COC Associate Ellen Wyoming Presents to PSU on Diversity and Economic Development

Associate Ellen Wyoming was invited to speak at Portland State University (PSU) twice this fall.  First, she was asked to present to visiting scholars and planning professionals in the Atlantis Workshop.  Participants of the Atlantis Workshop visited PSU from October 24 – 27, 2011 on a grant to learn more about equity and social justice in planning and community development. These scholars and academics came from Germany, England, China, and other universities in the United States.  Ellen presented to the visitors on the impact and implications of her graduate work as an Urban and Regional Planning graduate student at PSU with the Portland Mercado project.  The group was very interested in the public involvement measures taken to work directly with the Latino Community, the model for economic development, and the on-going support that the project has garnered today.  Hacienda Community Development Corporation hosted the presentation at their offices in the Cully neighborhood and Micro Mercantes tamale vendors catered the lunch.  Many people sampled tamales for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed them.

The following week Ellen guest lectured with former graduate student and colleague Abigail Cermak (currently with Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services) for PSU’s graduate Public Involvement in Planning class.  They were asked to focus on best practices in public involvement with diverse communities.  Ellen and Abigail presented a framework of their personal experiences with their work in the Latino community and made recommendations for approaches working in other diverse communities.  The overall emphasis to the students was that as a planner you do not walk into a community as the “expert” but instead an ally. This is the framework from which to start all public involvement work.  At Cogan Owens Cogan, Ellen looks forward to continuing to work with clients on developing frameworks for their own best practice public involvement efforts with diverse communities.   Each city, community and place is different, but there are key fundamental approaches toward ensuring successful outcomes in terms of effective and adequate participation and outreach.

COC congratulates Elaine Cogan

COC congratulates Elaine Cogan for recognition by Planning Commissioners Journal editor Wayne Senville.  In the 20^th anniversary article of the Journal, for which Elaine was a regular columnist for 17 years, Wayne writes, Elaine Cogan, a Principal in the Portland, Oregon, planning and communications firm of Cogan Owens Cogan, has trained dozens of planning boards and staffs on public involvement and communications techniques. For many years she wrote “The Effective Planning Commissioner” column for the PCJ. We’ve also published Elaine’s excellent booklet for new planning board members: Now That You’re On Board. How to Survive … and Thrive … as a Planning Commissioner — currently available as a pdf download.”  The booklet also accompanies her training classes and is being used as a handy reference guide for planning commissions all over the country.

For those that have had the opportunity to work with Elaine, or read her writing, we know that every interaction leaves us better afterwards than we were going in.

See the full PCJ article here.

Kudos, Elaine. Please keep up the great work!!!

COC Founding Principal Helps Plan Bi-State Symposium for the Future

Arnold Cogan, FAICP, a COC Founding Principal, is a member of a bi-state committee planning a symposium to discuss new initiatives and strategies to create urban places that are robust, resilient and renewable. Fellows in Oregon and Washington who represent the American Planning Association, the American Institute of Architects, and the American Society of Landscape Architecture, the professional organizations of planners, architects and landscape architects, will host the half-day event prior to the joint APA Chapter conference in Portland on October 19, 2011.

Forty thought leaders are invited from the two states including planning and design professionals, environmentalists, economists, politicians, activists, developers and communication specialists. The focus will be on political and economic gridlock affecting how we deal with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, critical impacts on natural resources due to population growth and rampant consumption, climate change that will likely result in large numbers of “climate refugees” moving to the Northwest, political views that have produced a polarized governance atmosphere, and an exploding system of social networking that fuels the fires of controversy. Participants at the symposium are being asked to examine these significant challenges and suggest new initiatives that can be implemented immediately and on an ongoing basis.

For more information, see the Web site of the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association, http://www.oregonapa.org/CascadiaCollaborative

COC Associate Ellen Wyoming’s Graduation Speech 2011

As we welcome new COC Associate Ellen Wyoming, we are pleased to share the transcript of the speech she gave at the Portland State University College of Urban and Public Affairs graduation this past June.  Ellen was nominated by her peers and selected by the College to give the one student speech at graduation. Quite and honor. And, quite a speech!  Read on…

“Please take a moment and think of someone that you care about very deeply.  Perhaps you’re thinking of your spouse or partner, a child, friend or grandparent.  Think of them and allow yourself to experience fully what you feel going through your heart, your gut, and your mind when you are in the moment with this person.

How far would you go to keep them safe and secure?  Now let’s think of those who do not have someone to keep their important people safe and secure.

We, the graduates of the College of Urban and Public Affairs, have within our toolkits a great variety of skills and abilities. Each of us chose to come here because we were interested in something greater than ourselves.  Our schools of Government, Community and Public Health, and Urban and Regional Planning are filled with dedicated people who have ideals that walk hand in hand with their hearts.

We have an amazing capacity and we are privileged to be here, to have been well-educated, and to understand the ways in which our unique skills and abilities may be best applied.  It is in using these skills of ours in a way that aligns with our values and what we care for most that will make the difference.  I’m not talking about service with a smile.  I’m talking about using the tools we were born with, those we have cultivated, and using them with mindful intention to do the right thing and to fight for the causes, people, and places that we believe in.  To fight for what others should have but do not have the power to fight for themselves.  Whether we are quiet and diligent or loud and cause a ruckus we have the capacity to do so much and we have a responsibility to do it well for those of us that do not yet have the ability to do so for themselves.

A few years ago when I was a guide in the Grand Canyon I met a woman who at the time was nearing 70 and just had to experience a 2-week white-water raft trip though some of the biggest white water in North America. Despite her slight five-foot frame I looked up to her, and when she spoke, I listened.

She told me something that resonated with me that I want to share with you today, she said that she hoped for me to find that place in my life sooner than later where my passion and talent meet.  Since meeting her I have begun to better understand that if we’re tuned in and listening to ourselves, the values that drive us lead the way to finding that place where indeed our passions and talents meet.

With this, I implore each of you to consider how your talents and passions meet as we leave here today and how you will use those to better your own lives and the lives of those in your communities.

I think about this as a driving force for how we can connect our passions with the tools that we have honed here.

With our raw natural talents and the skills we have cultivated we leave this place to be change-makers, community creators, and people builders. So let’s look to one another and wish each other well as we proudly step from here as masters of our crafts, idealists in our hearts, and passionate activists in our daily lives.”

Congratulations, Ellen!