New Oswego County Opportunities Executive Director Speaks to Oswego Rotary Club

OSWEGO – The speaker at the July 14 Oswego Rotary Club meeting was Kevin Dean, executive director of Oswego County Opportunities (OCO) since January of this year. He explained the organization of OCO and emphasized its purpose of fighting poverty in whatever ways the community wants and needs. OCO is one of the top ten employers in the county. In addition to  500-600 employees, it also has over 1,000 volunteers. OCO has more than 50 programs to put its mission of fighting poverty into practice.

Prior to coming to OCO, Dean spent over 2 decades with the U.S. Agency for International Development. During his international career he managed large development and humanitarian programs that address  international conflict, elections integrity, free media, youth empowerment, health care, food security, economic development, governance, education and community resilience.

In addition to explaining how existing programs address current ongoing needs, Dean pointed out issues that need to be addressed. Among these are the need for over 5,000 new childcare spots and for over 10,000 additional housing units in the next ten years.

Dean emphasized the need to address the issue of why people remain in poverty and illustrated how “transformational assistance” can address this issue at a minimum cost. For instance, providing a person with a monthly gasoline card can allow that person to drive to work or to a grocery store can provide security to improve their situation. In other words, that small monetary investment has a multiplier effect.

In conclusion, Dean also challenged all of us to get involved and to advocate for causes important to us. By doing this we can work together to address our own needs and those of our neighbors. This message reflects Rotary’s motto of “service above self.”