Outreach Update Winter 2025
by Julie Lowe
As the new Director of Environmental Education and Outreach, I’ve taken a moment to consider the goals of “outreach.” It’s easy to think of Outreach as simply getting the word out about Umpqua Watersheds and promoting our programs. But in this strange and shifting political climate, where resources are being cut left and right, competition for funding has skyrocketed. So many nonprofits are simply trying to survive, and the need for genuine connection is more important than ever. Partnerships and networks become lifelines. By reaching out, sharing strengths, and aligning our work with others who care about the same people and places, we maximize the resources of us all, create resilience that we have never enjoyed before, and, in fact, resilience that no single organization can build alone. 
Outreach helps identify shared challenges, combine strengths, and better use the time, talent, and resources that each partner brings to the table. It’s about relying on ongoing relationships with traditional partners and finding unexpected connections with new ones. It’s collaboration in the purest sense—not “my work” or “your work,” but our work for the land, the waters, and the people who depend on them.
Whether we are talking with a school, a neighborhood group, a business owner, a tribal partner, or another nonprofit, the work begins with listening to what others are doing, and providing the resources we can to help others achieve their goals, especially when we can form a Venn diagram of possibilities between the goals of others, and those of Umpqua Watersheds.
To that end, we are working to build community platforms that can help others succeed, promote their work, and build their network. Building the Umpqua Outback stage and community area is one such effort. The stage and area are available to the community to use for music or public activities.
KQUA 90.5 NCE (Non-Commercial Educational) is now broadcasting across the Umpqua and is another resource for the community. This local public radio station, provided by Umpqua Watershed, is a platform for volunteers and local producers to host music, cultural, environmental, and public affairs programs. A mix of music and talk, the platform is designed to inspire listeners to act, create, and help shape the future of the watershed. KQUA currently broadcasts from our studio in the Umpqua Watersheds building in downtown Roseburg, Oregon.
Finding unique connections to unexpected partners is key to great collaboration, while continuing connections with traditional allies. We bring our message to events such as the State of the Beaver Conference, the Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative, and the Oregon Outdoor Recreation Summit. Through our Green Days Initiative, we also cultivate new partnerships with groups such as the Umpqua Valley Public Defender, Umpqua Valley Farm to School, YMCA, and Umpqua Valley Farmers Market, identifying mission overlaps along the way.
We are at our best when we work together, and we’re looking forward to new relationships and connections in 2026!
