Participants at a community workshop.
Through the Our Trust, Our Future process, about 3,000 Columbia Basin residents connected with the Trust to offer ideas on how we can help you and your community.
This input is helping us make decisions, set priorities and manage how we deliver benefits to the region.
We’d like to give you a quick summary of where we’ve been and where we’re going next.
DONE: Phase One: Engage, Listen and Learn
From September 2014 to February 2015, we connected with residents through:
• an interactive website (http://ourtrustourfuture.cbt.org)
• 21 community workshops
• booths in communities
• First Nations meetings
• small-group meetings
• do-it-yourself workbooks.
We shared information about the Trust and asked you about your priorities and the ways we could support them. Read summaries of the individual community workshops here.
In order to check that this input reflected broader community priorities, we looked at plans that already exist in the Basin, like official community plans. Plus we examined our own strategic plans (community, economic, environmental, social and youth).
CURRENT: Phase Two: Compile, Analyze and Recommend
In March 2015 we started to compile and analyze the information we received in phase one. We had members of our working groups (see footnote) and advisory committees, as well as our staff, review and provide feedback on the information.
We are currently working with our Board of Directors to finalize recommendations; these will include an organizational framework, guiding principles and areas the Trust will focus on over the next five years.
NEXT: Phase Three: Finalize Recommendations and Priorities
Once the Board approves the recommendations, we will update the priorities in our Columbia Basin Management Plan for 2016 to 2020 and share them with you. We will also ask your input on ways to implement these priorities.
So enjoy your summer and expect to hear back from us this fall!
Questions?
Contact Heather Mitchell or Laurie Cordell at 1.800.505.8998 or ourtrustourfuture@ourtrust.org.
*When Our Trust, Our Future began, we formed two working groups that provide advice around what we can do to support communities and residents. The Residents Working Group includes residents who have in-depth knowledge of Basin communities and expansive local networks. The Former Trust Board Working Group includes former Trust directors with extensive knowledge of the Trust and Basin communities.
