The value of having an SCYP partnership is best understood by hearing from those who have seen the impact firsthand. “The City of Albany, like most local agencies I suspect, are challenged to dedicate enough human capital and financial resources to research, explore and just plain riff on possible solutions to many of the issues that face our communities,” says Ed Hodney, Parks and Recreation director for the City of Albany. “Most of our energy is typically spent on the most urgent and immediate. Students have the time, creativity and drive to do what city planners wanted to do, but could not.”
Larger cities aren’t alone in facing limits on time and finances, but Oregon’s rural communities often lack the resources needed to take on a partnership with SCYP. After a two year effort to work out those details, SCYP and La Pine are able to pursue a partnership that not only puts students to work on La Pine projects, but also opens doors for future partnerships with rural communities throughout the state.
Students are tackling projects for workforce development, passive solar heating, and capturing the stories of La Pine this term. The work continues next term with active transportation planning, nonprofit coordination, and conceptualizing a downtown “hub” and transit center. At the same time, the SCYP TriMet partnership is helping to prepare for the Southwest Corridor Light Rail Expansion in Tualatin, Tigard, and the Southwest Portland region.
The University of Oregon has no shortage of students, faculty, and courses that can work to achieve the goals of communities large and small. Communities throughout the US and internationally have applied the SCYP model to achieve great success, and SCI looks forward to transforming Oregon’s small towns with the same guiding principles.