Employees of the Oregon Community Foundation, the Providence Portland Medical Foundation, SAIF Corporation, the Food Security Coalition and The Collins Group generously lent their time to talk about the important work they do. The professional development event was organized entirely by students, and the selection of organizations was done by polling graduate PPPM students about fields or agencies in which they were directly interested. Each organization was welcoming, engaging and informative.

At Oregon Community Foundation students learned about the huge investment the organization makes in education and scholarship each year and about the dynamic role of providing planned giving services to donors. The Providence Portland Medical Foundation gave students an up-close look at raising capital for leading cancer treatment research and technology. The SAIF Corporation, a not-for-profit, state-chartered company operating in an open market, gave an extremely interesting overview of Oregon’s unique model of workers’ compensation insurance. Students heard from leaders of The Food Security Coalition about working at the forefront of the national food policy world. Finally, a senior consultant at The Collins Group told students about her dynamic role as a fundraising and management consultant for nonprofit organizations. Overall, students found the trip very valuable:

“I really appreciated getting to see the real-life jobs available to us after graduation. Some of it was new to me and gave me specific goals to work toward; some was a reminder of why I came to graduate school in the first place. The day was a great success, and I returned to Eugene feeling motivated and inspired.” -Tiffany Hall, MPA ’11

Description: PPPMers range in size and color, however they have all evolved to functionally dress for biking in the rain. Public sector-seeking individuals. Only distinguishable in large groups of other humans by behavior.

Behavior: The PPPMer usually travels in numbers, most likely on bicycles. Tendencies toward social justice and city offices. Preference for visual communication, such as maps or charts.  Home life includes many hours in front of a computer, with occasional social activities.

Habitat: Small, dark, flourescently lit spaces. Particularly a specific bunker beneath a University of Oregon campus building. Thursdays can be found Rennies, especially during happy hour.

Range: PPPMers tend to congregate in the Willamette Valley, dwelling within biking distance of Hendricks Hall, University of Oregon.

Diet: Subsists on pb&j, apples, coffee, vegetables grown in community gardens, or anything bought in bulk.

Friendly, and willingly enticed by refreshments to meetings, these undomesticated creatures are easily approachable. They will often attend speakers about renewable energy and zoning for change; the PPPM will often ask questions.

Citizens need to be aware of the presence of the PPPMer may consider precautions:

• Supervise impacts of population and consumption of natural resources
• Refrain from VMTs, SOV’s, damaging wetlands, paving surfaces, or in any circumstance, throwing away plastics.

There will be an Open House at Hendricks Hall on December 1, 2010 to get the public involved with the HCP for the PPPM, which will answer any further questions.

Lindsey’s Blog: http://ladkisson.wordpress.com/

Not Your Average Lit Review, Part 1

Not Your Average Lit Review, Part 2

Tiffany Hall is traveling in Ethiopia and South Africa, learning about the world of international nonprofit organizations. Join her in her travels here: http://tiffanystravels.wordpress.com/

Elaine Phillips has found her way to Derry, Northern Ireland to work for the City Centre Initiative (CCI) on making the “downtown” area of Derry a thriving shared space for business. Learn about her incredible work here: http://elaineinderry.wordpress.com/

Heidi Beierle is riding her bike 4,000 miles across the United States, beginning her journey in Eugene, OR and making her way to Washington, D.C.. Follow along her journey here: http://enroutetransport.org/

The class of 2010 will be missed as they continue on to do great things in the world. We wish them the best! Congratulations!

Next up, Capstone! This year’s graduating MPA students were the first to participate in the capstone terminal projects as part of their degree requirements. There were four projects each of which worked closely with an Oregon based organization on an applied policy-related project. Congratulations to the class of 2010!

Prizes for the day went to the best dressed (Michael Held), the highest score (Mark Nystrom), the lowest score (Martin Kraal), the most balls lost (Carl Green), most indirect route to the pin (Kevin Horan), and of course the coveted perfect aim at the lawn mower (Elena Fracchia).

Pictured (from left): Elena Fracchia, Michael Held, Carl Green, Martin Kraal, Mark Nystrom, Kevin Horan