After 10 years of service to the River Road Community Organization, Clare Strawn has stepped down from the RRCO Board — leaving behind a stronger, more connected, and more community-centered organization.
Her sense of community started early. She grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio, a small town where she experienced the power of neighbors coming together and building connections. Through her later community work in Denver and the Bay Area, and her studies in community education, urban studies, and social science research methods, she continued exploring how people create strong, connected communities.
That path eventually led her to Eugene, where she brought years of experience in education, research, publishing, and community organizing. When she moved to River Road, serendipity helped her quickly find the connections she was looking for through Dharmalaya. “I’ve always been outward looking towards community,” Clare said. “My sense of community is really central for me.”
That same commitment soon led her to RRCO during the early neighborhood planning efforts, when residents were gathering in living rooms and listening sessions to talk about the future of River Road. She credits longtime neighborhood leader Carlene Riley, who passed away last year, as an early mentor.
For Clare, neighborhood organizations matter because they work at a scale where people can see the results of their efforts. “People can make a difference at the neighborhood scale,” she said. “The quality of life is really dependent on people’s engagement and sense of ownership.”
During her years with RRCO, she helped cultivate a culture based on teamwork, shared responsibility, and collaboration. Rather than seeing leadership as top-down, Clare describes herself as a “social sculptor” — finding ways to weave together different interests, ideas, issues, personalities, and energy into “a living thing.”
One of her proudest contributions is the River Celebration. The idea grew out of the isolation of COVID, when the river path became one of the few places neighbors could safely see and connect with one another. Clare envisioned the event as a way to bring people back together around one of River Road’s greatest shared treasures — the Willamette River. It has since grown into RRCO’s signature community event.
She also helped sustain and shape the RRCO newsletter, drawing on her earlier experience in printing and publishing. Her love of publishing grew from the experience of working with a team of people to create something together — a value she carried into RRCO. She sees communication integral to community-building.
For people who care about our River Road community but are unsure how to get involved, Clare’s advice is simple: start small. Attend an RRCO event, volunteer for an hour, join a work party, or just introduce yourself to a neighbor.
“People think you have to have some special ability or skill,” she said. “You learn by doing.”
Although she is stepping down from the board, she is not stepping away from community work. She remains involved with Regenerate Cascadia’s South Willamette Valley team, focused on regenerative systems, local economies, education, and community resilience, and she plans to continue supporting the RRCO newsletter.
Clare’s legacy in RRCO is not only a list of projects. It is also a way of thinking about neighborhood life: that community is built through practice, neighborhoods are the frontline of democracy, neighbors can work across differences, and ordinary people, learning as they go, can shape the place they live.
Thank you, Clare, for 10 years of leadership, creativity, and care for River Road!