Dear Citizens of Oregon,

As we plan for Oregon's next big birthday, Oregon 150 continues to welcome and, in fact, depends on public comment at every stage.  Your input is the guarantee that the Oregon 150 planning process and, ultimately, the celebration itself, are pertinent and lively. 

The draft strategic plan diagrammed in the attached PDF document and glossary is an effort to outline the goals and possible related activities of Oregon 150 as we plan for the sesquicentennial of our great state. Most of the ideas contained in this draft came from citizen listening sessions held around the state, and ideas and input from our volunteer Board of Directors.  Be sure to review our mission and values statement, which guide all our work at http://www.oregon150.org/docs.html.

We appreciate any further commentary you might offer. Our resources are finite but our motivations pure: We want to do a few things well that will really inspire Oregonians and give back to our state and connect people – and you’ll see three ideas for an Oregon Day of volunteerism, an Oregon Encyclopedia legacy project, and an Oregon Passport season. We have heard repeatedly that we should not do too many projects and focus on a select memorable few.  To this end, we want your opinion – is this list too long, too short, or just right? Funds will be extremely limited and we can’t do everything (nor should we).

We aim to engage people through the community-based creation of an Oregon Family Album, a multi-faceted project that includes storytelling and capturing, and inviting all Oregonians to the Oregon 150 blog to share their dreams for Oregon for the next 50 years.

Most importantly, our goal is to activate communities across the state, including tribal communities, to celebrate Oregon’s sesquicentennial in their own ways – by ‘sanctioning’ local efforts with our logo and website and developing a free Oregon 150 community organizing toolkit; through community empowerment grants we will approach the Legislative Emergency Board to fund in 2008, heritage open houses, farmers markets and more. And we can be a conduit to curricula and other resources on our website.

What should we theme Oregon 150?  We are asking all Oregonians to email aschreiner@oregon150.org their ideas for a slogan or theme for the event (some suggestions are included). Some have suggested this is a time to build Oregon’s confidence, to differentiate Oregon as a green or sustainable state, or to highlight our ‘delicious’ foodstuffs and communities. What ideas do you have?

Let us know what you think.

1. What advice do you have about how to make these projects successful?
2. Would you like to volunteer for any of these projects? 
3. We'd love to know about any other sesquicentennial projects you're aware of that are already planned for your community. 
4. What should we cut? What are we missing?

Please email your thoughts and ideas to aschreiner@oregon150.org, by Monday, June 11, 2007.

Thank you for your continued enthusiasm. We live in the greatest state in the country, and we want Oregon 150 to build our collective confidence and energy for the next 50 years!

Sincerely,

Barbara Sidway
Chair, Oregon 150 Board of Directors

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