Our Valley, Our Future / Nuestro Valle, Nuestro, founded in 2015, is a community visioning, planning and development initiative that is tackling tough community challenges and working toward transforming the region into a better place to live, work and play. This is being accomplished by engaging with people from all walks of life, honoring what they envision for the region’s future, and then putting those steps into action through the Our Valley Action Plan.

For many years, the region has benefitted from the strong presence of the agricultural industry, in particular the fruit and wheat industries, hydroelectric power generation, medical, retail and tourism sectors. At the same time, the region has endured years of high poverty rates, relatively low education and workforce skill levels, low wage structure, and a multitude of jurisdictions that have made decision-making slow and difficult if not impossible at times, impeding progress. 

Our Valley believes a true grassroots, collaborative, values-based approach is necessary in taking on these challenges. Only then can the community break down barriers, find common ground, and combine and leverage resources.

Our Valley is overseen by a Core Team, made up of representatives from the public, private and nonprofit sectors. The more than 150 projects and programs in its Action Plan are led by 81 lead partner organizations.