[Bethie42]

There is a nice little group of 4-5 teams in the Corvallis/Albany area in the Willamette Valley. Oregon State U and surrounding tech industry has had a lot to do with that. FIRST Force is a coalition of those local teams: mentors work together on fundraising, planning off-season events and so on.

Recently we've had quite a few teams starting in the southern and eastern parts of the state, but the highest concentration is still in Portland and the rest of Western Oregon.

The Autodesk Oregon Regional, so I've heard from people who've attended other regionals, is very well run. It's usually a pretty level playing field in my opinion, in that while there are very consistently strong teams, there is a lot of room for teams to advance quickly and everyone has a shot at success.

Team 1540, the Flaming Chickens, is a Chairman's-winning team that does a lot of outreach to new teams: every year they host FIRSTFare, a day-long workshop geared to rookie teams but with lots of helpful workshops for veteran teams as well [fundraising, public relations, mechanical and software]. That happens every October and should be well publicized on the oregonfirst website.

Oregon recently passed legislation to fund FRC teams located at public high schools, to the tune of several $k I believe. I'm not sure of the details [if it was a one-time event or not] but it would be worth looking into.

Oregon's Regional Director Deb Mumm-Hill is a great contact if you are looking for more info.