Unemployment, Low funding for public education, Creating energy independence, Economic Development, Environment and Heath concerns, Technology, Public policy. These are all integrated as one whole problem. Fixing one will not help overcome all the other problems. It may sound ambitious but I believe that there can be one solution to help move us in the right direction.

Solar power is considered the answer to our problem by many. In cooperation with local power companies we install solar panels on school roofs, turning our schools into little power plants. The idea would be that power companies would help cover the cost of installation in trade for the extra power that the school does not use. Money that is used to pay the schools power bill could be diverted to Education. This idea would create jobs from beginning to end, from installation to maintenance. Help support local Tec companies and address Environment and Heath concerns. It would spur Economic development by making Portland a solar hub.

This is only the beginning. Why stop at schools? How about all Government buildings, tax dollars used to power them could be used toward Education, Community development or Social Services the list goes on. Businesses and home owners would be next to jump onboard making Portland an Urban power Grid.

UrbanGrid would help schools, power companies and solar installers come together. By brokering the deal on a large scale the usually high upfront cost of solar panel installation could be controlled, reducing the initial investment. This in turn would make the profit margin higher, and the investing party’s more interested.

This is a long term solution that involves everyone in the community. It is not unreachable and it’s in everyone’s best interests. Imagine the top of every **** Myer covered in solar panels.

Oregon's farmers are aging (Oregon Department of Ag. states the average age of an Oregon farmer is 57+ years) and family farms, which make up 85% of Oregon's agriculture base, are threatened with extinction. Land best suited for farming is being snapped up for development, rules and regulations designed by and for large agribusinesses limit small farmers access to production and markets and capital necessary to start up a new farming operation (or take over an existing one) is unavailable through most lending institutions who don't view farming as a viable enterprise. Food security, supporting local economies and providing healthy food to Oregonians, today and for the future, is worth every dollar we can invest now. Organizations like Friends of Family Farmers (www.friendsoffamilyfarmers.org) are providing a united voice for small family farmers and ranchers across Oregon.

Gov Kulongoski recently wrapped up an Oregon Solutions planning effort focused on how to meet the exploding demand for community garden space in Portland. Particularly in a down economy, economically-stressed communities need access to fresh healthy food, a demand that is best met giving people in need the tools to grow it themselves. In Portland, there are long wait lists for community garden plots. The City, Portland Friends of Community Gardens, Depave, and others are working to meet this need but there is always a burning need for funding to create/expand community gardens to meet it. MMT should match local dollars 50/50 that expand community gardens in low income inner-city neighborhoods where access to home-grown food is limited.

For more info go to: http://www.alpinegarden.blogspot.com/

Here in Monroe and Alpine we have created a solution that is helping people learn about gardening, grow their own food and lift the burden on our local food-bank to provide for its ever increasing customers. We call it a “Sharing Garden”.

What makes these "Sharing Gardens" unique is that, instead of many separate plots that are rented by individuals, these gardens are one large plot, shared by all. All materials. land and labor are donated. The food we grow is shared amongst those who have contributed in some way as well as others who are in need in our community. All surplus is donated to our local food-bank. No one is ever charged money for the food that is grown. This model is easy replicated anywhere there are vacant lots and people with enough gardening experience to oversee the project and does not require large input of money to make it work. Alpine has been host to this unique type of community garden since spring 2009 and Monroe started its first plot spring of 2010.

Alpine and Monroe's Gardens are also for people who want to learn more about organic gardening. We use no pesticides or herbicides. We rely on heavy mulching and fertilizer derived from compost and other natural, local sources.

What follows is the Mission Statement upon which this project is based. As you can see, the “Sharing Gardens” are just the first step in establishing local food-self reliance. Please visit our educational blog-site for a history of our progress to date. http://www.AlpineGarden.blogspot.com/

Mission Statement

1. To provide the inspiration, guidance, and expertise needed to ensure a bountiful supply of locally and organically grown fresh produce, herbs and fruits to those in need.
2. To provide meaningful activities related to organic food production, storage and distribution by offering hands-on workshops designed to empower young people and persons of all ages.
3. To promote an awareness and practice of recycling and re-using a wide array of materials that can be utilized in gardens and food storage and to coordinate donations of such for use in the project.
4. To establish a stable network of experienced farmers, gardeners and food-storage experts in our local communities and neighborhoods and encourage their participation.
5. To identify and utilize local resources of surplus fruits and nuts for gleaning, winter storage and distribution.
6. To create community-scale “canneries” for storing surplus food for winter months.
7. To support and expand upon existing food banks.
8. To create a local and sustainable seed bank.
9. To document each stage of this project and create a manual to assist other groups and communities.
10. To create an interactive website, on-line message board, skills-bank and info-sharing blog to distribute information about the project.

We would like to create a training center/farm environment to accommodate live-in apprentices who would learn the basics of organic agriculture and community-organizing based on this “sharing” model. These trainees would then be sent into communities around Oregon, urban and rural alike, and would function as organizers working with local church and school leaders (and other civic organizations such as the Boy and Girl Scouts and 4-H groups).
For more info go to: http://www.alpinegarden.blogspot.com/

There are many opportunities for additional community gardens throughout Oregon, especially in cities where people tend not to have back yards. Available land could include unused property at churches, schools, or vacant lots. Besides the obvious benefit of growing healthy food, community gardens help to grow Community - the getting to know each other, working together and sharing of ideas. When people get to know each other in one context ( ie gardening) they are more comfortable talking to each other about other ideas. There is sharing - of knowledge as well as produce, and this can lead to working together on bigger issues that face our communities. Llike a seed, ideas can start out small but grow into something wonderful. Community gardens were known as Victory Gardens during WWII -- they can help us become victorious again as we recover economically from the recession, grow toward more sustainable approaches to city life, strengthen our sense of community and promote wise stewardship of otherwise underutilized land. Food people have grown themselves really does taste better, and that can benefit our community as people make healthier choices leading to longer, more productive lives.

Oregon is one of the five most “hungry” states in the country according to the USDA, with food insecurity affecting as many as 235,000 people.

This proposal outlines a solution to food insecurity by building gardens – in abandoned or vacant lots, at schools, on open space - wherever there is room to grow food. The Courthouse Garden in Eugene is one example of how these gardens might work. The University of Oregon Urban Farm program uses the garden as a teaching site. The Federal District Court Re-entry program gives parolees the option to do public service work in the garden. St. Vincent DePaul and the Relief Nursery and other non-profits distribute food to their clients.

There are other models in San Francisco, New York, New Orleans and other cities where people are creating edible schoolyards. Students 6-18 are learning not only how to care for a garden, but also how to prepare fresh fruits and vegetables for their families.

**** Meyer bought locally and helped local farmers establish new crops. Imagine him in the produce section polishing a red delicious apple on his apron and saying with pride that the Hood River crop was in. He might check the filberts from Yamhill County and the pie cherries from the Eola Hills. He might even hand a customer and onion and say that Walla Walla sweets are the best in the world. I think he would be proud to know that the generation he fostered would care for people who need food, not by giving a hand out, but by teaching them to grow and use their own produce.

Imagine a structure, large and elegant, spinning with the wind situated somewhere in the vicinity of OMSI. The wind sculpture is highly visible from Waterfront Park. There are two sources of energy that propel the sculpture: The wind of course, and also energy aggregated from many stationary bikes installed across the river at Waterfront Park. This idea embodies three key elements:

* The first element of this idea is a wind (and possibly solar) energy harnessing sculpture, a bold statement representing Oregon as a center of innovation in all types of green energy technology development.

** Another element is the stationary bikes representing Portland as bicycling and green commuting hub. These bikes could be works of art themselves, each unique, commissioned collaborations between local artists and bike shops. They are situated throughout Waterfront park providing public benefit promoting cycling. The energy created from pedaling the bikes is converted to electricity and transported across the river to help spin the wind sculpture.

*** The third element of this idea is community building and a human connection to nature – The turbine like sculpture is widely visible, iconic. There is a sense of community building based on collaboration with nature, pedaling the bikes to keep the sculpture moving. When the wind blows hard enough, the sculpture spins on its own. If the wind is slack, people fill in and pedal to propel the sculpture.

Create a team of Elders (http://www.theelders.org) for the state of Oregon, who are tasked with identifying major initiatives and areas of need for Oregon, and receive $1MM from MMT as the first committed investment for a lending/investment/social venture fund for which they raise an additional $50-$100MM in matching funding, and deploy leadership, operational expertise, and funding to empower Oregonians to solve a variety of problems in these areas of need, over the coming years and decades.

How To Do This:

Create a 5-10 year term 12-person group of leaders in Oregon, similar to Richard Branson's "The Elders", with representatives from chosen from experienced, proven leaders from local and state government, private sector, public policy, education, employment, philanthropy, technology, sustainability, apparel, clean teach, agriculture, humanities, recreation, nonprofit, and other representative sectors which are heavily influenced by, or heavily influence, the economic, environmental, and educational systems in Oregon that collectively result in what it means to live, work, invest in, and experience being in Oregon.

Have the group solicit and analyze feedback regarding pain points from major and minor organizations and individuals in Oregon, and outline major initiatives for Oregon's future, across sectors, systems, and regions, similar to the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals-- http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals-- (End Poverty & Hunger, Universal Education, Gender Equality, etc.) For example, Oregon's might be Decrease Length of Unemployment, Increase Access to Capital, Stabilize Rural Small Business Ecosystems, Catalyze Commercializable Sustainability & Clean Tech Innovations, Decrease High School Drop Out Rate/Increase Retention of First Year College Students, Increase Nonprofit Capacity to Deliver Social Services & Innovation, etc.

Seed the first group of Elders with individuals who are known for being decisive, have good judgment, understand long-term investment strategies, are able to fundraise, and can provide compelling leadership for a state in economic distress and some degree of hopelessness. Provide them with operational funds to gather data in a quick, compelling, and meaningful way and begin to market the campaign of Oregonians working together to identify, fund, and solve our own problems together.

Empower them to have a seed fund, lending vehicle or endowment and to raise additional funds from every major entity and organization in Oregon, to leverage Meyer Memorial Trust's $1MM contribution, up toward $50MM or $100MM. Organize the fund in a revolving way that deploys capital quickly in compelling organizations who are results driven and able to pay back funding through loan or investment standards, and meanwhile make a significant social impact and are poised to create additional significant and timely economic impact to the workforce, business community, communities, families, and educational systems.

Provide required leadership and mentoring by the Elders and executive volunteers from the other contributing funding entities, to these organizations as they scale up to deliver solutions in areas of high impact for Oregonians.

Why This Idea Over Another

Oregonians need leadership and impact across a variety of sectors, not only quickly and judiciously in the immediate year or years, but over a span of time that brings some of our poverty, economic distress, uncertainty, and social challenges into the public eye in a way that is actionable. Funding one or two ideas alone will not be enough to change the direction of the state or the attitudes and practices that have degenerated into cynicism and inactivity and created the results and conditions under which Oregonians now live.

A group like The Elders, empowered to act and drive social innovation for a variety of relevant initiatives, as brought to awareness by an investigation into the needs, painpoints, and breakdowns in the macrosystems that drive Oregon, could truly have the impact and leverage that MMT is seeking to deliver through the $1MM Ideas 4 Oregon campaign.

My suggestion is to use the money to buy vacant lots in low-income areas, and turn them into community gardens. This would get people outside more, some would learn new skills, neighbors would talk to one another more, the local residents would have more investment in their own neighborhoods, and best of all, people who typically have little access to healthy, fresh produce, would have it. This could be expanded if there were resources to having little flocks of hens who could supply the community gardeners with fresh eggs. There are lots with abandoned homes that need to be demolished, which could be converted to community gardens. There are organizations that exist to help with organizing this. http://www.urbanfarmonline.com/ for example

We are in one. One of those times in history where we will look back and say things like, “I never thought it was going to get worse and then it did...” It’s going to be awhile before we see some good light at the end of this tunnel. And what do we do in the meantime? We need to do everything we can.
In the midst of all this--it will be the long term changes that we work on right now that will make the landscape that exists when we pull out of this recession something that we can be proud of.
The Portland metro area has been a leader in the development of a sustainable and livable metropolitan area--a metro area that makes sense with a vibrant and multi-faceted public transportation system that incorporates and supports a multitude of options including an incredible number of cyclists for such a rainy clime; a comprehensive and well thought out watershed management system, one that is dedicated to the importance of nature and community; a city that that has a creative collection of individuals, nonprofits, companies, schools and agencies that reuse, recycle, garden and compost not because it’s trendy but because it works and it’s necessary if we are to plan for the increase in population that statisticians are forccasting; a metro area where words like bioswales, green streets and rain gardens are commonplace.
Is it perfect? No. The list of troubles may be equally as long. But the number of organizations, agencies, committees, groups, neighbors, and individuals working together on solutions to this area’s issues is enormous. And this is what keeps Portland and the surrounding metropolitan cities on the top of many lists of Best Places to Live.
It is a living think tank--and people from all over the US want to live here to learn from this area’s thinkers and be a part of the movement. And those of us who live here and work on these solutions easily imagine it to be the last place we will live during good times and bad.
And it is in the darkening times that we must still pull each other up and keep the movement going--for it will be the ideas and solutions that come from the collaborative efforts of many that will lead the world in creating a city that our great grand children will thank us for--and more importantly, passionately work to continue.
And it is with this mindset that I put forth an idea, one that has been tested to some degree and one that has yet to come to complete fruition.
---Examples--- 
I’ve seen what happens when young, smart, committed college-aged individuals are placed in solution-oriented situations with seasoned professionals. It hinges on magic. Working together, a learning novice with ambition, enthusiasm, and a willingness to take on substantial responsibility and a professional who knows and understands the problem, its history, and the solutions tried to date. Not to mention the established systems and navigation required for efficiency. These two together along with a network of colleagues and community members many times find an unexpected path toward solution.
Take the City of Gresham’s Dept. of Environmental Services, who for years tried to establish a volunteer base of citizens who would be willing to join in the effort to develop healthy natural areas for community members to respect and enjoy. They tried for years with City employees and got few results, as their appeared to be resistance to help ‘city employees’ do their “job”. Once the Department began to use [AmeriCorps]volunteers to be the “on the ground” face and voice of the City for conservation events and outreach, things did change. After two years the City has a substantial volunteer base that continues to grow and in return citizens have taken ownership in their city’s natural areas that are no longer choked by invasive and noxious plant species but filled with native plants and the associated return to healthy natural area.
Or take Multnomah County’s idea to take a small plot of land, in a historically small farm neighborhood, overgrown and unproductive and turn it into a small farm/garden that would eventually donate food produced to Oregon Food Bank. One [AmeriCorps] volunteer generated a volunteer network to help get the project out from under its state of overgrown blackberry and weeds and at the same time solicited donated seeds and supplies and a lot of hard work. In the first season they harvested and donated 10,000 pounds of food to the food bank.
And then take Oregon Tilth, which was a research and education organization with one staff member and an assortment ideas for outreach and education for youth. After two years with an committed 11-month volunteer, they now have fully developed Organic Education Center with programs and services that teach people and youth about the principals, practices and benefits of sustainable organic agriculture.
---Concept---
The concept is the development of an internship and training program that teaches tomorrow’s leaders, solves todays problems and benefits those in need.
A program that capitalizes on this model city [metro area] and it’s embedded thinkers and planners to deliver a career-oriented experience.
The concept is the development of an program that continues brings together organizations, for profit entities, and agencies to work together for the good of the whole.
A program that brings together the ambition, energy and intellect of committed interns and link them with organizations, for profits, and agencies that are working on solutions needed for today’s complex issues.
A model program that capitalizes on this model city [metro area] and the current ongoing innovation and solution-oriented efforts of the organizations, companies and agencies working on creating a sustainable livable and affordable city.
This city and all of its resources becomes the venue or learning lab for an entire class of interns that year after year not only learn from this city’s innovative programs and systems but add to the solutions needed for this city’s issues. It’s becomes a win win win. The City benefits, the intern benefits, and the community engaged and impacted by the intern’s on the ground efforts benefit. Portland can become not only the City that Works, but The City that Teaches.
It would be a program that is scalable and replicable. This program could be replicated in any city/town that has some degree of cutting-edge action in place.
And why not do exactly that, create a collective of cities and municipal areas that establish this model of program. And then the potential exists for interns and professionals to share research and innovations of ‘sister cities’, thus expanding the potential for expedited sharing of solutions.
The program could offer a second year option for interns where they would take what they have learned in their first year and spend a second year/term in a city or town in need of their experience, knowledge and network of professional support. So eventually all of Oregon is benefitting from the efforts of this program and it’s national knowledge bank.
This concept is built on the experience and historical successes of Northwest Service Academy, its staff and members. As Northwest Service Academy is making plans for closing their doors in Portland due to loss of federal funding, it seems only fitting to move forward with the spirit of that amazing and incredible landmark organization.