A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
OTHER VIEWS
Is community
college funding
broken?
S
tate offi cials are wondering if
the funding formula for Ore-
gon’s community colleges,
such as Central Oregon Commu-
nity College, is broken. They are
looking at changing it.
Oregon’s formula doesn’t con-
sider student demographics, pro-
gram costs or effi cacy. It doesn’t
distribute money based on student
access and completion or have a
focus on minorities.
Instead, Oregon’s funding for-
mula sends out a base amount plus
enrollment, based on the number
of full-time equivalent students.
This fund, the community col-
lege support fund, isn’t the only
source of state money for commu-
nity colleges. But it is the one the
state is looking at changing and
that could mean changes for Cen-
tral Oregon Community College.
We don’t know what the new
formula will be. The Higher Edu-
cation Coordinating Commis-
sion, or HECC, is just setting up a
process for how the formula will
be reevaluated. What is HECC?
The commission is a 14-member
group of volunteers appointed by
the governor and approved by the
state Senate. It basically exists to
develop a plan for getting to the
state’s postsecondary education
goals.
The new look at the formula is
because there’s concern the for-
mula doesn’t line up with those
goals. For instance, HECC adopted
an “equity lens” policy. It looks
at what it does through race and
ethnicity. It wants to reallocate
resources to end disparities in gaps
and achievement through reallocat-
ing resources.
HECC plans to redesign the for-
mula “to allow for the distribution
of state funding in support of stu-
dent access and completion, with a
focus on underrepresented popula-
tions, and should apply objectively
to all institutions without regard to
winners and losers.”
Doing that means coming to
terms with some diffi cult ques-
tions. How do you defi ne student
success? What are equitable out-
comes? Should costs of training
for high-demand and high-reward
careers be a factor? How should
the state weigh supporting students
whose goal is to transfer out of
community college into a four-year
program?
The plan is to set up an advisory
group to recommend to HECC
how the formula will be changed.
The institutions themselves do
get a voice on the proposed work-
group. The Oregon Student Asso-
ciation gets a voice. Faculty get a
voice. There will be a business rep-
resentative. The Oregon Commu-
nity College Association also gets
a seat at the table.
Where is your voice in the dis-
cussion? Well, HECC meetings are
open to the public and the commis-
sion accepts public comment. We
are just guessing, of course, but we
imagine most of the input on the
decision of revising the funding
formula will come from the peo-
ple that get the money, not the gen-
eral public.
Editor’s note: This editorial
originally appeared in the Bend
Bulletin.
OTHER VIEWS
New era of family policy in Oregon
W
e are at a moment in the
nation — and in Oregon
— when a paradigm shift
is in reach to update ineff ective, top-
down systems to be more respon-
sive, eff ective, and equitable for all
families. Today, the American Res-
cue Plan (ARP) provides unprece-
dented resources to improve the lives
of families who are still reeling from
COVID-19 and its economic impact
as well as longstanding inequities that
have been exacerbated by the pan-
demic. And now Congress is debat-
ing a $3.5 trillion budget resolution
which, if passed, will increase these
resources even more.
Luckily, there is a bold, pragmatic
and proven strategy already in place
that can serve as a model: the two
generation (2Gen) approach.
For the past 10 years, Ascend at
the Aspen Institute has embraced the
2Gen approach to accelerate family
prosperity. As illustrated in a recently
released report, “The State of the
Field: Two-Generation Approaches to
Family Well-Being,” the 2Gen mind-
set can drive forward-thinking, action-
able policies that advance economic
mobility for all families. It’s a modern
approach to governance that includes
and invests in the potential of all peo-
ple across race, gender, ability, income
and geography. 2Gen fosters human
development and human potential,
and if done well, will not only allow
us to live up to our highest values,
but will also yield tangible, pragmatic
benefi ts. More importantly, it pro-
vides a proven blueprint for moving
forward.
The 2Gen approach defi nes
well-being holistically, just as parents
themselves defi ne it. As a mom told
us, “Well-being is happy, healthy and
safe and family well-being is having
a balanced life.” 2Gen strategies are
shaped by parents’ voices and lived
experiences and meaningfully work
with families in fi ve key areas: phys-
ical and mental
health; early devel-
opment, learning,
and care; postsec-
ondary and employ-
ment pathways;
economic assets;
Anne Mosle
and social capital.
Advancing racial
and gender equity is
central to the 2Gen
approach.
Over the past
decade, the 2Gen
approach has shown
that it is both trans-
Marjorie Sims formative and prac-
tical. 2Gen leaders
and practitioners have wrestled con-
ceptually with what it means to place
racial and gender equity at the core of
our work and then applied those big
ideas with purpose in pragmatic, tan-
gible ways, from changes to intake
forms to increase access to services to
shifts in program titles and imagery to
attract and welcome more fathers to
parenting programs.
In the process, across all levels of
government and the public and non-
profi t sectors, 2Gen leaders have lis-
tened and learned a lot about how to
support and engage families in ways
that foster and unleash their potential
for health, wealth, and well-being.
The modern, equity-centered 2Gen
approach is being explored, imple-
mented, and advanced by the Ascend
National Network of over 440 part-
ners across the country, including
Friends of the Children, Home For-
ward, Multnomah County – Mult-
nomah Idea Lab, and National Crit-
tenton, here in Oregon.
To date, 12 states, including
Oregon, have implemented 2Gen
approaches to align and coordinate
their agencies and strengthen pro-
grammatic supports for families,
including linking child care and early
learning programs to work force
development and economic path-
ways, adopting new models of home
visiting, and creating eff ective par-
ent and child supports as states seek
more eff ective and equitable outcomes
for children and families. The 2Gen
approach has provided state agencies
with a pragmatic and purpose-driven
way to drive equity and well-being
by shifting and aligning the gears of
early childhood, K-12 education, post-
secondary success, health and men-
tal health, economic assets, and social
capital.
State momentum is having three
major eff ects. First, many states are
reviewing and aligning child- and
adult-serving programs to put families
at the center. A 2Gen analysis iden-
tifi es ineff ective practices that force
families to navigate fragmented sys-
tems, inconsistent eligibility rules,
or contradictory expectations, all of
which set up barriers to good out-
comes. Second, 2Gen has fostered
new family-centered collaborations
across public agencies to produce bet-
ter child, parent, caregiver, and family
outcomes. Third, 2Gen has catalyzed
new community- and county-level
partnerships.
It’s time to place family well-being
at the center of our national agenda.
With new resources from ARP and
possible additional investments from
the budget resolution, we can pur-
sue opportunities on what is actually
working and open up a better way of
serving parents and children together.
As one mom told us about navigat-
ing the pandemic, “If we make it out
of this, we will be unstoppable.” As
Oregon (and America) rebuilds, let’s
make sure parents and families will
have the tools and conditions they
need and deserve to be unstoppable.
Anne Mosle is vice president of the
Aspen Institute and executive direc-
tor of Ascend at the Aspen Institute.
Marjorie Sims is managing director
of Ascend at the Aspen Institute.
WHERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201 S.
Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City 97820.
Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax: 541-575-
0515. Email: tocc1862@centurylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville 97825.
Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-987-2187.
Email: dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long Creek
97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax: 541-
421-3075. Email: info@cityoflongcreek.
com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025. Email:
cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt. Vernon
97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax: 541-932-
4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie City
97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax: 820-3566.
Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca 97873.
Phone and fax: 541-542-2161. Email:
senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State Capitol,
Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-3111. Fax:
503-378-6827. Website: governor.state.or.us/
governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol, Salem,
97310. Phone: 503-986-1180. Website: leg.
state.or.us (includes Oregon Constitution and
Oregon Revised Statutes).
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
USPS 226-340
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
Email: www.MyEagleNews.com
Phone: 541-575-0710
John Day, Oregon
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Adventures in wildlife photography
M
y extensive collection
of nature-themed photo-
graphs I’ve taken includes
wildlife from Grant County to the
South Pacifi c, Scandinavia, and
Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, the
wildlife photographs I take mainly
show only furry tails, hind legs, few
feathers, and the scrub trees where
some wildlife hid before they gal-
loped or fl ew away.
My photography skills lack a
timely response when my mind
comes up with creative compo-
sitions. I do label the results. For
instance, on a photo of an enormous
lilac bush, I noted that about 50
quail clustered under the branches
two minutes before — the length of
time to locate the camera.
In China, I became engrossed in
photographing a Chinese blue wil-
low-decorated bowl fi lled with noo-
dles and missed a column of cormo-
rants at the river. While stopped at
the side of the road on my way to
Alaska, I rushed to close the vehi-
cle’s door as a bear snorted past. He
slobbered on our lost camera lens
cap, only his rump visible. We gifted
him the lens cap.
My photography equipment,
periodically updated, still provides
a challenge. I’ve been seconds from
a stunning photo when I realized:
a phone camera needs a charge,
the small camera has dead batter-
ies, large camera — I need time to
change the lens and screw on a tri-
pod to reduce camera shake, or the
needed camera is still sitting on the
kitchen table and I’m 40 miles from
home.
One of my most amazing scenes
— a fi eld with a rough count of
about 100 pronghorns. A young
pronghorn close to the road briefl y
locked eyes with me. In the late
golden hour of light, they exhib-
ited the delicate beauty of Dresden
china. I didn’t take one photograph.
And for the same reason, I didn’t
get a single snapshot of the wildlife
seen recently while driving around
the county: bull elk with six females,
coyote loping across the fi eld, wild
turkeys, quail, eagle, grazing deer.
The reason for missing prime
photo shots: NPTPO, No Place To
Pull Over.
I propose some scenic and safe
pull-off photographic sites. Roadside
signs would be helpful. “Caution.
Photographers next two miles.”
To improve my photographing
skills, I signed up for a class. After
several weeks, I reached a milestone
… at the bottom of the class.
“Be honest,” I said to a friend.
“Admit that I’m the worst photogra-
pher in the class.”
“Yes, you are,” she agreed.
The turnaround in my photog-
raphy came one afternoon when I
spotted horses in a fi eld — power-
ful horses that stood still, never toss-
ing a head, swishing a tail, or rac-
ing off . It looked as though carousel
horses had galloped off their circled
path onto a pasture, their poles still
attached like a Mary Poppins event.
I surmised the carousel was being
moved, and the horses stuck upright
awaiting transport.
During the golden hour of light, I
photographed the lead stallion. The
photography instructor helped me
enlarge and print the image in black
and white. From the bottom of the
class, I zoomed to the top … at least
for one day.
I continue to take photographs.
I’ve expanded the wildlife theme to
include domestic cats and children
at play.
Jean Ann Moultrie is a Grant
County writer. Her goal: motivate
those of us with a box or trunk full
of photos of ancestors with no iden-
tifying names to seek out those who
might know, and label them, adding
where and about when if known.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Parents need timely states that at Humbolt eight stu- This seems to be no longer hap-
dents and one staff member
pening. The fact that the last
info on outbreaks
were infected, according to the
Humbolt case was discovered on
To the Editor:
The Eagle’s article on school
outbreaks (“Outbreaks Reported
at Humbolt, Long Creek and
Prairie City schools,” Sept. 29)
OHA outbreak report. In fact,
those numbers are six and three,
respectively.
Last year the districts made
prompt public reports of cases.
Sept. 6 and we are only hearing
about it now is disquieting. Par-
ents are right to express dismay.
Matt Goodwin
Prairie City