PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwire - March 13, 2013) - Today Meyer Memorial Trust announced a new online resource Oregonians can use to connect with one another and work together for the public good.

"Oregon Unlimited is a 21st century public square," said Meyer Memorial Trust CEO Doug Stamm. "We have created easy-to-use free software Oregonians can use to raise issues, identify needs, exchange information, offer support and resources, connect with one another and work together to improve our neighborhoods, our communities and our state."

Oregon Unlimited is at www.oregonunlimited.org.

While the site was being built, several groups tested the tool on their own projects. The Grant County Fair Board in eastern Oregon implemented the strategic plan it had developed but was stalled because it was too hard for members to meet, as many members lived at least an hour out of town. It continues to use Oregon Unlimited to plan the 2013 fair and other community events at the fairground.

"Oregon Unlimited allowed our Fair Board to engage more thoroughly and more rapidly on its new strategic plan than would have ever been possible otherwise," said Fair Board President Les Zaitz. "Tasks didn't get lost in the shuffle of daily life. We made such tremendous progress on an ambitious plan -- to the point that the operation finished the year in the black for the first time in recent history."

Now Oregon Unlimited will be used to share information and resources among county fairs across the state.

The idea for the platform came to Meyer Memorial Trust when it asked Oregonians for ideas about how to spend $1 million. The foundation selected three ideas from the more than 540 that were submitted and has been developing them over the past two years. Other projects include identifying ways foundations can strategically invest in Oregon's economic development and supporting leadership development in communities of color in the state.

Current projects also include Cannon Beach reaching out to other coastal communities to help with tsunami disaster preparations. Another project seeks help investigating health policy decisions. A number of projects in Benton County are designed to create future leaders and build strong family support networks. A Portland neighborhood is working to put a splash pool in a nearby park. Officials who led flood recovery efforts in Vernonia plan to share their flood recovery blueprint with other communities at risk.

The platform uses software developed by FMYI [for my innovation], a Portland collaboration software firm founded in 2004 that is a certified B corporation. Project strategy and community engagement has been led by Context Partners, a Portland-based firm specializing in community centered design.

"This is an opportunity for nonprofit organizations, businesses, public agencies and individual Oregonians to reach over the artificial fences that have kept them from working together in the past," Stamm said. "We've reached the point where all of us, from all walks of life and all communities, need to directly connect to solve our problems. Together our small acts can have big impact."

A series of gatherings will be held across the state in April, demonstrating the platform and celebrating the contributions of everyday Oregonians to their communities.

"We think this will lead to better informed residents and provide a new level of transparency and accountability," Stamm said. "And that will build trust and show why it's important for all of us to be active participants in civic life."

"If it can be done anywhere, it will happen in Oregon," Stamm said. "We think this is a new digital frontier where Oregonians can blaze a trail for the rest of the country."

Meyer Memorial Trust is the private foundation established from Fred G. Meyer's personal estate. It has awarded nearly $585 million to tax exempt organizations since it began operating in 1982. The foundation has a corpus of approximately $700 million. It is not connected to Fred Meyer Inc.

For more information about Meyer Memorial Trust, see www.mmt.org.

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