The Office of Community Services is a multipurpose community development program supported by Fort Lewis College and by grants and cost-share partnerships with federal, state and local governments, and communities and citizens. We involve community members in diverse local efforts to sustain the region's social, economic and ecological well-being and quality of life.

OCS programs are founded on social, cultural and economic inclusiveness, participatory democracy, community ownership, and capacity building. OCS encourages creative public- and community-sector entrepreneurship that is responsive to new social needs, strengthens human communities, and increases landscape stewardship within the cultural, historic and ethnic traditions of the Southwest.

OCS facilitates community planning and development, gathers local and regional social and economic information, and helps communities and local governments establish needed projects in human services, land-use planning, historic preservation, and public policy. We produce products, such as plans, case studies, reports, surveys, assessments, and we secure grants for communities and non-profit organizations in our efforts to assist multiple interests in reaching civic-oriented goals of economic, social, and ecological well-being.

Since 1978, when it was established with a W. K. Kellogg Foundation grant, OCS has continually diversified and increased its program activities. Since 1984, OCS has partnered with the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to provide a regional community-development, technical-assistance program to the state's five most southwestern counties. During recent years, we have facilitated and assisted in a number of large-scale regional projects, notably the Colorado Department of Transportation-ISTEA-funded Regional Transportation Plan and the Region 9 Overall Economic Development Plan.

For much of the 1990s, OCS has become increasingly involved in coordinating or assisting several multi-partner community and ecosystem initiatives in the Four Corners region. Since 1993, we have partnered with the San Juan National Forest to increase community stewardship of public land. Our involvement in initiatives to coordinate, research, and inform others about community-based forest restoration and collaboration has achieved national attention for innovation and leadership.

Initiatives that we have played major roles in include:

• Ponderosa Pine Forest Partnership
• Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership
• San Juan National Forest Community Study Groups

Our partners include:

• The San Juan Public Lands Center
• The USDA Forest Service
• Bureau of Land Management
• The National Park Service
• The Environmental Protection Agency
• Operation Healthy Communities
• Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners
• Numerous town governments in southwest Colorado