(Click here to view a downloadable and printable version of the Comprehensive Plan Executive Summary)

Wallowa County Comprehensive Plan Update 2010 Executive Summary

Tucked away in the Northeast corner of Oregon, Wallowa County is surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty.  Boasting Oregon’s largest Wilderness and the deepest gorge (Hells Canyon), our 7100 residents are spread over 3,152 square miles.  Made up of three main communities; Wallowa, Enterprise and Joseph, Wallowa County has twice the state average of small business entrepreneurs.   Employment is found in natural resources, leisure and hospitality, education, health services, professional and business services, construction, and utilities.  The best job prospects in our highly seasonal economy are from late spring through mid-autumn.

  In 2008 and 2009, Oregon State University (Extension Service and Rural Studies Program) and Wallowa Resources received funding from the Ford Institute for Community Building to partner in an effort to answer questions about rural community vitality.  They worked with county residents to define Wallowa County community vitality in such a way that reflects the goals and values of the community, measures vitality with indicators, and uses the indicator data and community input to assess the vitality of Wallowa County.  Goal 1.1 of the of the Vital Wallowa Indicator Project Survey was defined as: “Wallowa County is rich in year-round residents, with a foundation of young people and families.  Our quality of life attracts families, young people, and newcomers with similar values.  The indicator target for Wallowa County is to have proportions of 25 to 44 year olds and 45 to 64 year olds on par with non-metro Oregon. 

Goal 1.2 of the survey was “We intentionally care for and nurture one another”.  In the face of tough economic times, the people of Wallowa County work together to provide for the basic needs of their neighbors.   Citizens continue to be generous with contributions to people with fewer resources.  Thousands of uncounted dollars are raised through auctions, pie sales, dinners and special bank accounts for people who experience a tragic accident, house fire or illness. Students from Enterprise Elementary and Middle Schools raised more than $500 for Safe Harbors Domestic Violence Shelter by giving up a traditional gift exchange during the holidays.  Students also brought canned goods for the Elks Food Basket program and Wallowa County Food Bank.  The Elks volunteers assembled and delivered holiday baskets to a record 241 households in December of 2009 serving over 700 people.  Numerous canned food drives kept the Food Bank shelves stocked throughout the winter.  The Soroptomist Thrift Shop offers clothing and household goods at minimal cost.   Rotary Club partnered with several organizations this year and raised $3,000 for “Coats for Kids”.  Some of the money was used to purchase coats, hats, boots and mittens to supplement donated items and $1,500 was reserved for purchases in the fall of 2010.  Local banks and “The Blonde Strawberry” in Wallowa provided collection points for donated items and Sheriff Fred Steen, Safe Harbors and Building Healthy Families staff helped distribute over 1,000 items to local children. 

 Comprehensive Plan Update 2010

The 2010 Comprehensive Plan Update process was conducted primarily through ongoing Community Partner meetings such as: Service Integration Team, Youth Issues Committee, Early Childhood Committee, Local Alcohol and Drug Planning/Mental Health Advisory Joint Committee, Faith Community Partners and Poverty Task Force.  Wallowa County CCF staff convenes partners for the meetings with the exception of the LADPC/MHAC which the CCF Director is appointed to and participates in.  We used email correspondence to review the strategy tables and issue briefs that were developed in a hard-copy format as a tool for community partners to use when planning services for their organization or for resource development.

 Discussion about family economic conditions dominated social service provider meetings during the 2009-10 year.  Youth Substance Use/Abuse remains the primary Focus Issue, however, family economic crisis are noted as playing a role in Youth Substance Use/Abuse.  Parents who are struggling to make ends meet have less time to be as engaged with their children as they would like, some need to take on extra jobs which lowers the level of supervision of their children and there are instances where parents use or abuse substances in an effort to ease their stress.

 Children

Members of the Early Childhood Committee convene every other month to share information about activities and to assess new or emerging needs for our 0-8 population.  Recently Kindergarten teachers indentified that children entering school were lagging behind in math and science skills.   As a result, community partners incorporated this need into current programming.  Head Start and Kindergarten teachers have partnered with the Early Childhood Committee and service providers to create Kindergarten Readiness Bags that were distributed during Kindergarten Round-up in 2009 and 2010.  The bags include tools such as scissors, crayons and alphabet cards along with creative math and science activities for parents to do with their child that will help prepare them for Kindergarten.   The “Exploration” program continues to offer an after school program for students in Kindergarten through fourth grade in the Wallowa school district and served 63 children in 2009.

 In 2009, the Vital Wallowa Indicator Project survey asked a sample of adults with children about the type of care they used for each child.  The responses covered 57 families and 98 children under the age of 13.  The most common cited form of care was “no care from someone other than parents”.  Youth either take care of themselves while parents are not at home or are cared for by parents.  Some of the parent caretakers may not work outside the home, while others may work jobs with hours that allow them to be home when their children are.  The table below gives more detail about the types of child care used from the survey.

 Child immunization rates are at 89.7% and 15.9% of children are uninsured.  Covering Kid & Families outreach helps families’ with application for coverage, prescription assistance and connects them with other health care resources.  The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) supplemental nutrition program reported serving 244 women, infants and children under the age of 5.  100% of the pregnant women served initiated breastfeeding. (Oregon is #1 in the nation at 91% and the national average for 2009 was 64%). 59% of WIC households have one working family member and $80,000 came to local grocery stores through WIC vouchers.  Early screenings are now conducted during WIC appointments by our Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education specialist. 

In the fall of 2009, Wallowa County received a three-year grant of $362,447 to develop a safe visitation program under the Safe Havens model.  The Safe Visits program provides safe visits and monitored exchanges conducted by a visit supervisor and security officer for children whose parents are not allowed to have contact with each other. 

The judges of Wallowa and Union Counties are ordering Safe Visits in lieu of no visits or no supervised contact.  The need for foster care homes remains a barrier in our county.  There are 11 total foster care homes at this time and because not all care providers accept all ages of children, there is a need for more homes.  Children are still placed out of the county occasionally because there is not a place available in our county. 

 Youth

In the 2008 Comprehensive Plan a barrier to youth completing their A&D treatment program was the cost of those services. The A&D/Mental Health Safety Net made possible by Juvenile Crime Prevention funding provided mental health services to 14 youth who would not have been able to complete treatment.  Covering Kids & Families outreach is also available to help families apply for insurance and other medical assistance programs.  Other barriers and gaps were out-of-school time activities for youth ages 11-14.  A new mentoring and tutoring program provided by Building Healthy Families has provided adult mentors to 12 youth.  Girls Circle and Boys Council programs are offered in all three school districts and the Youth Employment and Enrichment program is also an alternative for youth not engaged in other activities.  Department of Youth Services, School staff and members of the Faith Community also strive to connect young people to positive activities.

 Goal 1.3 of the Vital Wallowa Indicators Survey assessed Youth Participation in Activities. The goal for this indicator target is for “large proportions of Wallowa County youth to participate in a diversity of activities outside school hours.”

 The table at the right illustrates the assessment and shows Wallowa County on target with respect to the proportion of youth who participate in activities outside of school hours. Youth tend to be concentrated in two activities, namely working for pay and school sports.

 Families

In the fall of 2009, Community Connection and Department of Human Services Self-Sufficiency reported serving many new people with urgent needs such as lack of housing and power shut-off notices.  The Food Bank reported a 16% increase in people served between the winter of 2008-09 and 2009-10. (2015 to 2330).  The poverty rate for children 0-18 is estimated at 21.1 percent.  (Families with incomes at or below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level, $22,050 for a family of four).

The January unemployment rate was 8.7% in 2008, 15.2% in 2009 and 15.5 % in January 2010.   41.8% of school age children qualified for free and reduced lunch. There are about 860 households with children under 18 and 7.2% of those have a single female head of household.  

At the end of August 2009, Community Connection of NE Oregon called community partners together to look at a project model for providing “Resident Services” on-site at a low-income apartment complex.  Representatives from the Faith Community, NE Oregon Housing Authority and Department of Human Services were present in addition to non-profit social service organizations.  This group evolved into a Poverty Task Force that has met monthly to discuss how we might bring greater understanding to our community of the issues facing people in poverty and develop strategies to engage low-income people in family asset building activities.

 The need for Parent Education and support for families continues to be met through services at Building Healthy Families. BHF has again been awarding funding through “Enhancing the Skills of Parents” project of the Ford Family Foundation.  An Early Childhood Learning Center is under development because of an award from Meyer Memorial Trust and the Enterprise Alternative School is now housed at BHF and serving 11 high school students.  Wallowa County Healthy Start conducted a collaborative process to build a regional partnership for Healthy Start services with Baker County. 

 Parents with substance abuse problems were identified as a predominant risk factor for youth substance use, juvenile crime, child abuse and domestic violence.  A coordinated system of supports for parents in recovery was identified as a barrier in 2008.  The Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness partnered with Building Healthy Families parent education program to develop Parents in Recovery class.  NE Oregon Collaborative for Child Safety now provides a counselor dedicated to parents enrolled in the NOCCS program and has wrap-around funds available to support stability and permanency for the children.  Families can also access a variety of services through Family Support & Connections a DHS program contracted locally to Building Healthy Families.  A local family advocate is assigned to each family to help develop an individual plan to overcome concerns related to finding resources, emergency services, arranging child care, arranging transportation, children's behavioral issues, job issues, housing assistance, crisis intervention, domestic violence, mentoring,  budgeting, alcohol and drug treatment, parenting, goal setting, getting an education and other needs.

Efforts to prevent violent behavior and support victims of Domestic Violence have expanded. A two-year grant of $73,000 from the Violence Against Women Act that will provide counseling services, a Faith Advocate and training for local law enforcement The Second Step bullying and tolerance curriculum is offered to pre-school children at Head Start and to elementary school students.  Safe Harbors Domestic Violence Shelter reported a dramatic increase in crisis calls and shelter nights during the winter of 2009-2010. 

 Wallowa County community partners value collaboration and are willing to come together to address community issues. We are able to continue to offer the needed services in ways that are useful to the people accessing them.  People have been creative in partnerships and have shared their resources to build a strong system of supports for our most vulnerable citizens.

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