Jason has served as Hillsboro 2020 Vision Advisor since 1999. The first of Jason’s community visioning projects, Hillsboro 2020 was named Project of the Year by the International Association for Public Participation, received a League of Oregon Cities Good Governance award and has offered a laboratory for learning about and perfecting the tools and strategies that make visioning work.
Hillsboro 2020 has pioneered effective ways to generate input and establish broad-based community ownership by engaging partner organizations, reporting progress and ensuring the action plan remains relevant through periodic updates. The “Year-Ten” Update utilized Facebook, video, e-surveys, fireside chats, e-polling and other tools to engage thousands of residents including a growing multicultural population.
JRO now serves as advisor to the Hillsboro 2035 Community Plan, adopted in August. The 2035 Community Plan represents Hillsboro’s next twenty-year road map. Consistent with the original vision, the 2035 Plan was built on input from over 5,000 individuals using a variety of engagement approaches. Facilitated teams, representing a range of community interests were formed to review and convert community ideas into action proposals which were then adopted by two dozen distinct community organizations. Early outreach was informed by key stakeholder interviews and a data profile identifying current trends and opportunities.
Simultaneous to developing the vision plan, JRO also served as advisor to the Hillsboro Sustainability Task Force. As part of the Hillsboro 2020 Plan, the HSTF was charged with developing a community-wide sustainability plan. HSTF used input from the Hillsboro 2020 Plan and Hillsboro 2035 Community Plan outreach effort to frame sustainability plan initiatives, and worked with constituent members – representing small and large business, environmental groups, regulators and other interests – to develop indicator metrics and specific actions. The resulting Environmental Sustainability Plan was then adopted as a stand-alone document by Council, and integrated into the 2035 Community Plan as a core theme.
