventually turn it into a full time business.”

Some examples of skills that participants were considering turning into a business venture included sewing, cooking, and auto mechanics.

The first RDI led Spanish language trainings were a learning process and consisted of three evenings of four hours each. “It took longer than we had anticipated,” said Curiel Robles. “Our biggest challenge was that the participants were not familiar with a lot of the business concepts we introduced.”

Rodriguez agreed. “It was definitely a lot of new information; it really opened their eyes,” she said. “They found out there is more to having a business than just knowing how to make something.”

Rodriguez says that RDI has contracted with a local organization, South Central Oregon Economic Development District (SCOEDD), one of the regional partners mentioned earlier, to do follow-up training and assist participants with business development.

Weber sees entrepreneurial assistance as vital for rural communities, especially Oregon’s Latino population. “This is supporting what is known as ‘Survivalist Entrepreneurs,’ she says. “How to find a way to make a living by getting a little extra help.”

“Made at the Kitchen Table is one rural step into economic development,” said Weber in conclusion. “It’s not about recruiting big companies. It’s about building from the ground up by assisting what already exists in rural communities – the entrepreneurial spirit.”

Kimberli Werby is a FILP graduate from the West Valley Group which comprises the communities of Willamina, Sheridan and Grand Ronde. Energized with some new found leadership skills and motivated to be more engaged in her community through her RDI delivered training, Werby decided to try to do something in West Valley—something that would specifically impact the youth in her area.

The West Valley Teen Center in Willamina is a place local youth can go to congregate and hang out—the kind of place most rural communities want and need but often struggle to provide for their youth. The West Valley Teen Center was currently in operation, providing three to four hours of supervised free time each day. It has sports equipment, video games, and a couple pool tables—the usual stuff you might expect a youth recreational facility to have. But Werby wants more.

“The kids go there all the time…,” Werby says. ” ...even though it’s freezing in the winter and hot in the summer. The equipment is not in really good shape. And I wanted to try to improve things there.”

What Werby also wanted was to create some programs—painting, photography—things that might really engage the youth in being creative.

Werby wasn’t sure how to fund her goal of improving the Teen Center. Figuring that being the recipient of a grant might not be her best option, Werby decided that creating some kind of self-sufficient operation might be the answer. She wasn’t sure what that would look like, so she went to her usual source when she has a dilemma in her life—her hairdressing clients.

Werby runs a hair salon in Willamina, and she says she often turns to her clients to help her solve problems in her life. “I haven’t had an original thought in years,” she says, laughing. “My clients come in, sit in my chair and I tell them my problems. They start throwing out ideas for me.”

Werby asked for ideas for a self-sustaining business for the Teen Center and someone suggested that what Willamina really needed was a good thrift store. With a little research, Werby learned that thrift store sales are up in general, some background on what it takes to run a thrift store and got to work raising funds to get started.

She enticed the local kids to hold a couple of car washes and jewelry sales this past summer and staff a Fourth of July concession stand. She also made a direct ask to all her friends, family and local businesses to make donations. She quickly raised $1,500. With an idea that began on June 27th, the West Valley Teen Center Thrift Store opened on September 9th!

Run fully by volunteers, including a Volunteer Coordinator who had been a stay at home mom and was looking for job experience so she could re-enter the work force, the Thrift Store made a $900 profit in its first month of operation. “We don’t have much in the way of expenses…,” says Werby, “...just utilities, and we got an awesome deal on our rent for the first year.”

Customers have commented on how well organized, nice and presentable the store is.

Werby is hoping that with generated profit the Thrift Store will be able to fund a paid staff position to run and create programs at the Teen Center. She is also planning to create a Teen Center Garden this summer. “We will work with the youth to build, tend, grow, harvest, and sell our crops,” says Werby. “They will run the whole project from start to finish.”

When asked how her RDI and FILP training helped in creating the Teen Center Thrift Store, Werby listed a number of factors. “I learned a lot about group dynamics in the FILP trainings—how groups work together and especially how they are often not well functioning at first. Knowing that it often takes a group and the individuals in that group time to find their place was valuable when we started this project.”

“I learned a lot about fundraising,” says Werby. “I read all the books that FILP had available, and I learned something from each one.”

“I learned about compromise—that when beginning a project you have to be flexible.”

“And the most important thing I learned was the importance of being self-sustaining,” says Werby. “I was able to take that concept and use it to turn my goal into something that is functioning and working.”

Werby has taken her RDI training and used it to create a viable business that was needed in her community, created opportunities for job training, developed a sustaining funding source for a community center, and is fostering plans for youth activities and programs. Not bad for someone who, in her own words, “...hasn’t had an original thought in years!”

Have you ever wondered how decisions we make today will impact the development of your community for years to come? Ever wonder what it would be like to make economic development decisions for a region? Maybe you already work in community planning, maybe you wonder how community planners made the decisions you are living with today?—Now, you can imagine how your community might look in the future and observe how the planning decisions we make today may turn out twenty years from now.

You can now play the role of “Planner” with The Futures Game, a workshop that puts you in the planning driver’s seat. The Futures Game is a scenario game. Unlike Monopoly, instead of playing the part of Real Estate Mogul and trying to become the owner of the entire community, you work with other community members to make planning decisions and then watch how the decisions you make may play out over time.

Imagine seeing what happens when you choose to develop a ski resort at Broadway or cut all the timber on Vermont Avenue. What is the economic impact when the B&O Railroad or the Electric Company goes bankrupt? What are the long term effects of building a boardwalk on Boardwalk?  You and your neighbors will be able to test options in a fictitious scenario and learn from each other how different values and goals can impact planning for the future.

What Is The Futures Game?
With The Futures Game, Rural Development Initiatives staff helps groups explore how regional and local decisions can shape long-term economic, environmental, and community well-being.  Pioneered by Innovative Leadership Australia and partners, the game has been adapted to address issues facing the rural Pacific Northwest, including resource management, preservation vs. development tensions and community building.

OK, so there is no Boardwalk or B&O Railroad in the Futures Game. But this game approach provides an enjoyable and accessible way for citizens and community leaders to engage in robust and meaningful discussions about the future. Participants have a chance to explore contemporary challenges in community and economic development in a hypothetical and neutral setting that simulates real regional planning decisions. Besides all that, it’s fun!

Over 98% of people who play the game report it is a challenging and enjoyable experience that provides real benefits to critical thinking about the future and local decision making.
What Are Some Practical Uses for The Futures Game?

This “futures simulation” approach can be used in a range of ways including:

• Engage communities and groups in discussions about the future
• Add extra depth and strength to regional planning efforts
• Help hone leadership and decision-making skills
• Act as a team building and change management tool

The game can be used as a powerful tool to stimulate debate and discussion about the future in groups such as: county/city commissions, planning boards, economic and community development groups, community visioning teams, tourism commissions, and other community decision makers.

The Futures Game Is a Big Hit at Regards to Rural!
RDI debuted The Futures Game at the Regards To Rural conference this past spring in Salem where it was a big hit. One version of the game on display featured the Pacific Northwest scenario that offered players considerations like timber and mineral resource extraction, recreational development, water use, unemployment, housing, retail opportunities, and other service development. Another is set in the wheat belt of Eastern Australia and focuses on water and community issues. Participants had a chance to engage with each other in small groups about how their community should choose to react to regional political situations and development issues and then see the effects of their decisions over a twenty year process.

After playing the game, one conference participant stated: “What a great tool! Take the personal connection and emotion out of the decision making process and a healthy discussion can start.”

How Can The Futures Game Be Used in My Community or Group?
Rural Development Initiatives has been authorized to facilitate use of The Futures Game for our Northwest communities. RDI has certified staff members that can guide your community groups through this game as a single workshop or as part of a larger community development and strategic planning process. The workshop is usually 2-3 hours in length and can be used with 20-100 people. You can contact RDI to schedule a time and find out about pricing: Laurel MacMillan, 503-803-8260.

What others are saying about The Futures Game:
“Seeing and participating in a process that can bring the complexity of decision making to the surface. This would be a great exercise for my community.”
–Regards to Rural Conference Participant

“Game playing could do wonders for community decision making.”
–Regards to Rural Conference Participant

“I just know this would really help citizens, elected officials, and city staff.”
–Regards to Rural Conference Participant