The city of Hermiston, Umatilla County, Greater Hermiston Chamber of Commerce, and Hermiston Downtown District has announced RARE participant Emma Porricolo will serve as Hermiston’s Main Street Program Coordinator.
Her scope of work will include strengthening the Hermiston Downtown District and working to revitalize downtown by using the Main Street approach, a nationally renowned program that has been implemented in cities of all sizes across the country.
The program focuses on four points – organization, economic vitality, design, and promotion. Through her service, she plans on using the Main Street strategies to create opportunities in each of the four points.
RARE, an acronym for Resource Assistance for Rural Environments, is an Americorps service program run through the University of Oregon’s Community Service Center that is committed to “increasing the capacity of rural communities to improve their economic, social, and environmental conditions.” The program places about 25 participants throughout the state of Oregon annually to work on programs that focus on community development, natural resource planning, food systems, and more. Through RARE she will be serving in Hermiston for the next 11 months.
Porricolo is originally from Pelham, N.Y., a small town 30 minutes north of New York City. This past June, she graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.S. in environmental science with minors in geology and (PPPM) public policy, planning, and management. She hopes to pursue a career path focused on how people interact and impact their physical environments, whether it is through a career in community development, urban planning, or sustainability. She chose to do the RARE program for a chance to experience a new place, help a community, and grow professionally.
Porricolo looks forward to learning more about the downtown and gathering stakeholder’s perspectives of and visions for downtown. She requests people to feel free to reach out at any time to express their thoughts about downtown Hermiston. She can be contacted by email at mainstreet@hermiston.or.us.
