Sisters Country has been selected to join the statewide Community Website Partnership (CWP). This achievement follows months of discussions with local Community Builders—meetings that helped us gauge local interest and develop the support necessary for this collaborative, community-wide website.
Thank you, local Community Builders! Because of your help Sisters will become the 10th rural community in Oregon participating in the CWP and will have this important tool to connect and engage others.
The Community Builders team is busy collaborating and meeting via Zoom to design and launch the "Sisters Country Community Connects" website. That launch is expected within months; so stay tuned!
Among other features, the "one-stop" website will connect people with critical and other local information and services. It also will help individuals connect with nonprofits and other organizations that work to strengthen Sisters Country. Residents will be able to quickly find out about volunteer opportunities, events, resources and even emergency information. The website also will include: Sisters Country histories, directories, community project information, a gallery of photographs, a community calendar and other local-interest news and stories contributed by website partners.
The CWP website template offers various features to choose from; but communities ultimately design their own website based on their unique needs. Local partners are trained to input their own website information, giving them control over content and timing for information-sharing. Organizations, large and small, have an equal opportunity to connect with others.
The Illinois Valley is a member of the Community Website Partnership and its website is a valuable resource to provide wildfire and COVID-19 resources. Follow this link to view this critical community asset.
Citizens4Community is serving as the fiscal sponsor for the project, providing $1,200 in seed money as well as other funding and support to help create the volunteer-run site. Meanwhile, the Ford Family Foundation and CWP Hub are graciously offering about $8,500 in cash and in-kind website development services.
Special thanks to members of the Community Website Leadership Team, including: Wendy Bachmeier, Wendy Birnbaum, Dawn Boyd, Jeri Buckmann, Ceili Cornelius, Robyn Holdman, Sarah Hyatt, Cory Misley, Wrenna Rose, Janel Ruehl, Curtiss Scholl, Julie Spor, Kit Stafford, Steve Swisher and Diane Tolzman.
Also, thank you to our loyal supporters and advisors, including: Capi Foote-Lewis, Denise Labuda, Toni Landis, Ian Reid and Zoe Schumacher. The website team will work to support and cross promote our existing community information sources - The Nugget Newspaper and the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce.
Can you help? We're looking for additional volunteers to help with website content, to train website users/partners, to serve as website monitors, etc. If you're willing to help out with the creation or maintenance of the website, please email citizens4community@gmail.com.