RARE Reimagined!

For 31 years, the RARE Program has connected over 500 college graduates with rural communities across every county in Oregon. RARE has supported community-led programming that addresses capacity gaps in rural Oregon communities while also providing the next generation of change-makers with invaluable leadership skills and networking opportunities.

In light of uncertainties around continued AmeriCorps funding, we invite you to help us reimagine RARE as we seek new partnerships and develop a strategic plan to lay the groundwork for sustaining another 30+ years of service. Your input matters as we work together to build a more financially resilient and impactful chapter for the RARE Program!  

An Uncertain Future, but a Clear Mission. 

It is imperative that RARE continues to provide critical and much needed capacity to rural Oregon–whether that means rebuilding after a disaster, developing core infrastructure, helping improve livability, conducting outreach and engagement activities ,or expanding access to critical resources like food, childcare, and broadband.

After our AmeriCorps grant was initially terminated in April 2025, RARE lost the majority of it’s members and let go of nearly all our staff. Due to the uncertainty of future federal funding, we made the difficult decision to pause RARE Program operations for the 2025-2026 service year. Inspired by the resilient rural communities we serve and collaborate with, we are taking this setback as an opportunity to build something new for the next generations of RARE members and community partners.

RARE’s commitment to expanding opportunities in rural communities and developing the next generation of rural community leaders has not changed–but we need your help to reimagine what’s possible!

How Can YOU Help Reimagine RARE?

We have an opportunity to boldly reshape our beloved RARE Program into something that better serves our members and adapts to meet the shifting challenges of rural communities, all while creating a more financially resilient path forward. We are calling on our amazing community of program alumni, past site supervisors, statewide partners, and all our friends and neighbors across rural Oregon, to help write our next chapter. You are what has made RARE successful–and we want to identify new opportunities that best align with your experiences; help us sort out what has worked, what hasn’t, and dream up entirely new ways to help our members serve rural Oregon that weren’t possible before.

Join the Process!

From October to December 2025, we will be engaging our community through a survey, a series of in-depth, 1:1 interviews, and a set of focus group discussions to ensure that the outcomes of this process align with the needs of our friends and partners throughout rural Oregon.

Come help us in our strategic planning process–your voice is needed!

You are also welcome to provide feedback by emailing Titus Tomlinson at: titust@uoregon.edu or Thomas White at: thomas@kelleynonprofitconsulting.com. In addition, if you have any questions, please visit our RARE Reimagined FAQs.

The insights you provide will be analyzed in January and February, directly impacting the launch of RARE Reimagined