Chelan gets first look at regional planning group shaping NCW’s future

CHELAN — For an organization that has helped shape regional priorities for more than a decade, the introduction felt surprisingly new.

Representatives from Our Valley Our Future stood before the Chelan City Council on April 28, offering what Executive Director Rachel Evey later described as a first: the organization’s first formal presentation to the city.

For some in the room, the work was familiar. For others, it was a first look at the scope of a nonprofit that has quietly influenced housing, infrastructure, workforce development and long-term planning across Chelan and Douglas counties.

“We are here as a cross-sector organization working with local governments, nonprofit organizations and private businesses to move those objectives forward,” Evey told the council. “That way we can respond to our residents’ requests for really strong collaboration and improving the quality of life.”

At its core, OVOF operates on a five-year cycle. The organization gathers input from thousands of residents through surveys, interviews and listening sessions, then translates that feedback into a regional action plan. Those plans often guide funding decisions, partnerships and long-term priorities across North Central Washington.

Chelan has already been part of that work.

Mayor Erin McCardle noted during the presentation that the city partnered with OVOF in 2024 on the Vision Chelan project, a localized effort to identify community priorities. That work will now feed into the organization’s next regional action plan, covering 2027 through 2031.

Evey said the current outreach process is already underway, with a focus on making sure rural communities and smaller populations are included alongside larger cities.

“The best way to reach people is to go to them,” she said, describing listening sessions held not only in population centers, but in smaller communities and with groups that may not always be represented in traditional public meetings.

Board Chair Alma Chacón said she was drawn to the organization after returning to the region and seeing the scope of its work firsthand.

“I looked at the action plan that they had, and I thought, ‘Wow, when did this happen?’” Chacón said. “Because I was working in Olympia at that time, and I came back home, and there’s this wonderful booklet of things that are going on in our valley.”

Rather than leading projects directly, OVOF connects agencies, nonprofits and local governments around shared priorities. Over time, that approach has helped advance projects ranging from housing initiatives to trail systems and regional infrastructure planning.

Evey pointed to another measure of impact. Letters of support tied to the organization’s action plans have helped partner organizations secure more than $100 million in funding over the past decade.

That influence extends beyond planning and into funding decisions.

McCardle said that when Chelan applies for grants, state and federal agencies often recognize OVOF’s work and the level of community input behind it. When a project aligns with the organization’s action plan, it signals that the idea has already been vetted across the region.

“If this is in the OVOF plan, then we’re fully supportive of it,” she said they frequently tell her.

In those cases, she said, the response from funding partners is often simple: if it’s in the OVOF plan, it already carries community backing.

For Chelan, the presentation served as both an introduction and an invitation.

The organization’s community survey, recently extended through May 31, is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/59JHGDQ. Evey encouraged residents to take part, emphasizing that the direction of the next plan will come directly from community input.

“The objectives that we work on don’t come out of thin air,” she said. “They’re directly from the residents of Chelan and Douglas counties.”

For a city that has already contributed to the region’s long-term vision, the April 28 meeting offered something new: a clearer picture of how that vision is built, and how Chelan fits into it.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media