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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2022)
INSIDE LA GRANDE SENIOR POWERS BASEBALL TEAM TO STRONG START | SPORTS, A7 $1.50 TUESDAY EDITION April 12, 2022 GO EDUCATION ON THE City lays out strategy GO STEM Hub brings opportunities to students in Eastern Oregon Economic development plan targets local growth, COVID recovery By DAVIS CARBAUGH The Observer L By DAVIS CARBAUGH • The Observer LA GRANDE — A locally based organization Greater Oregon STEM Hub staff and volunteers from the Eastern Oregon University football team pack supplies into STEM kits at the university’s shipping and receiving building on Saturday, March 5, 2022. The organization distributed 2,300 STEM kits with projects and supplies to fourth graders across seven counties in Eastern Oregon. is spreading education opportunities in science, UPCOMING GO STEM PLANS technology, engineering and mathematics across The Greater Oregon STEM Hub, based at EOU, will be participating in the Earth Day event at Max Square from 4-5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22. The organization is also gearing up for Oregon STEM Week, which begins on May 14. Eastern Oregon. The Greater Oregon STEM Hub, a state-funded education center housed at Zabel Hall at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, recently dispersed more than 2,000 STEM kits to fourth graders in the region. The initiative is one of the wide variety of ways the organization is providing learning oppor- tunities for students and teachers in rural areas. “We want our program to be equitable for all students in our region,” GO STEM Hub Executive Director David Melville said. “We were trying to think of what we could do in the middle of a pan- demic to support STEM education. We needed something that was versatile.” The staff of three at the GO STEM Hub, with help from the EOU football team and coaching staff , on Saturday, March 5, packaged and prepared 2,300 kits to be delivered across GO STEM Hub’s sev- en-county service range — many of the kits have already been delivered to schools, with the remaining kits set to arrive in time for Oregon STEM Week in May. See, STEM/Page A6 “We were trying to think of what we could do in the middle of a pandemic to support STEM education. We needed something that was versatile.” — David Melville, GO STEM Hub executive director Volunteers from the Eastern Oregon University football team pack supplies into STEM kits for Eastern Oregon fourth graders on Saturday, March 5, 2022. David Melville/ Contributed Photos LA GRANDE — The La Grande City Council recently approved the city’s 2022-24 economic development strategy, which lists goals and projects for the city’s economy over the next two fi scal years. Faced with attracting new businesses as well as helping local owners recover from COVID-19 impacts, the plan targets future eff orts to increase small-scale manufac- turing, promote local entrepreneurship and a skilled workforce, uti- lize vacant spaces in La Grande and increase foot traffi c around retail busi- nesses in the downtown area. “We want to ensure that we know where our focus will be and make sure we have a plan of action out there for how we’re going to think about allocating budget, time and eff ort,” La Grande Economic Devel- opment Director Timothy Bishop said. The economic devel- opment strategy outlines objectives and goals for the next two fi scal years, allowing a timeline for necessary funding mea- sures. The La Grande Urban Renewal Agency and the city council met on Monday, March 14, for a joint work session to review the proposed strategy, and the city council approved the plan on April 6. Bishop noted that the strategic planning comes at an intersection of long-term plans and current focuses — the city is hoping to promote new business growth and recruitment, while con- tinuing to help existing local businesses as they recover from the eff ects See, Strategy/Page A6 ‘We all have an HIV status’ A collaboration between End HIV Oregon and EOCIL seeks to improve HIV awareness in Eastern Oregon By ALEX WITTWER EO Media Group PENDLETON — A campaign to raise awareness about HIV testing is underway Eastern Oregon Center for Independent Living/Contributed Photo in Eastern Oregon. Issak Garcia, Eastern Oregon Center for Independent Living’s HIV Eastern Oregon Center for Indepen- prevention specialist, stocks shelves with home test kits for HIV. dent Living, based in Ontario, has part- WEATHER INDEX Classified ......B2 Comics ...........B5 Crossword ....B2 Dear Abby ....B6 Home .............B1 Horoscope ....B3 Local...............A2 Lottery ...........A2 THURSDAY Obituaries .....A5 Opinion .........A4 Sports ............A7 Sudoku ..........B5 Full forecast on the back of B section Tonight Wednesday 18 LOW 42/18 Cold Snow showers LOCAL YARN STORE CELEBRATES 1ST ANNIVERSARY nered with End HIV Oregon for a new advertising campaign between April and July that will focus on Pendleton, Herm- iston, La Grande, Ontario and their sur- rounding towns. “We’ve seen an uptick in HIV-posi- tive cases in rural Eastern Oregon, and sexually transmitted disease cases, and so we thought it was just perfect timing,” said Kirt Toombs, CEO and founder of EOCIL. “We’ve been working on this campaign since 2012, and we thought this was a good time to raise awareness.” According to the press release, See, HIV/Page A6 CONTACT US 541-963-3161 Issue 44 2 sections, 14 pages La Grande, Oregon Email story ideas to news@lagrande observer.com. More contact info on Page A4. Online at lagrandeobserver.com