<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><font face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">It gives me great pleasure to announce that the very first
Oregon Public Library Needs Assessment has just been released. It is
attached, but you can also download it from <a href="http://www.oregoncf.org/news-resources/news-publications" class="">The Oregon
Community Foundation’s website</a> or from <a href="http://www.pennyhummel.com/projects" class="">my company website</a>. <br class=""></span></font><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-size: 14px;"><font face="Arial" class="">First off, I want to thank the Oregon library community for
your enthusiastic participation in the data gathering for this project, which
included:</font></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-pagination:
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participants at eight focus groups around the state <o:p class=""></o:p></font></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><span class=""><span class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="">86 of
Oregon’s 131 public libraries (66%) participating in the survey--a tremendous
response rate! <o:p class=""></o:p></span></span></font></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-pagination:
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additional survey responses from Friends, Foundation and library board members<o:p class=""></o:p></font></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-pagination:
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interviews, providing regional and national perspectives</font></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><font face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><span class="" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </span></span><span class="" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Innumerable
instances of sharing insights, resources and support, as well as helping to
promote the project. </span></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-size: 14px;"><font face="Arial" class="">Truly, it took a village! My sincere thanks to all of you who have helped me make this
project the very best it could be.</font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-size: 14px;"><font face="Arial" class="">I also want to thank The Oregon Community Foundation for
commissioning this study, as well as the Lora L. & Martin N. Kelley Family
Foundation Trust and the Betsy Priddy Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation
for their support of this work. </font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-size: 14px;"><font face="Arial" class="">Earlier this week, OCF hosted a summit with other Oregon funders,
where the overview I provided of the needs assessment’s findings was enthusiastically
received. It is safe to say there is great interest in exploring new ways
to support public libraries in Oregon, and that the needs assessment is viewed
as a starting point to that effort. Stay tuned for future developments!
<o:p class=""></o:p></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">As those who participated in the research may recall, in the
needs assessment we explored how public libraries create resilient communities
through the lens of eight different library roles. My friends at The
Oregon Community Foundation would like me to emphasize that OCF’s competitive
grant program supports each of these eight library roles, and to encourage public libraries to review their guidelines to consider how they might support your important work. Here are some links to more information about the
opportunities that OCF provides:</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""><span class=""><span style="color: rgb(75, 178, 218); font-size: 14px;" class=""><a href="http://www.oregoncf.org/grants-scholarships/grants/community-grants" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">OCF Community Grant
Program</font></a></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-size: 14px;"><font face="Arial" class=""><a href="http://www.oregoncf.org/Templates/media/files/grants/community_grants/developing_strong_proposal_2014.pdf" class=""><span class=""><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#4BB2DA" class="">Developing a strong
proposal</span></span></a><o:p class=""></o:p></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><span class=""><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#4BB2DA" class=""><a href="http://www.oregoncf.org/Templates/media/files/grants/community_grants/capacity_building_guidelines.pdf" class="">Capacity building
proposals to the Community Grant Program</a></span></span></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-size: 14px;"><font face="Arial" class="">Again, my heartfelt thanks to the Oregon library community
for understanding the importance of this project and making it a success. </font></span></p><div class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><font face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Penny Hummel<br class="">Penny Hummel Consulting<br class=""><a href="http://www.pennyhummel.com" class="">www.pennyhummel.com</a> </span></font><font face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><br class=""><br class="">503.890.0494<br class=""><a href="mailto:penny@pennyhummel.com" class="">penny@pennyhummel.com</a><br class=""></span></font><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><font face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 16pt;" class=""> </span></font></div></div></div></body></html>