February 2026 Liaison Lunch + SPECIAL EVENT!

About the event

ORCAH volunteers host monthly Liaison Lunches to connect our liaisons with each other and identify opportunities for collaboration. This is a SPECIAL session led by ORCAH partner HECC!

We are excited to celebrate the amazing climate-oriented work that’s taken place across Oregon in the last year. Yes, that’s right: the work is happening, even though it’s already been an especially challenging year, and it’s only just begun. We know that celebrating our friends and colleagues united in this work will lift our work up, and help us remember our collective strength.

We will share some broad highlights from the year and hear from colleagues across the state to amplify some of their recent successes, and after that we will break into breakout groups around themes to continue a collective conversation and make connections. We hope that this event will re-energize you and bolster your resolve to keep doing this important work, together.

Guest speakers and facilitators include:

• Brian Nease – Workforce Programs Analyst, Office of Workforce Investments
• Hillary Blackstone – Youth Program Specialist, Office of Workforce Investments/Higher Education Coordinating Commission (*ORCAH partner *)
• Lace Thornberg – Communications Director, Central Oregon Land Watch (* ORCAH partner *)

 
Here is the working agenda:

• 11:30 AM Welcome
• 11:45 AM First Speaker
• 11:55 AM Second Speaker
• 12:05 PM Third Speaker
• 12:15 PM Opportunity for others to share successes/wins/good news
• 12:25 PM * 5-10 min break *
• 12:30 PM Collaborative breakout groups (self-select around topics/needs)
  • K-12 and CTE
    • What tools or resources are you finding most helpful to engage youth in thinking about climate career opportunities?
    • What are your students most eager to learn or ready to tackle?
  •  Community Organizing/Outreach
    • How have you been able to best engage your local community, what tools or mechanisms did you use for that engagement?
    • Where have you found the most success in partnerships in the last year? Which partnerships have endured through the good and the bad times?
  • Industry Engagement and Shifting Systems
    • What does your industry see as the most critical need on the horizon?
    • If you had complete control, how would you want to pursue industry connections to schools and new recruits? (Who would initiate, what would you do, how long would engagement last, etc.?
  •  Workforce Training and Pathways Opportunities
    • What pathways for engagement are currently available and what is missing?
    • How do you see young people and folks new to the industry shaping its future?
  • Other
    • What was missing from the breakout group topics that you were hoping to find?
    • What other good news are you aware of and do you want to amplify?
•  12:50 PM Group share outs, summaries, gratitude and intentional closing
• 1:00 PM End of event

 
At the appointed time, you may join directly through this zoom link.