Regional Town Hall Meetings on Homeless - slated for July 22

On Thursday, July 22, from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm, the entire Central Oregon Region will be gathering to talk about homelessness and what we can do to solve this serious problem.  Special Town Hall meetings will be held in each of the communities of Bend, Redmond, Sisters, La Pine, Madras and Prineville as an important part of developing the region's 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness.

According to Deschutes County Commissioner, Tammy Baney, "The Regional Town Hall Meetings on Homelessness represent a great opportunity for each Central Oregon community to bring people together, to gather input from participants as to what they are seeing with respect to homelessness and what they feel we can and should do about it.  This information will then be compiled and used as we craft a regional 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness.” 

Goals of the event are:

• to get a better understanding of what homelessness looks like in each community
• to identify common themes across the region and also where communities are different from one another
• to review DRAFT ideas on potential strategies to address homelessness
• to begin to identify “champions” who can help carry out the Plan when it is completed

Bruce Abernethy, 10 Year Plan Co-Chair along with Commissioner Baney, states, "Unfortunately, given the tough economic times, this problem is going to get worse before it gets better.  It's absolutely critical that we all know what resources are available in our community and we are working toward a common goal.  This is a complex issue, but there are a lot of great ideas out there and we need to hear from a wide range of perspectives."

Town Halls on Homelessness will be held in six communities from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. 

Bend:              
Location:          Bend’s Community Center (1036 NE 5th Street)
Contact:           Racheal Baker, racheal.baker@lasoregon.org or 541-385-6950
Food:               Light finger food and soup served at 6:00 pm

Redmond:       
Location:          The Grange (707 SW Kalama Street)
Contact:           Cindy Pasko, cindy@partnershiptoendpoverty.org or 541-923-9663
Food:               Light snacks

Sisters:           
Location:          Sisters Fire Hall (301 S. Elm Street)
Contact:           Tammy Baney, tammyb@deschutes.org or 541-385
                       Eric Porter, eporter@ci.sisters.or.us or

La Pine:          
Location:          Little Deschutes Lodge (Huntington Road and Victory Way)
Contact:           Bruce Abernethy, abernethy9@aol.com or 541-383-6030
Food:               Light finger food and soup served at 6:00 pm

Madras:           
Location:          Madras Senior Center (860 SW Madison)
Contact:           Walt Chamberlain, wchamberlain@ci.madras.or.us

Prineville:       
Location:          Clover Building (498 SE Lynn Blvd)
Contact:           Brenda Comini, brenda.comini@co.crook.or.us or 541-447-3260

Refreshments and child care will be provided at some Town Hall locations.  For more information about the Town Hall in your community, please visit www.cohomeless.org or contact Bruce Abernethy at abernethy9@aol.com.

Click here to download the official event flyer

Click here to download the official event press release

Click here to download the event planning update