Eastern Oregon University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, and Western Oregon University are facing financial pressure due to changing demographic and economic variables. There are fewer 18-24 year olds in Oregon. These universities, collectively known as the technical and regional universities, plus Portland State University (or the TRU+ universities); their … Read more
In 2019, Oregon Solutions was approached by the leadership from four state agencies to help them “create alignment between activities and messages to effectively and efficiently administer and implement work efforts that further the state of Oregon’s climate initiatives.” In their original request, the agency directors noted that “greenhouse gases (GHG) from the transportation sector … Read more
Oregon Solutions was part of a research team at PSU that is worked on a seismic hazard mitigation study for the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub in northwest Portland. The full research team looked at scenarios (what and how big), reach (where and when), impacted communities (who and how), mitigation best practices, and benefits and … Read more
In early 2020, in the wake of a contentious legislative session, and after being contacted by association representatives of the wine industry as well as the Oregon Liquor Control Commission looking for tools and approaches to resolve industry-wide tensions and explore different governing approaches for industry groups, Oregon Solutions conducted an assessment with individuals representing … Read more
As the official state nut since 1989, hazelnuts are a locally treasured and exponentially valuable Oregon crop expected to double in production outputs through 2025. Since 2015, the industry has experienced a boom, with the number of orchards growing by 50 percent with nearly 1,000 hazelnut farms in Oregon totaling 80,000 acres. More than half … Read more
Oregon Community Foundation seeks to ignite partnerships between business and education to advance opportunities for rural, low-income, students of color and girls in CTE-STEM (continuing technical education–science, technology, engineering, and math). Oregon Community Foundation asked Oregon Solutions to provide technical assistance to STEM Hubs across the state in an effort to leverage and multiply match-grant … Read more
As part of critical efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Oregon has committed to achieving 50,000 registered electric vehicles in Oregon by 2020 (per executive order 17-21), and to strive for all passenger vehicle sales to be zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) as fast as possible and no later than 2050, as specified in the ZEV … Read more
Photo: Site map of the critical energy infrastructure (CEI) hub on the western bank of the lower Willamette River area in northwest Portland, Oregon. The CEI hub, outlined in red, stretches for six miles. (Source: Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Base map, Google Earth.) During summer 2018, the Portland City Club’s Earthquake Resiliency … Read more
The town of Butte Falls in Oregon’s Jackson County is working on a project to bring in the forested land surrounding the town, including Butte Falls, into the city. The town sees an “opportunity to develop an innovative approach to stewardship of forest lands that will become a model for how small remote communities can … Read more
In March 2018, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-141) appropriated $1 billion in supplemental discretionary funding in the form of Federal Aviation Administration airport grants to be available through September 30, 2020. In September 2018, the Oregon Department of Aviation submitted a request to the Joint Emergency Board to apply for this grant … Read more