Oregon’s First Lady, Cylvia Hayes kicked off her visit to Coos Bay with a tour of Oregon Coast Community Action’s two new facilities under construction on LaClair and Thomas in Coos Bay. The new Child and Family Resource Center and Coos County Food Bank highlight ORCCA’s ongoing commitment to innovative solutions to poverty, economic justice, and environmental sustainability.

As Oregon’s First Lady, Ms. Hayes has focused much of her work on finding solutions to poverty and hunger, and has a long professional career in sustainable development and clean energy.

In addition to touring the facilities, Ms. Hayes and several community members learned about ORCCA’s solar and green projects as well as ORCCA’s new program for families experiencing homelessness, Home Now.

In her address to the crowd of about 40 people, Ms. Hayes commended the projects as symbolic of the community coming together to take care of each other and is inspirational to groups across the state to take care of one another to help solve the root causes of poverty.

Moving the focus away from recovery, Ms. Hayes proposed “what we really need is economic reinvention.” She discussed how the future will be different and that we need to increase resources to address the root problems of poverty so that we don’t continue having a poverty problem.

Ms. Hayes emphasized the need for economic, entrepreneurial, and social innovation in order to address these root problems, and believes ORCCA’s projects epitomizes that. She commended the leadership of ORCCA that made these new community facilities and green economic activity possible, applauding their efforts in “taking care of the people through new innovative techniques.”

Oregon Coast Community Action’s goals to improve the community by working to strengthen programs that serve children, families, and individuals in need led to the development of the two new facilities on LaClair and Thomas in Coos Bay. Combined the buildings will bring about $10 million in construction activity to the region, and generate about $16 million in economic activity.

Oregon Coast Community Action is a non-profit network of programs that help feed, house, warm and educate the communities of the South Coast. If you would like to see the progress of the facilities, or learn more about ORCCA, visit www.orcca.us .