Envision Bend launches Bend Vision Project, with goal to help build the future Bend needs

(Update: Adding video and comments from Envision Bend members)

Envisioning a better future in Bend

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Envision Bend announced this week the formation of its Bend Vision Project, a community-driven engagement and visioning initiative designed to improve the quality of life for everyone in Bend.

The work of the Bend Vision Project will extend into 2023, culminating with the release of a five-year vision action plan. The plan will include strategies, projects and programs, and a vision statement that describes the community’s desired future, according to the organization's news release, which continues in full below:

Envision Bend will officially launch the project with a series of events in May. It's the first large-scale community visioning project for the greater Bend area since 2005-06.

“Bend continues to grow and change and is looking at both new challenges and new opportunities as it emerges from the pandemic,” said Laura Fritz, Envision Bend's executive director. “The next few years are a critical time to rethink and reposition our community to ensure Bend remains a resilient, healthy and innovative community for generations to come.”

The things the community wants for Bend and for themselves take time and a lot of planning.

"I'm a planner," Envision Bend board member Emily Tompkins said Friday. " I have a planning background, and I know that if you don't plan where you're going, you'll get somewhere. But, it might not be where you really wished you have gotten. So, I just really understand the power of planning, and there's a lot of power of setting intentions together."

There are 15 key partners from Deschutes County that have signed on as official project partners. Bend Vision Project’s main tasks include collecting and analyzing input from community members and other sources, developing projects and programs, and gaining the commitment of lead partner organizations to champion each of the projects and programs in the new plan.

"The organizations that we have already signed up really endorse and support this effort -- have broad reach in the community with different constituencies," Fritz said. "At the end of the day, we want to make sure that this is truly a community vision. -- a vision for everyone, and that everybody feels welcome to the table and share their ideas."

Some of the things to come out of the last vision plan were OSU-Cascades, the Cascades East Transit system and more integrated trail systems.

The focus is on the future, and what the future community of Bend will look like and need.

"The purpose of this project is to not re-invent the wheel and create a list of initiatives that are already happening in the community," Fritz said. " It's really intended to add value -- to accentuate what's already going on."

To help gather feedback from residents, the Bend Vision Project will conduct interviews of community leaders and connectors, hold community listening sessions and visioning workshops, launch a public survey, and convene a community summit.

“The Bend Vision Project is providing all residents of the greater Bend area with opportunities to come together, to be heard, to frame our community’s needs, and to reimagine the Bend area for the future,” Fritz said. “Input from community members will enable us to highlight our community’s values and identify our strengths and weaknesses, as well as identify potential solutions to challenges we face and unique opportunities to seize for our future.”

The five-year action plan will have sections organized around topic areas.

"All communities have their challenges," Fritz said. "It's also about seizing opportunities by bringing us together to agree on the things we do want."

NXT Consulting Group of Bend is assisting Envision Bend with the project.

"The phase we're in right now is understanding the context of the trends that are affecting us as a community and we're going to be doing through background research, as well as on the ground engagement with key stakeholder groups." Tompkins said.

For more on the Bend Vision Project, visit the Envision Bend website at envisionbend.org or its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/EnvisionBend.

Envision Bend is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works with government, business, community groups, and people of all backgrounds and perspectives from across the Bend area to help shape our future, making Bend a better place for everyone.

"We believe that this project is an investment in the well-being of the entire community," Fritz said.

To contact Envision Bend: info@envisionbend.org or 541-604-8429.