OVOF seeks public input for next five-year regional plan

WENATCHEE — Our Valley, Our Future is asking residents across Chelan and Douglas counties to help shape the region’s next five-year plan, with a community survey open through April 30.

The effort marks the public engagement phase of the nonprofit’s 2027–2031 action plan, part of an ongoing process leaders shared with the Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority board on April 14 as both an update on past work and a call for continued community participation.

Speaking to commissioners, OVOF Executive Director Rachel Evey said the plan is grounded in direct community input.

“We don’t come up with the objectives or the action items out of thin air,” Evey said. “These are things that are directly from our residents on how they want to see the quality of life improve in our region.”

Founded more than a decade ago, Our Valley, Our Future brings together local governments, businesses, nonprofits and residents to coordinate long-term planning across Chelan and Douglas counties. Previous action plans have helped guide projects ranging from housing initiatives to economic development efforts such as the Trades District in East Wenatchee.

Evey’s presentation also served as a progress report, highlighting how earlier action plans have translated into on-the-ground projects across the region, often supported through partnerships with organizations like the Port.

Before Evey’s presentation, OVOF board member Kevin Precht, a local business owner, described the organization’s role in a growing community.

“We know that Wenatchee is growing,” Precht said. “The question is, how do we grow without losing what makes it special? This is about our shared future, and working together to figure out where we’re going.”

The current planning process includes a bilingual survey, stakeholder interviews and a series of in-person listening sessions across the region, including in smaller and unincorporated communities. The final plan is expected to be released in January.

Port commissioners expressed strong support for the effort, while also raising questions about how previous plans have been carried out.

Commissioner Richard DeRock said earlier plans at times included action items assigned to agencies that had not been involved in developing them.

“There were a bunch of action items that had never been discussed with the agencies that were called out to carry them out, and they weren’t realistic,” DeRock said. “I think there needs to be a closing of that loop before they get published.”

DeRock also pointed to child care costs as an issue that should be more explicitly addressed, particularly as it relates to housing affordability.

“With the cost of housing and the cost of child care, it’s making affordable living essentially unaffordable for people with kids,” he said.

Evey responded that child care and early learning are already a focus of OVOF’s work, including a recent regional symposium dedicated to the issue.

“We just held a symposium in March, and our main theme there was that investment in early learning — such as child care, such as pre-K — is worthwhile for a region because every dollar invested results in $18 for the economy,” because parents can be more productive if the kids are taken care of, Evey said.

She added that OVOF is working with partners across sectors, including nonprofits, businesses and service providers, to address gaps in child care access and affordability.

Evey also said the organization is working to better align proposed action items with the agencies expected to carry them out.

“We want to make sure our lead partners are involved,” she said.

In addition to planning, OVOF supports regional projects through working groups, data analysis and letters of support for grant funding. Over the past decade, those efforts have helped partners secure more than $100 million for local initiatives.

The survey remains open through April 30, offering one more chance for residents to help shape what the next five years in the valley could look like.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media