Bend 2030 rebrands to Envision Bend, plans to update community vision

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The nonprofit Bend 2030 has launched a new brand identity – “Envision Bend” – as it gears up to manage a community-wide engagement project to update Bend’s community vision.

Founded in 2007, Bend 2030 was formed to ensure that the ideas contained in Bend’s newly adopted community vision would become a reality. Since then, the organization has worked toward achieving that vision by supporting the actions of its community partners and addressing some of the city’s greatest challenges.

“Much has been achieved, but also much has changed in the 15-plus years since the original vision statement was adopted – including a number of daunting new issues,” said Laura Fritz, Envision Bend executive director.

“Once again, it’s time for Bend to come together in a collaborative, inclusive and nonpartisan way to plan our desired future for the next generation. We will lead the way again by convening a community conversation to envision where we want our city to be in another 20-plus years,” she added.

Envision Bend invites and encourages all members of the community to have a voice in shaping the future of our growing community. Beginning in the fall, it will launch a broad, participatory visioning project that will take about 15 months to complete.

“As we move forward with this effort, we decided to rebrand our organization to Envision Bend, which we believe reflects changing times and the optimistic future we know is possible, said Fritz.  “And we have created a new logo which incorporates the iconic Pilot Butte, which has served as a landmark, beacon and wayfinder for generations. It’s a role we hope Envision Bend can also serve.”

In recent years the organization has conducted several broad community initiatives, including:

• a Civic Equity Project that helped local nonprofits to better support under-served communities;
• the Move Bend program, which gathered more than 30 local organizations into a coalition supporting improvements to Bend’s transportation system; 
• a Housing Workgroup that created a diverse steering committee and made recommendations to the City on how to improve middle market housing; and,
• a series of Charter Review forums which provided broad community input that led to creation of an elected mayor position for the City.

For more information and to stay informed about the upcoming community visioning project visit the new website, www.envisionbend.org, or email Envision Bend at info@envisionbend.org.