In the past few months, I’ve found myself drawn to news about urban-rural connections and youth in rural Oregon. Why? Well, for one, I work with the Youth Ford Institute Leadership Program at Rural Development Initiatives where we’ve been working on adapting the traditional community  vitality and leadership curriculum into one that is more youth-focused, and so far it has been great. Inspiring. Energizing. Challenging.

Ok, enough about me.

I recently read this Oregonian article, "Oregon universities see urban-rural divide," that speaks to both of these issues. It highlights the disparity between rural and urban youth entering into the Oregon University System (OUS) in 2008: 16% of rural high school graduates entered the OUS, compared to 22% from urban high schools. Poverty, parents who did not attend college, and distance are major barriers for students to attend college, and the article points out that rural students are more likely than their urban counterparts to face these barriers.

Folks at OUS are concerned and are looking into what other states are doing to address this disparity. The article ends with a question, “Should Oregon be doing more to help rural high school graduates attend four-year colleges?” Well..…. YES! And I am interested in WHAT Oregonians (urban and rural) are currently doing to provide more educational and enrichment opportunities for rural youth in the state.

My intention for this blog is to find, share, and discuss people and programs from across the state that are working towards a strong future for Oregon by investing in and empowering our youth. There are a lot of bleak and informative reports out there which I will share with hopes of raising awareness of some of the critical issues facing rural youth… Yet there are also a lot of great things happening with youth in communities all over our state, and I’ll be on the lookout!

Thank you for reading,
S

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