558 N. Main St., Prineville, OR 97754 | (541) 447-6205
Former Crook County Judge and current Crook County School Board Member, Scott Cooper, has been promoted to the Executive Director for the Partnership to End Poverty.
The Partnership to End Poverty is a non-profit organization, whose mission is to bring innovative, long-term solutions to poverty. The previous Executive Director, Jim Schell, has decided to step down in order to devote his time to development and fund-raising efforts for the organization. Schell was in the position since the fall of 2007. Schell has a strong background for business, and was hired by the Board of Directors to find a new direction for the organization. At the time, The Partnership to End Poverty, formerly known as the Central Oregon Partnership, was in the midst of reorganizing into a centralized non-profit with a regional perspective.
“We have done what needed to be done at that time,” said Schell. “We took a formula that wasn’t working for a number of reasons and recreated The Partnership into a strong, regional organization that is known as a leader in the community. Now is the time for a new leader to take the next step in our organizational growth.”
“We thank Jim for his past leadership and continued involvement with the Partnership,” said Alicia Moore, Board Chair for The Partnership. “His efforts have helped make a positive difference in the lives of many throughout central Oregon, and the entire board is confident in Scott’s ability to build upon and strengthen these efforts even more.”
Cooper brings a wealth of knowledge to his new position. He has been with the Partnership to End Poverty for a year and a half. Cooper has served as Crook County Judge, he served on the Prineville City Council, and was previously the head of the Chamber of Commerce for Crook County. Cooper served on the National Cattlemen’s Association in Denver, Co., and serves a current governor-appointed position to the Oregon Commission on Children and Families. At various times in his career, Cooper has been involved in workforce development and economic development. He has been involved in k-12 education (he is currently serving on the Crook County School Board), higher education, healthcare for low income families, mental health and assistance to persons with disabilities, childcare, affordable housing, and transportation and veterans services - all of which are directly tied to poverty alleviation.
“One of things that happened in our organization is that for years we have been a project of the Northwest Area Foundation, and our money has come from that group in Minneapolis,” explained Cooper. “Our time is coming to an end. We are making the transition to being a stand-along non-profit. The Northwest Area Foundation is in Minneapolis. They are what are left of the Great Northern Railroad. After the founder to the railroad died, he put all his fortune into a charitable foundation serving eight states that were served by his railroad. About 10 years ago, they had the idea to set up these little groups around the United States, and put a significant amount of money into them and see what they could do to address poverty reduction in communities. Central Oregon was one of the eleven communities that they chose.
“They have since decided not to pursue that model, so they have spun off all those 11 groups as stand-alone nonprofits. That is how we came to be.”
Cooper explained that central Oregon has a significant poverty issue, and the Partnership to End Poverty is a 501 organization dedicated to reducing poverty in Central Oregon for the long-term. The Partnership collaborates with other central Oregon non-profit businesses, government, and faith-based organizations to find and implement long-term solutions to poverty.
“If you stop and think about, if you took all the people that are either living below the federal poverty line, or are at imminent risk of falling into poverty in central Oregon, it is about 60,000 people,” said Cooper. “If it were a community, it would be the second largest community in Central Oregon. It’s more than twice the amount of people I was accountable to when I was County Judge in Crook County. That is a fairly substantial amount of responsibility.
“Poverty touches every one of our communities and continuing poverty touches on every segment of community life, including business, government, education, nonprofit and faith. I’m honored to be asked to build on the great work The Partnership and its board and staff has already started to take the organization to the next level.”
To contact Scott Cooper, Director of Policy, Partnership to End Poverty
521 S.W. 6th street
Redmond, OR. 97756
541-504-1389
