Growing Rural Oregon

The Ford Family Foundation was established in 1957 by Kenneth W. and Hallie E. Ford. Its mission is “successful citizens and vital rural communities” in Oregon and Siskiyou County, California. The Foundation is based in Roseburg, Oregon, with a scholarship office in Eugene.

Visit: www.tfff.org

The Ford Family Foundation Team

Rozalyn Mock
Rozalyn Mock
Program Officer – Community Economic Development

COICCOIC, a leader in rural community development in Oregon, provides the expertise, management, and area connections needed to support GRO. COIC has 50 years of experience heading initiatives in Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties, the cities of Bend, Culver, La Pine, Madras, Metolius, Prineville, Redmond and Sisters, as well as the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. COIC employs more than 100 people and provides services in the following areas: employment and training, alternative high school education, business loans, transportation, and community and economic development. COIC is a dynamic, and trusted leader in economic development across the state, an ideal home for Growing Rural Oregon.

Visit: www.coic.org

COIC Team

e2E2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems helps communities and regions connect, learn, and share best practices for building sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems across North America.

With roots in rural America and more than 30 years of experience, we believe e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems is a go-to resource for communities and regions of all sizes wanting to pursue entrepreneurship as a development strategy for long-term, sustainable prosperity. You are invited to explore our long history in the field.

Our extensive network of partners, field-tested eCommunities development process and framework, books, custom analytics and more create robust learning opportunities for communities to build scalable ecosystem models that work.

Visit: www.energizingentrepreneurs.org

e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Team

Don Macke
Don Macke
Vice President, e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Don Macke leads e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (formerly the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship), an initiative with NetWork Kansas to build sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems across North America. Don has over 40 years of community economic development and policy experience. He was most recently the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the national Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. Through this work, Don helps communities and regions throughout North America grow entrepreneur-focused economic development strategies and ecosystems. Don calls Nebraska home and he is a proud resident of America’s Great Plains Region.
Erik Pedersen
Pam Bishop
GRO Community Coordinator

As Vice President of Economic Development at Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation for the last 15 years, Pam has worked with dozens of organizations to build collaborative ways to grow financial investment in companies, including High Technology, Manufacturing, Food/Ag, Service and Retail. Five years ago, they deepened their community program work to include the E2 program – called Rural Entrepreneurial Ventures (REV) in southern Minnesota. At the initial launch, they secured three years of funding through the Blandin Foundation, partnered with two organizations to support coaching capacity and successfully recruited 6 communities. Today, they are engaged with their 2nd REV cohort – 7 new communities – and have added an additional community coordinator. Dozens of new systems are in place and communities have amplified their focus to grow a locally driven economy using the framework of E2. Prior to their work with REV, Pam helped the organization leverage the work of John McKnight and John Kretzmann to implement their Community Growth Initiative. Working in over 30 communities, REV’s asset-based community development has led to over 100 projects, supported by local resources and people making a difference in their community.

Program and Policy
Program and Policy Insights is helping GRO to evaluate, measure, and share our programs strengths as we grow as an organization and learn alongside our inaugural cohort. Program and Policy Insight (PPI), LLC is dedicated to providing high-quality evaluation, research, facilitation, and technical assistance to government agencies and nonprofit organizations. PPI is a federal and state-certified woman-owned and emerging small business whose underlying mission is to improve social and economic opportunities for individuals, families, and their communities. PPI and our extensive network of professionals provide many substantive and methodological competencies that support equitable economic growth and social well-being, including: comprehensive evaluation design and implementation services; expertise in quantitative and qualitative research methods; capacity building services to promote data literacy and evaluation fluency; consensus-driven facilitation methods to elicit stakeholder feedback; public engagement strategies that share data decision-making with community stakeholders to facilitate greater social equity; and expertise in assessing gaps in outcomes, services, and structures to support more transparent and equitable policy and programmatic decisions.

Visit: programandpolicy.com

Program and Policy Insights Team

Kendra Lodewick
Kendra Lodewick
PPI Principal

Kendra Lodewick, Principal of Program and Policy Insight (PPI) since 2005, specializes in research, evaluation, and technical assistance that improves opportunities for underserved populations and their communities. Kendra has 20 years of experience conducting studies and facilitating policy related to the social and economic wellbeing of people and communities, including in the domains of economic and workforce development, education, human services, disability policy, and more. She uses her academic training and professional experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods to deliver accurate, actionable results for clients. In addition to her subject-matter expertise, Kendra is sought after as a skilled survey scientist, including providing survey design, data collection methods, data processing, and data analysis services.

Kendra has a Bachelor of Science in Public Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University and a Master of Public Affairs and Policy Analysis from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kendra is also a certified Results-Based Accountability Professional and Technology of Participation (ToP) consensus-based facilitator and strategic planner.

Kari Parsons
Kari Parsons
PPI Associate

Kari Parsons, president of Parsons Consulting, Inc. and a longtime PPI associate, has provided services in applied research, planning and facilitation, and community indicators since 2000. She is familiar with a wide range of cross-sector policy domains, including early childhood, housing and homelessness, health and human services, transportation, workforce development, and more. Kari has formal training and decades of experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods, including leading the development of the Family Financial Stability Index and conducting interviews, focus groups, and community workshops in diverse contexts. She excels at making her findings accessible and meaningful for broad audiences. Kari is trained in the Data Equity Framework and is committed to using her work to surface and eliminate inequities. She is also a Results Based Accountability certified professional, a certified Project Management Professional, and a trained Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitator and strategic planner. Kari has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Whitman College and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from University of California, Irvine.

Visit: www.parsons-consulting.com