Community Input Report
Published, Spring 2023
This report from Envision Bend and its Bend Vision Project provides an in-depth look at how community members view the greater Bend area today as it navigates out of the pandemic and begins crafting its next chapter. It tells of the changes that have been taking place in recent times, the challenges that residents see for both themselves and the community at-large, and their hopes and aspirations for the future.
Envision Bend launched the Bend Vision Project in early 2022, recognizing the need for a community conversation about the future of greater Bend and to develop actionable steps that will get the community to where residents want it to be. The greater Bend area last undertook such a large-scale visioning and planning project in 2005-06 when Envision Bend’s predecessor, Bend 2030, sponsored by the City of Bend, led the way. That work highlighted the community’s interest in a four-year college and improved transit options, among other aspirations.
That wide-spread support was foundational to the Oregon State University-Cascades Campus and Cascade East Transit, coming to fruition. Over the course of 10 months, the Bend Vision Project team conducted interviews of “community leaders and connectors” — people who play a prominent community leadership role as well as individuals who understand and reflect the interests of specific demographics — held focus groups for both the general public and specific types of communities, and launched a bilingual survey.
With the community still grappling with COVID-19, many of the interviews and focus group sessions were held virtually. The Bend Vision Project team also participated in several in-person events including a City Club of Central Oregon luncheon, the Juneteenth celebration, Central Oregon Pride Festival, Oregon Adaptive Sports’ Bike Night, Central Oregon Latino Partnership Program’s Conexiones event, and the Alpenglow Park grand opening. In addition, we researched issues and trends impacting Central Oregon and reviewed strategic plans of other key community organizations. The intent was to reach and engage with as many people as possible, including those considered underrepresented and most impacted by the pandemic.
To that end, the Bend Vision Project team met with leaders of communities that typically have not been represented in public processes to learn the best ways to engage people in conversations about Bend’s future. We received advice from Oregon’s Kitchen Table, a program of the National Policy Consensus Center in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University, that focuses on outreach to community members from all walks of life to achieve deep engagement on important issues. And we arranged to visit places — physically and virtually — where we could talk to veterans, seniors, people experiencing houselessness, Latinos, people with disabilities, those who identify as LGBTQ+, among other groups.