You’re in the startup scene. Every day—no doubt—you encounter inspiring Oregon folks doing amazing things. And often, those amazing achievements have absolutely nothing to do with people’s professional lives. You encounter folks who are volunteering at schools, leading nonprofits, and making our world a better place.
So why not give those folks the recognition they so richly deserve?
That’s the idea behind “I am Oregon,” a project sponsored by Meyer Memorial Trust designed to recognize Oregonians who are doing a little bit more.
We invite you to nominate as many inspirational Oregonians you know by November 14 for a chance at one of six (6) $500 prizes. We will help recognize those whose work so often goes unnoticed, tell their stories, and build a growing network of people working together for the good of Oregon.
Nominate a volunteer firefighter, your neighbors, local librarians, or even your community-minded relatives and friends.
And while prize money is nice, it’s actually the first step of a much bigger Oregon project.
Today I’m bringing you up to speed on this project to create an online platform and community that enables Oregonians to connect and take real world action to make our communities, neighborhoods and state better. In our last report on the project, we shared the plan put together by a network of volunteers. Last December, we hired two local firms: Context Partners to build the network and FMYI (for my innovation) to engineer the platform that is becoming Oregon Unlimited. They began their work in December 2011 and have accomplished an awful lot over the past nine months…
Over the next couple of months we’ll be interviewing our beta testers and make additional refinements in a redesigned user interface that we hope will serve as Oregon’s 21st century frontier. The official Public Launch will take place on February 14th, 2013 (Happy 153rd Birthday, Oregon!)
Is there someone you find inspiring? Maybe they’re in open source? Maybe they’re helping drive tech education in our schools? Maybe they’re just doing more?
Nominate them for “I am Oregon” before 11:59PM PT on November 14.
Don’t have any ideas on who to nominate? Well, take a few minutes to peruse the current entries for some inspiration.