William Sullivan
Meet William Sullivan:
Originally from Boston, William received his B.A. in History from New York University. After college, William served as an English Literacy Resource Teacher in the Peace Corps, living and working in a small village in the South Pacific country of Samoa. During that time, William taught literacy and English as a Second Language to students in Grades 4-8, ran family literacy programs, began a library lending project, and started a leadership camp. William has experience in nonprofit operations/management as well and is excited to apply those skills during his time “serving rural” in Oregon!
Community and Organization:
Falls City, located about 24 miles west of Salem, is a small community of about 1,000 residents. A former timber town, Falls City had several timber mills and was once the Polk County seat and the throughway to Valsetz and Black Rock (now ghost towns). Named after the waterfalls in the center of town, Falls City sits on the Little Luckiamute River. Falls City is a gateway to the Valley of the Giants, a 51-acre nature preserve with some of Oregon’s biggest and oldest trees, and boasts some of the state’s premier mountain biking at the Black Rock Mountain Bike Area. Falls City’s community is small but inclusive and has the distinguished status of being Oregon’s smallest town with an annual Pride event.
Project:
The RARE participant, William Sullivan, served with the Falls City Steering Committee and Action Teams on projects around housing, downtown revitalization, and volunteerism. William coordinated with community volunteer members and managed some ideas and projects that came out of Falls City’s community visioning process. William will also created handbooks for use by citizen committees, compiled a planning handbook to assist Falls City residents, and redesigned the City’s website.