Transforming Rural Communities: The Grace Gulick Community Track in Halfway, Oregon

In rural Oregon, a track is never just a track. At the heart of the proposed Grace Gulick Community Track in Halfway, Oregon, lies a much larger vision. This vision combines health, education, economic vitality, recreation, and community infrastructure into a single catalytic project. It has the potential to transform an entire region.

This is where IncubatorU and Move Oregon come together.

The Grace Gulick Community Track serves as a model for how rural communities can evolve. By maximizing local assets, activating community participation, and building infrastructure designed not just for today, but for generations to come, we can create lasting change.

A Legacy of Legendary Eastern Oregon Runners

Eastern Oregon has produced some of the toughest and most resilient athletes in the country. The region’s vast landscapes, mountain terrain, agricultural roots, and deep culture of perseverance have shaped generations of runners. They understand endurance not only as sport but as a way of life.

Communities like Halfway have long embraced athletics as a gathering point. Schools, families, ranchers, teachers, and local businesses come together. Yet many rural communities lack modern infrastructure. This prevents youth athletes and residents from fully realizing their potential.

The Grace Gulick Community Track seeks to honor that legacy while creating new opportunities for the future. This is not simply about lanes and rubber surfaces. It is about creating a place where the next generation of Eastern Oregon athletes can train, compete, gather, and grow close to home.

More Than Athletics: A Community Platform

The vision for the Grace Gulick Community Track extends far beyond school sports. The track is designed as a year-round community asset that supports:

• Student athletics and physical education

• Community walking and wellness programs

• Youth development initiatives

• Regional track meets and events

• Outdoor recreation tourism

• Multigenerational engagement

• Emergency gathering and resilience infrastructure

• Economic activity for local businesses

  
  

For Pine Eagle School District, the project creates a safer and more functional athletic environment. It helps strengthen community identity and pride.

For the broader community, it becomes a civic commons — a place where movement, health, and connection intersect.

The Rural Infrastructure Challenge Facing Oregon

The challenges facing Halfway are not unique. Across rural Oregon, communities struggle to sustain schools, healthcare systems, senior services, and local economies. The infrastructure needed to support modern families and workers simply does not exist.

In places like Fossil, Oregon, senior living facilities face occupancy challenges. This isn't due to a lack of demand, but because healthcare workers and caregivers cannot find attainable housing nearby.

Rural hospitals, schools, and service organizations compete for a shrinking workforce. They lack the housing and community amenities needed to attract younger families.

Yet, paradoxically, these same communities possess many qualities younger generations seek:

• Access to nature

• Safer environments

• Strong community connections

• Slower pace of life

• Outdoor recreation

• Family-centered culture

  
  

In Halfway, that reality is already visible.

During community conversations, several young families shared why they chose to relocate to the area. Two families, each raising nine children, described how they homeschool while still participating in activities through the school and broader community. They were drawn to Halfway because of its natural beauty, outdoor access, safety, and strong family-centered environment.

These stories reinforce an important point: Rural Oregon does not lack desirability. It lacks the infrastructure systems needed to support sustainable growth.

That is why projects like the Grace Gulick Community Track matter far beyond athletics. They create anchors for broader community investment.

IncubatorU: Innovation From the Ground Up

The Grace Gulick Community Track embodies the principles behind IncubatorU’s methodology of organizational evolution and community transformation. Rather than waiting for outside solutions, IncubatorU focuses on identifying and activating the resources already present within communities.

The methodology centers on five key steps:

1. Imagine

2. Identify

3. Initiate

4. Implement

5. Integrate

   
   

In Halfway, those resources already exist:

• Community pride

• School-owned land

• Local leadership

• Outdoor recreation assets

• Volunteers

• Regional history

• Youth potential

• Natural landscapes

• Partnerships

  
  

The challenge is not whether the community has assets. The challenge is integrating them into a unified vision capable of creating sustainable long-term impact. The Grace Gulick project becomes a platform that connects these assets into something transformational.

Move Oregon: Connecting Movement to Rural Vitality

Move Oregon was created to inspire healthier communities through movement, recreation, exploration, and connection to Oregon’s landscapes.

The Grace Gulick Community Track aligns directly with that mission. In many rural communities, aging populations and declining youth retention create long-term challenges for economic vitality and public health. Communities that once relied heavily on natural resource economies must now diversify opportunities to remain resilient.

Movement-based infrastructure plays a critical role in that future. The track can serve as a hub for:

• Community fitness initiatives

• Walking clubs

• Youth camps

• Cross-country and trail events

• Cycling and recreation partnerships

• Outdoor education

• Regional tourism experiences

  
  

By connecting movement to place, the project helps position Halfway as a destination community rather than simply a pass-through community.

Building Sustainable Infrastructure for the Future

One of the most important aspects of the Grace Gulick vision is that the track is only the beginning. The project creates a foundation for broader infrastructure development tied to long-term community sustainability.

Potential future components include:

• Teacher and workforce housing

• Recreation and wellness programming

• Event hosting capabilities

• Community gathering spaces

• Outdoor education partnerships

• Trail and recreation connectivity

• Intergenerational programming

• Tourism and economic development initiatives

  
  

Rural schools across Oregon face increasing difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers due to housing shortages and limited community amenities. Projects like Grace Gulick help address those realities. They create the kind of vibrant, connected, and healthy community environment that attracts families, educators, healthcare workers, and future investment.

A Rural Model for Oregon

What is happening in Halfway has implications far beyond one town. The Grace Gulick Community Track represents a replicable rural development model. Here, athletics, wellness, education, recreation, and economic development are no longer viewed separately. Instead, they become interconnected systems that strengthen one another.

This is the future of rural community development:

• Infrastructure with multiple uses

• Community-led innovation

• Health-centered planning

• Outdoor recreation economies

• Intergenerational engagement

• Strategic partnerships

• Local ownership of transformation

  
  

IncubatorU and Move Oregon are helping demonstrate that innovation does not only emerge from large cities or major institutions.

It can emerge from small towns, school districts, volunteers, coaches, parents, students, and communities willing to imagine a larger future together.

What can you do? Please support or get involved in this project as we create a model for other communities.

The Grace Gulick Community Track is not simply about running laps. It is about creating momentum for an entire region.

Conclusion: Join the Movement!

Now is the time to act. The Grace Gulick Community Track is a beacon of hope. It symbolizes what is possible when we come together. Together, we can create a vibrant future for our communities. Let’s build a legacy that empowers generations to come!