Local United Way Keeps Busy During “Historic Year”
2020 was a historic year, as it shone a spotlight on financial and racial inequalities locally and across the nation. The United Way of Deschutes County reports nearly 40% of Central Oregonians were already living on the edge before COVID-19. The pandemic and economic fallout deepened existing disparities.
Having been a nonprofit grant-making organization in our region for the last 69 years, United Way of Central Oregon revised its grant-making structure in 2020 to be immediately responsive to new community needs caused by the pandemic, executing 5 grant-making cycles over the year rather than its customary annual cycle.
The Atlantic
How a ‘False Flag’ Cry Has Divided Republicans in Oregon
The state GOP’s embrace of a false conspiracy theory shows the deep imprint of Trumpism within the party and has prompted a backlash from leaders who want to move on.
Wikimedia / The Atlantic
In the view of the Oregon Republican Party, what transpired on January 6 was not an insurrection and the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol were not supporters of Donald Trump. Rather, the uprising that the world witnessed that day was a “false flag.” Its aim, according to the party, was to discredit Trump and “advance the Democrat goal of seizing total power, in a frightening parallel to the February 1933 burning of the German Reichstag.”
The child care shortage in Central Oregon worsens amidst pandemic Sarah Bystrom is a sales director and working mother of a family of four in Bend. She and her husband are raising two boys one 3 years old and another age 20-months. On a workday, Bystrom leaves the house at 7:20 am to drop her youngest son at his daycare in northwest Bend and her older son at preschool in northeast Bend. She then starts work at 8:10. At noon, she picks up her older son from preschool. Once home, he ideally takes a nap, and then at 3 pm she picks up her younger son.
City of Bend details plans to turn 64-unit Third Street motel into homeless shelter
Noah Chast/KTVZ
City of Bend intends to use state grant funds to buy Old Mill Inn & Suites Motel for use as transitional homeless shelter
(Update: City announcement with details of project)
For up to $5 million, if state grant comes through; other topics include Juniper Ridge improvements, expanded land-use public notifications
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Bend city councilors on Wednesday night unanimously approved the purchase of a 64-unit motel on Southeast Third Street for up to $5 million for use as a homeless shelter, if a grant requested from a new state program comes through, along with other conditions.
New City Council starts setting goals on top issues including transportation and housing Affordable housing and traffic congestion top the community’s list of important issues, according to a survey conducted in December 2020 and summarized in a press release from the City of Bend Jan. 21. Thirty-four percent of respondents called affordable housing an “urgent” priority and another 34% called it a “high” priority. The survey also asked people to choose one service to prioritize for funding, and affordable housing topped that list as well. Forty-two percent of people asked the Bend City Council and staff to increase the availability of affordable housing. It’s no wonder these issues along with ensuring equal access to housing and city services dominated many of the discussions during the new City Council’s goal-setting initiative last week.