Alice Weston

Email: alice.weston@energy.oregon.gov
Title: Rural Energy Coordinator
Organization: Oregon Department of Energy
Community: Central Oregon and South Central Oregon
Population: Approximately 335,000
County Served: Lake, Klamath, Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson Counties, the Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs and the Klamath Tribes

Meet Alice Weston:

As a recent graduate of Maryland Institute and College of Art’s Masters in Social Design program, Alice navigates community work through the lens of a Social Design. Her work and design practice combines her past nonprofit professional experience, design education, and her belief in community-led innovation. Her design practice puts community first, considers the critical history of each project, and prioritizes environmentally sustainable and social justice solutions. Her work centers social literacy and collaboration while illustrating the value of design as a tool for creative social impact and advancing equity.

Community and Organization:

As a RARE member Alice is thrilled to be working with the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) in the new Community Navigator program. Through her work with the program, Alice will be helping to develop deeper relationships in Central Oregon to fill a geographic gap for ODOE’s programs and services to equitably reach Central Oregonians and the two federally recognized tribes in Central Oregon: the Warm Springs Tribes and the Klamath Tribes.

Projects:

As the Rural Energy Coordinator, Alice will be attending events, conducting outreach, and developing deeper relationships in Central Oregon to fill a geographic gap for ODOE’s programs and services in order to equitably reach Central Oregonians and the two federally recognized tribes in Central Oregon: Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs and Klamath Tribes. She will be doing all of this work in tandem with, and in support of, ODOE’s new Community Navigator program.

Alice is excited to use her community engagement and social design experience to help think about how ODOE’s programs and information might reach all Central Oregonians, the energy experts and others, who like her, might be new to the energy conversation. All Central Oregonians deserve access to information and knowledge in order to make informed decisions around their energy needs and consumption. Central Oregonians are living experts on their communities’ energy needs and concerns and their voices will help shape the energy ecosystem of Oregon’s future. She is excited to listen and be a part of the Oregon community energy conservation in the coming months.