Eco Central Impact to Date: 2020-2024
Advocacy
- Established a new Home Energy Assessment program to help families lower their fossil fuel use, reduce their energy costs and be comfortable during cold winters and hot, smokey summers.
- Created a Community Innovation Fund to support waste prevention, reuse and recycling projects by local businesses and community organizations.
- We are organizing and advocating for new policies in Bend to reduce emissions from natural gas and to electrify buildings.
Education
- Launched new programs in Crook and Jefferson Counties with a focus on schools with lower access to environmental education.
- Developed a new community garden in Redmond, in collaboration with an affordable housing provider, that will serve low-income and Latin(e) youth and families.
Inclusion & Leadership Development
- New programs prioritize populations who have historically been marginalized by the environmental movement.
- The Home Energy Assessment program is specifically designed to engage residents from rural, low-income, LGBTQ+ and people-of color communities.
- Our staff and community partners increasingly reflect the diversity of Central Oregon.