Washington County, Oregon (pop. 465,000), wanted to generate more community involvement in its planning process. To achieve this, the county turned a core group of volunteers into the starting point for a much larger effort that grew to include community leaders, the not-for-profit Vision Action Network, the Inter-Religious Action Network, and a bilingual outreach program. More than 1,400 people participated in sharing perspectives on public, private, and nonprofit/faith group approaches to housing, employment and health and other community issues, with ongoing issue teams established to maintain those collaborations.