The City of Salem is partnering with Oregon Heritage and the Institute for Policy Research and Engagement (IPRE) at the University of Oregon to create a community-wide disaster resilience plan for heritage and cultural resources. This plan will help our community prepare for emergencies and lessen potential disaster impacts. It will also help leverage the capacity of Salem organizations and individuals dedicated to heritage and cultural stewardship to build resilience.

Salem’s diverse heritage and cultural resources are critical pieces of our community’s cultural history and often overlap as economic drivers, critical infrastructure and community gathering spaces. The loss of irreplaceable heritage and cultural resources from natural and human-caused disasters can be a devastating event to a community both socially and economically.

We are asking residents of Salem to take a survey about their community's heritage. Our team wants to find out how Salem engages and thinks about their heritage resources. These findings will be included in our final community priorities report. The survey can be taken by clicking this link: https://oregon.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0DqJl6yWnFhgWCq

The IPRE project team consists of faculty members and graduate students at the University of Oregon within the Community and Regional Planning program. Our team is working with the City of Salem Historic Preservation staff and Oregon Heritage to guide the planning process, provide technical assistance and facilitate community engagement.

This project has been made possible through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) | FEMA.gov) which was awarded to Oregon Heritage through the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. Salem is one of six All-Star Heritage communities (All-Star Designation Guidelines.pdf (oregon.gov)) from across Oregon that will be a part of this funding grant. All-Star communities are dedicated to making the most of their heritage and cultural resources.

We are collaborating with the City of Salem staff to engage with a project committee. The committee is helping provide information throughout the project and share engagement opportunities to their networks.

Our team is working with our partners to:

• Compile and map a resource inventory
• Administer organizational and key partner interviews and questionnaires
• Design and facilitate community engagement, committee meetings and a disaster resilience workshop

To assess and identify:

• Heritage and cultural resource risk profile
• Resource vulnerabilities
• Partner priorities
• Community importance
• Strategies to build resilience

And produce:

• A community disaster resilience plan for heritage resources in Salem
• Technical assistance to organizations interested in an organizational level plan