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Independence and Monmouth are sister cities in the heart of the Willamette Valley. Despite their proximity, they are very different towns. Independence grew up as an agricultural and commercial hub, and today it has a large Hispanic...  Read More

Nearly two decades ago, Patty Scott was working on her dissertation at Oregon State University, focusing on leadership and community college employees’ role in the community.Scott, now president of Southwestern Oregon Community...  Read More

As an elected official, Faye Stewart must listen to voters, understand their perspective and find a way to navigate contentious issues. Stewart, of Cottage Grove, says those skills are integral to his job as a Lane County commissioner. He...  Read More

When Ford Institute Leadership Program organizers began studying different ways of delivering leadership classes, they tried a number of formats: one week night every week; a seven-hour class module; a three-hour session.After settling on...  Read More

Moving a rural community toward vitality is not easy. It takes commitment, dedicated leaders, training and, most importantly, time. We have learned a lot from the Oregon State University evaluation of the Ford Institute Leadership Program...  Read More

The Ford Institute for Community Building has been conducting leadership classes in rural communities throughout Oregon and northern California for the last nine years. The anecdotal evidence that we’ve heard strongly suggests it works —...  Read More

A big challenge in the early days of the Country Natural Beef cooperative was getting the word out to the public about the availability of the co-op’s natural beef products. The best solution at the time was sending ranch families into the...  Read More

When Doc and Connie Hatfield first began researching markets for the hormone and antibiotic-free beef raised on their Brothers ranch, it was the late ’80s— a challenging time for ranching. Red meat was out of favor with consumers....  Read More

Twice a month, the cavernous warehouse at Linn Benton Food Share fills up with the good-natured chatter of 75 or so hard-working volunteers, gathered there to repackage bulk quantities of donated food into household-size portions. The...  Read More

It’s all about making connections, and FoodHub, Oregon’s online matchmaking service between food buyers and food sellers, has been making tasty ones for more than a year. The electronic directory and marketplace connects food buyers...  Read More