Washington County Looking to Help Community Organizations

Washington County's government says they are always looking for ways to help improve the lives of their citizens. On Wednesday they announced a new website to assist Community Participation Organizations throughout the county.

The site is an effort to shift administrative support for those groups from the Oregon State University Extension Service to the Washington County organization.

The county says that the hope is the new organizational set up will be the cornerstone of the County Administrative Office's new Community Engagement Program.

The site can be found at: www.co.washington.or.us/cpo.

"Transitioning the CPO program management from OSU Extension to Washington County brings a host of potential benefits including a web presence that is integrated with Washington County's web environment," said Mike Dahlstrom, the program's new manager.

"The CPOs are a key element of the County's goal to expand and improve public participation, and a stronger web presence will help us move toward that goal."

The site includes:

• Links to sign up for online newsletters,
• An interactive map to look up which CPOs serve your community,
• News items and media releases about upcoming events,
• Meeting notices, agendas and notes for each CPO and the Committee for Community Involvement (CCI), and
• Training resources such as the CPO Handbook.