Community Connector

Helping Link Individuals, Organizations & Businesses in Lincoln County

Leslie Palotas – Your Lincoln County Community Connector

As Community Connector at EDALC, Leslie aims to listen, understand, and help create mutually beneficial solutions that make living, working, and thriving more accessible and enjoyable for all who are seeking to build community in Lincoln County.

Upcoming Opportunities & Events for the Community:

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What is a Community Connector?

There are infinite ways to describe Community Connector work, so Leslie is always happy to learn about others’ skills, interests, and work to best tune descriptions of this work to others’ lived experiences. That being said, here is her two-sentence (working) description of her role:
A Community Connector builds understanding and relationships to help shift existing systems in ways that are mutually beneficial for individuals, organizations, and communities. Success looks like system-shifting efforts continuing on (eventually unassisted by the Community Connector) and spreading elsewhere because the shifts benefit everyone involved.

Community Connector Roles in Collaborative Gatherings & Projects

  • Connecting People 
    • Humanizing (Centering human needs to build relationships and understanding)
    • Network Weaving
  • Connecting Solutions
    • Creative Problem-Solving for Mutual Benefit
    • Intent and Impact Gap Narrowing
  • Connecting Other Organizations and Communities
    • Learning from Others’ Successes and Shared Challenges
    • Share Scalable and Replicable Suggestions

Community Building through an Expedition Leading Lens

Leslie gave this presentation at the 2024 Lincoln County Economic Summit on March 14th, 2024. Her previous role as a sea kayak expedition leader assisted her in evaluating ways to encourage collaboration and inclusion in any setting through working to meet human needs and promoting a respectful dialogue that seeks to find mutually beneficial solutions. For a retelling of that presentation, click here!

DEQ Partnerships for Drinking Water Protection Coastal Networking Workshops

In partnership with Department of Environmental Quality, Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts, and many more, Palotas has aided in execution of Drinking Water Protection Workshops along the Oregon Coast. These workshops provide meaningful information, resources, and networking opportunities for anyone interested in learning more and/or getting involved in drinking water protection efforts. Some highlights from this work are:
    • 3 events held in Feb 2024 at Central, South, & North Coast
    • Workshops’ successes have pulled the DEQ drinking water protection team to also run 2024/25 workshops with Oregon Health Authority (OHA).
    • Planning for the remainder of 2024 in progress
      • Aiming for 3 Workshops in Fall: North, Central, South Coast
To watch the workshop presentation playlist, check out the link here!

Why a Workshop Series?

Leslie gave a very helpful presentation discussing the purpose of the DEQ Drinking Water Protection Coastal Networking workshops, as well as, providing guidance for participants to engage in respectful and meaningful dialogue in order to get the most out of their time and these events. To watch the recording, please visit the link here!

Café Resource Multilingual Events

The Café Resource events are a collaborative project with OSU Extension Lincoln County, The Olalla Center’s Arcoíris Cultural, Conexión Fénix, Juntos en Colaboración Core Team, and EDALC’s Community Connector. Leslie got involved as a continuation of her participation in the Juntos en Colaboración (JeC) Core Team since the Summer of 2020.
These events seek to expand social wellness support for Latino/a/x, Hispanic, and Mesoamerican Indigenous communities by hosting listening session roundtables on topics prioritized by community members, including: Community Safety, Transit, Health Care and Health Insurance, Employment, Education and Small Business. There are four more Cafés to be scheduled in 2024! For more details on the past Cafés and many community partners, please read Leslie’s report on the Café Resource Series linked here!

The Ford Family Foundation

The Community Connector position is funded by The Ford Family Foundation’s Rural Community Building Department. EDALC and Leslie are grateful and honored to have inspired The Ford Family Foundation to shift its historical funding practices to recognize EDALC, a 501(c)(6), as the ideal fit for a Community Connector role.
To learn more about The Ford Family Foundation and their Rural Community Building program, please visit the link here!

We’d Love to Hear From You

We’re actively working to grow and enhance our Community Connections in Lincoln County. If you are interested in learning more about Community Connecting work, how to get involved, or would like to meet with Leslie, please contact us or sign up for our newsletter below!