Overview:
South Wasco County, Oregon, located in the state’s north central border, experienced significant economic decline in the 1980s driven largely by the loss of timber industry. This was followed by closure of schools and consolidation of students from school districts and an out-migration of residents that disrupted economic stability, community health, and quality of life. Working together the regional Cooperative Extension professional, an NGO Coordinating Stakeholder from the South Wasco Alliance and University of Virginia researchers are evaluating methods to construct economic mobility models and adjust the approach for application in a rural environment. To do this, they are discovering, inventorying, profiling, and documenting the data sources and their fitness-for-use, to inform barriers to economic mobility. These include indicators focused on local and regional food systems, tourism, and light manufacturing. The outputs will be creation of economic mobility datasets presented in an interactive dashboard to support local decision-making.
Teaser Video:
Research Project Webpage:
Click here for more details about the project including findings, data, and methods.
Fellows:
Mary Solomon
Bowling Green State University, Mathematics and Statistics
Interns:
Joanna Schroeder
William and Mary, Government
Owen Hart
University of California Berkeley, Economics and Data Science
Mentors:
Aaron Schroeder
Research Associate Professor, Biocomplexity Institute, University of Virginia
Alyssa Mikytuck
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Biocomplexity Institute, University of Virginia
Eric Oh
Research Assistant Professor, Biocomplexity Institute, University of Virginia
Stakeholder:
Kathleen Willis
South Wasco Alliance