I thought of our Orcas Island Library user community when I learned about this process of exploring how best Orcas Island can respond to the challenges presented by the current virus pandemic. As active library users, you are among our most thoughtful community members; so I felt it important to share this invitation with you.
Please take a look at the invitation letter, as well as the website link, to learn more about this crucial community conversation.
What ideas do you have for the Orcas Community to recover and move into the future?
During the past four months, the San Juan County unemployment rate has grown to 38%, the Food Bank and the Senior Center nutrition program have seen the number of clients quadruple, hundreds of families have accessed help to cover their rent or mortgage, and so many businesses are struggling to find a way to stay viable during the Covid pandemic. Thanks to generous donors, the Community Emergency Response Fund has been able to provide resources to those agencies delivering these essential services. However, with cases on the rise again in Washington State and nationally, the crisis is far from over.
The Orcas Island Community Foundation and the Community Emergency Response Advisory committee believe this crisis also holds the opportunity to reflect on our economy and envision new possibilities to help Orcas become a more equitable and resilient community. To do so, we want to learn more about current conditions, hear what ideas the community has to rise out of this and craft a shared vision which will allow us together to take the steps needed to turn a vision into reality.
60+ islanders have been learning facilitation skills from the Pomegranate Center in order to engage a diverse and broad spectrum of islanders to listen, learn, and generate ideas through a series of community meetings taking place over the next few weeks. We invite you to join us at one of these sessions.
Please learn more about the project and sign up for a community meeting at https://www.resilientorcas.com/. Meetings will be virtual unless otherwise noted, and will be 2 hours or shorter. If you need access to a computer, WiFi, or Zoom training, that can be arranged.
Working together and truly listening to each other, we have the chance to make changes for the better for all. We hope you will join the conversation.
