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Focused on the building blocks of a good life Dee Anne Everson, executive director of United Way of Jackson County, proudly drives an "identifiable car." Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta Sunday Oct 9, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Steve Boyarsky for the Mail Tribune Editor's note: Community Builder is a periodic Q & A series providing perspectives from local individuals who have been involved in significant change in Southern Oregon. Today's conversation is with Dee Anne Everson, executive director of United Way of Jackson County. Q — Describe the work United Way accomplishes in the community? Everson — Our mission is to “mobilize caring to effect change." It is about raising people, money and staff. The people part is because we do all our work with volunteers. We are the only nonprofit with a $1.3 million budget that has a staff of six. Mostly it is about showing up and being there and allowing issues to present themselves. I hope we are more focused on the future than just reacting. Q — What drew you to this line of work? Everson — I’m a huge believer that everything and nothing brings us to where we are. My first career I was a bank economist for 14 years, and then I became a nonprofit economist for three more years. When we moved to Southern Oregon, there wasn’t much call for bank economists. Through a series of great events, a board member of the United Way at the time said, “We really need someone to do a needs assessment survey of the community." I said I’ll do it, as long as I can include a demographic economic profile, because I think that is critical. United Way was in transition at the time. The new executive director arrived and said, “Hey, do you want to work here and run the campaign?” Gosh, I’d never done that. And he didn’t stay long, he was only here nine months. And on a Friday at 2 o'clock, I heard, “You’re going to be the interim director." Oh, my gosh! I’d been a United Way supporter; I’d grown up a banker. I said, "Sure, I’ll take the interim job, but I want to do things while I'm interim." On the very last day to apply, at 5 o'clock, I submitted my application. Q — What is the job like? Everson — This is the most humbling job I have ever done. People trust us to do the right thing, which is huge. We have thousands of donors and hundreds of businesses and organizations and 1,500 volunteers. So people trust us to do the right thing. I’m a big believer that we all walk with a story, and I am privileged to hear those all the time. That is very humbling. United Way only does good things, that is pretty nice; I don’t know of many jobs that can say that, and that is pretty OK. Q — How did you come to live in the Rogue Valley? Everson – I came with a partner at the time to Ashland. I had never lived in a city with fewer than a million and a half people. It was a big thing. This was in 1996. I got all this advice when I moved here from people in Seattle who grew up in small towns: “Don’t ever have road rage,” “Don’t drive an identifiable car.” But I do. “And if you tell people let’s have lunch; mean it.” And it is true. You can know 20,000 people here versus if you live in Seattle, you can still know 20,000 people, but that is nothing in 3.2 million. And so it is a huge change. When I first moved here, I missed traffic reports on the radio. I couldn’t sleep because it is so quiet. How does anyone sleep here? It’s just a funny thing, but it sure does grow on you. I thought I would be here three years, and now it’s 20 years later. This is now the longest I have lived anywhere. Q — How has the United Way made the Rogue Valley a better place to live? Everson — By believing in the power of collective wisdom. Everyone has a voice and it should be used for positive change. We are very inclusive. We honor people’s stories, which allows us to move the community forward. We are focused on the building blocks of a good life: Education, income, health and transportation. And so by having a focus on what is a good life, you create good change. We bring people together to do that from all walks of life. And we believe deeply that is what creates the change. We have some crazy goals we hold out there, like our big idea of 100 percent high school completion for the class of 2020. We started when this class was in fifth grade, and now they are freshman in high school. Since we started, graduation is up 13 percent. We can’t claim all the credit for that, of course, but if you put a stake in the ground, you can sure claim part of it. Jackson County has the only poverty-based bike share in the country. Because people have to be able to get to work or to school or health care or mental health therapy. And if they are able and ambulatory, they can ride a bike for $20 a year or $6 a day or two hours for free. There is no other city in the country that has this. So we really do work for positive change. And not just for tomorrow, for today. It’s OK to make things better right now. Q — Who gives you support, strength and resources? Everson — I don’t think anybody does anything by themselves. I’m a product of mentoring, I’ve had great mentors throughout my life. Really brilliant people and people who have struggled. One of my favorite mentors, Lawanna, had medically needy twins. She went through drug court and she let me walk around with her for three days. I couldn’t do what she had to do every day. And today her kids are grown up and they’re successful. One works at Disneyland, and they are so hopeful, and she is so generous and kind. So I am the product of great mentoring. I’ve changed my mind over time on, “What is the most important leadership characteristic?” I think it is love. I’ve learned that from everyone. Everyone I work with, everyone I am friends with, my family, everyone in this community. Cause that is how we create change. You don’t do it otherwise. I am only a product of the support of a lot of people. Q — What are some of the more pressing needs in the community? How can the Rogue Valley be a better place? Everson — Mental health is crucial and it is an equal-opportunity offender. You have to have access to services for kids, adults, elderly, and we don’t have it. Not enough. So it is crucial, it affects people in poverty. And when you add all the stresses associated with that, it is even more compounding. It also affects people with great resources. And it is still hard to get help. I have a volunteer whose daughter is institutionalized, out of the area, because there is nowhere here for her to be. So I think that access to mental health services is probably the most pressing need. Q — Is the issue of mental health unique to the Rogue Valley? Everson — Oh, no. I think mental health is a crisis, not only in our country but around the world. I think climate change is super important, I think addressing AIDS is super important, ending hunger really important, ending poverty really important. And there are large efforts, global efforts to effect change, but where is the global effort to effect change around mental health? And maybe it exists, but we could do better. That is the number one crisis for me. Housing is huge, and it is huge because we didn’t build for the last five to eight years. So there is no stock. We’ve got to build and we have to build at all levels of housing because there is none. So there are a lot of other issues that supplant all that. Q — What do you hope for the Rogue Valley in the next 20 years? Everson — A couple more airlines would be nice when your loved ones live far away. I hope we remain true to rural ideals; how we care for each other and how we are compassionate. I hope for better jobs. I hope for stronger infrastructure. I hope for a better education sector. I hope we have a good transit system, a means for people to get around. I hope we care for our environment. I hope we have great elected officials, policymakers. That everyone wants to stay involved, because that is what it takes. — Steve Boyarsky is a retired educator and longtime resident of the Rogue Valley. He continues to be involved in educational and youth programs.