Staff also indicate CAPECO needs to increase partnerships with organizations such as Mid-Columbia Community Action Council, Housing Authority, Health Department, Oregon Department of Human Services, local churches, salvation army, food banks, grocery stores, Social Security Administration, Eastern Oregon Center for Independent Living, local hospitals, Blue Mountain Action Council, RAICES, Hermiston Heritage Association, AGAPE, Martha's house, and Walmart. Some staff feel diversity barriers are being addressed by receiving information and training. In Pendleton they feel bilingual needs have been met or are improving, while in Hermiston they feel that every department needs bilingual staff, and need more documents translated into Spanish. In both Pendleton and Hermiston some staff feel that outreach to black, indigenous, and people of color communities could and should improve. Many staff are unaware of any diversity in the CAPECO Board of Directors. Others feel that Board diversity needs improvement particularly by having Spanish speaking, Latinx, and/or Native American representation. Most staff feel that professional development opportunities are adequate, but the ones who answered ‘no’ feel that new hire training could be improved or feel there is lack of follow-up when opportunities have been offered. Many staff state CAPECO does well on training around diversity, equity, and inclusion topics or have improved over the last couple of years. Staff suggest increasing staffing to allow for more efficient services and more capacity to help individuals/households. This increase could also allow for listening to the community about what their needs are, food banks for anyone receiving SNAP that is also open on weekends, more affordable housing that better matches wages of the area, better access to mental health and health care, more treatment centers for addictions, training community members on how to be better caretakers of their family members, and more outreach and increasing community partnerships will help with the listed issues. Board of Directors Please refer to Appendix A.9 for survey responses from CAPECO’s Board of Directors. CAPECO | Community Needs Assessment Report | 2021 18
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