C4C welcomes your ideas and input as we develop two new local events intended to build community and connection through rhythm, song and dance. Please join us at 5:30 p.m. May 24 for a dynamic planning meeting at Sisters City Hall. Your knowledge and support will help shape the vision for these new summertime events and bring them to life.

EXCERPTED FROM THE ARTICLE: “… Planning for the April 25 event began in early January 2018 with the establishment of work groups to conduct research and collect information on the three key elements of an Age Friendly Community (AFC)—built environment, service environment, and social environment.”

EXCERPTED FROM THE ARTICLE: “… Planning for the April 25 event began in early January 2018 with the establishment of work groups to conduct research and collect information on the three key elements of an Age Friendly Community (AFC)—built environment, service environment, and social environment.”

Civic engagement is a C4C cornerstone. So we’ve been partnering with Sisters Country Horizons to help promote broad participation in the visioning project. …

This week, Horizons is launching a series of public meetings. We urge you to attend one or more of these events and to invite your friends and neighbors along, too. Your input will help shape what Sisters Country will look and feel like for years to come. It’s the perfect time to engage…

The Sisters Country—Our Values, Our Vision—signature quilt that many of you helped create has moved into the quilting stage. During the past couple weeks, the quilt—which features more than 180 local sentiments—was sewn together. Seeing the squares brought together, each square with its own unique feel and message, has been very rewarding and exciting. The quilt offers such a nice metaphor for community. Thank you again to everyone who inked their values and visions—and even their sketches—onto the quilt.

You helped make Citizens4Community's recent visioning and quilt-signing booths a success. Special thanks to our volunteers and to Ray’s, Sisters Library and Suttle Tea for hosting these four events. Stay tuned for updates as the Community Values & Visioning Quilt comes colorfully alive and as C4C helps present a visioning event focusing on senior issues next month (April 25).

FROM THE ARTICLE: “More than 100 people shared while they shopped at "Values & Visioning" booths stationed last weekend at Ray's Food Place. Organized by Citizens4Community, the booths were part of the kick-off of the public engagement phase for the visioning effort,"Sisters Country Horizons."

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.