Citizens4Community is pleased to be helping with outreach efforts for the local visioning initiative—Sisters Country Horizons. This is an exciting time for our community. And it's a great time to engage, because conversations held during the next several months will impact local planning for years to come.

A group of agencies and nonprofits, led by the City of Sisters, is embarking on a visioning and planning initiative to help determine what kind of community residents want Sisters Country to be in 5, 10 and 20 years.

The Sisters Country Horizons initiative will officially launch with a regional survey of residents in mid-March. Following several months of community outreach, visioning and planning work, a Vision Action Plan is expected to be released in late 2018 or early 2019.

On March 9, Sisters Country will begin bringing to life an interactive piece of public art that will showcase the hopes of local residents—in their own words.

The Community Values & Visioning signature quilt project invites residents to ink short- to medium- length values statements onto pre-made fabric squares. This spring, those squares will be assembled into a finished quilt, which will be unveiled during the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS).

Three cheers for our Citizens4Communty board president Robyn Holdman!

Earlier this month, Robyn was named Volunteer of the Year by the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce.

Today we want to pause and offer thanks to you—our partners and sponsors, our volunteers and talented speakers, and all of the great supporters who have helped make C4C and the Civility Project a success.

There's a new, easy (and free!) way to help Citizens4Community continue our nonprofit work in Sisters Country, thanks to “Community Rewards” at Ray’s Food Place.

As a Ray’s All Access Rewards member, you can designate Citizens4Community as a local nonprofit you would like to support through the "Community Rewards" program.

Then Consider Joining Us at The table

A new survey reports 71 percent of Americans believe important societal discussions have been silenced by political correctness; and most Americans now feel discouraged from sharing heartfelt opinions and beliefs.

“Fifty-eight percent of Americans believe the political climate today prevents them from saying things they believe,” notes Emily Ekins, author of the 2017 Free Speech and Tolerance Survey report. In some subgroups, up to 73 percent feel forced into silence, she reports.

In honor of Dr. Brené Brown and our quickly approaching quarterly session, featuring Moe Carrick, today we offer some quotes from Dr. Brown’s book: “Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead.”

Is “civility” a passé concept? Hopefully not now and not ever, noted C4C board members who recently led discussion during an inaugural Ford Family Foundation event.

Civility must not go out of style, they said, because new challenges will always keep coming; and civility is key to helping communities thrive while meeting those challenges.

C4C is collaborating with the Senior Alliance of Sisters to co-host the upcoming town hall: "Creating Age-Friendly Communities." The free event runs 2-4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, at Sisters Community Church. All are invited.

Citizens4Community seeks to build bridges—to foster communication and connections that bring a diversity of voices together—so Sisters can partner more effectively to respond to local issues. Therefore, C4C feels honored this week to be recognized for playing a role in bringing about the recent Sisters Fire Family Night—a fun and informative collaboration involving the Fire District and Sisters' Latino family community.

During last October's C4C quarterly session, Bryn Hazell, co-founder of the Center for Compassionate Living in Bend, offered Sisters residents a wonderful introduction to the tools of “Nonviolent Communication.” Our local audience learned about effective ways to speak honestly and clearly for their values and to listen to others more intently. Bryn’s talk drew much interest and encouraged thoughtful discussion, so C4C wanted to help get the word out about a rapidly approaching series Bryn will be leading—for anyone who might be interested in learning more.

FROM THE COLUMN: “I am involved with the Citizens4Civility (C4C) non-profit here in Sisters Country. For about 18 months we have been hosting quarterly Civility Project/Speak Your Peace meetings to share ideas and techniques for how we can all be more respectful with each other. We have been focusing on nine core tenets of civility.”

EXCERPTED FROM THE ARTICLE: “Citizens4Community is presenting its sixth free skill-building presentation on Thursday evening, April 20, at the Sisters Fire Hall. The evening will be a community conversation about civility, to help one another improve skills and understanding. Local volunteers who care about community, communication, and civility will facilitate the conversation. ….”

Citizens4Community will on April 20 present its next educational/skill-building session, kicked off by the popular "Soup & Civility" community-building and networking meal. The event runs 5:15 to 7:30 at the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Station Community Hall, 301 S. Elm St., in Sisters.

FROM THE ARTICLE: “Oregon State University professor Dr. Gregg Walker utilized two role-playing scenarios to help Sisters residents practice dealing with constructive confrontation and positive criticism at last week's Citizens4Community public forums.”

Explore “Constructive Confrontation”

By Sue Stafford

Published Jan. 17, 2017 in the Nugget Newspaper

C4C's next quarterly community-wide event—Soaring Toward Common Ground—is set for Wednesday, Jan. 25. The evening will explore the concept of what it means to "Be Agreeable" (even when you disagree)—one of the 9 basic principles of the Sisters Country Civility Project and Speak Your Peace.

Citizens4Community, host of the Civility Project, is planning for the future. We'd like to ask for your views and opinions about the efforts of our nonprofit. Comments submitted by Nov. 25 will be incorporated into the C4C steering committee's December strategic planning session. The survey takes only a few minutes to complete. Thank you in advance!