Community action plan
The mission of Better Together 98848 is to grow our community holistically and address the following priorities in a way that meets people at their location, at their level, and in their language.
About this plan
Who we are
Better Together 98848 brings together people who live, work, or study in Quincy, George, Sunland Estates, and Crescent Bar — four communities that share a ZIP code, social and government services, and a future. Launched with support from Microsoft Philanthropy and housed at the Columbia Basin Foundation, Better Together set out to do something simple and powerful: listen, then act.
Built on years of listening
This work began in 2018 through a series of Voice of Community conversations. Over the past two years, hundreds of residents participated in additional listening sessions, focus groups, community dinners, and surveys, sharing what they love about where they live, what worries them, and what they want to see change. The 98848 Discovery Report (May 2025), two Community Dinner & Action Planning sessions (March and April 2026), and a community-wide bilingual survey validated and deepened those findings.
How to read this plan
This Action Plan is the result of all of that listening. Each focus area reflects the top priorities called out by people who live, work, study, or play here. The plan is intentionally simple. Rather than a comprehensive master plan, it identifies the most important priorities in each focus area, recognizes the partners integral to making it happen, and marks each priority as Now, Short-term, or Long-term. The Early and Aspirational Wins in each priority are drawn directly from participant feedback and include the actual words, ideas, and hopes that people shared. This plan is meant to be updated as progress is made and community priorities evolve.
Our role
An important note on Better Together 98848’s role in this Action Plan: this organization’s purpose is not to execute every item in this plan. Better Together’s role is to share this plan widely, champion it publicly, and bring together the partners, institutions, and resources needed to make it real. The work belongs to the whole community.
Who this plan is for
This plan is also a tool that belongs to the residents of 98848. For the Better Together leadership team, it provides a shared framework for coordinating across institutions and jurisdictions that too often work in silos. For local governments, it offers acommunity-validated set of priorities that can inform budgets, planning decisions, and policy conversations. For funders, it demonstrates that this community has done the hard work of listening and identifying some of the places where investment will have the greatest impact. This plan is also avehicle for lifting up voices that aren’t always heard in formal planning processes. Every priority traces back to something a real person said in a listening session, at a dinner table, or in a survey. The work now is to make sure that voice is honored by uniting as a community and taking action together.
Healthy youth & families
98848 is one community — across towns, cultures, languages, and generations. Residents of Quincy, George, Sunland, and Crescent Bar feel connected to each other and to what is happening in their region. Leadership reflects the full diversity of who lives here, and every resident has a pathway to get involved.
Partner with local employers, the school district, and businesses to create meaningful work experiences for teens and students beyond seasonal field positions. Build pathways into tech, healthcare, trades, agriculture, and hospitality that give young people reasons to stay — or return — to 98848.
- Educate community on existing jobs,apprenticeships, and career pathways.
- Make programs more visible to students and families across all four communities.
- Educate community on existing jobs, apprenticeships, and career pathways.
- Make programs more visible to students and families across all four communities.
Create or designate accessible, welcoming spaces where youth — especially middle and high schoolers — can gather outside of school hours for athletic and non-athletic activities including arts, music, and leadership development.
- Designate space at the existing Recreation Activity Center, library, churches, or schools for weekly drop-in programs with art, music, or leadership activities.
- Begin planning and design of a skate park.
- Every middle schooler and teen has a place to go and something to do outside of school hours that interests or inspires them.
Create a welcoming space for seniors that encourages people to age in place with dignity, stay connected, and remain active in community life.
- Launch one regular intergenerational event — such as a shared meal or reading with seniors — pairing youth and seniors at an existing community space.
- A fully revitalized senior center with affordable programming, accessible transportation, and regular intergenerational activities that keep seniors connected to community life.
Expand access to mental health services for youth and working families, including counseling, substance use support, and wrap around services. Advocate for care that serves the full community.
- Better promote existing mental health resources, making them visible and accessible to families who don’t know they exist.
- Every family in 98848 — regardless of language or income — can get the mental health and support they need.
Community connection & belonging
98848 is a place where young people thrive and families are supported at every stage — from birth to adulthood. Every child has access to safe spaces, enriching programs, and caring adults, and every family can find the resources they need to stay, grow, and retire here.
Expandand improve communication channels — including physical newsletters, community bulletin boards, Spanish-language outreach, social media, and neighborhood outreach. Ensure elders, new residents, and rural community members are reached.
- Expand the existing community calendar to include even more organizations and reach even more residents across all four communities.
- Educate the community on tools available to help them communicate and connect. Support local community media.
- A shared information infrastructure that makes 98848 feel like one community — where an event in George is known in Quincy, a resource in Crescent Bar reaches Sunland, and no resident is left out because of language, geography, or access to technology.
Build connections across language and culture through shared experiences, inclusive outreach, and intentional relationship-building. Help neighbors better know their neighbors by celebrating what each culture brings and creating spaces where people who don’t currently interact can find common ground.
- Host more neighborhood and community block parties.
- Add more multicultural and multilingual elements to existing community celebrations and events.
- More people have a feeling of belonging in Quincy and regularly work, celebrate, and problem-solve together.
Ensure that agricultural land use, farming heritage, and the workers who sustain this industry remain central to how 98848 grows and develops. Agriculture is not just an economic sector — it is the identity and soul of this region. Growth should strengthen, not erase, what makes this place distinctive.
- Host a joint conversation between local agricultural employers and data center leaders to begin building a formal tech-agriculture partnership and shared advocacy agenda.
- Agricultural identity formally embedded in all regional economic development plans — with protections for farmland, support for farmers, and recognition of agricultural workers as essential community members.
Ensure that the people making decisions about 98848 represent the full scope of people who live and work here. Actively recruit and support underrepresented voices into leadership roles across civic, nonprofit, and government institutions.
- Institutions and people extend more invitations to spaces where decisions are made and make it easier for residents who have not traditionally been included to find their way in.
- Leadership and decision-making bodies across 98848 that reflect the full demographics of who lives here.
Outdoor recreation & tourism
98848 is recognized as a premier outdoor destination in Central Washington, where visitors spend time, money, and return again. Our community takes pride in a beautiful, well-maintained, and welcoming environment. Residents and visitors alike can access trails, parks, and recreation assets across all four communities.
Create a unified aesthetic vision for the 98848 region — including entrances and gateways, more trees and shade, flowers, banners, and lighting — that makes residents proud and visitors feel welcome. A community that looks cared for signals to everyone who lives and passes through that this place matters.
- West Gateway and 6th Street improvements in Quincy.
- More parks in George with trees.
- A unified, fully implemented aesthetic across all four 98848 communities — with consistent signage, tree canopy, lighting, and wayfinding that makes residents proud and visitors feel welcome.
Plan and build a connected network of walking and biking trails that link neighborhoods within Quincy and eventually connect to George, Crescent Bar, White Trail, Ancient Lakes, and surrounding areas. Prioritize safe sidewalks, well-lit paths, and safer railroad crossings so that residents of all ages can move through their community safely.
- Complete a community trail mapping project identifying existing safe walking and biking routes and gaps, giving residents a resource they can use now while longer-term infrastructure is planned and funded.
- A connected, paved multi-use trail network linking Quincy, George, Crescent Bar, Ancient Lakes, and White Trail — with safe sidewalks, well-lit paths, and railroad crossings that make getting around on foot or by bike safe for everyone.
Make it easy for visitors to discover what 98848 has to offer and capture more visitor spending locally.
- Work with the Gorge and local hotels to highlight restaurants, stores, and recreation so that visitors know what 98848 has to offer when they arrive.
- Additional hotels and lodging and a community shuttle connecting visitors to local destinations — so that 98848 captures more spending locally.
Local business & economy
98848 has a thriving, diverse local economy where agricultural heritage is protected, small businesses can succeed, and residents can afford to live, work, and raise families here. Growth is intentional and inclusive — benefiting longtime residents and newcomers alike.
Bring more dining, retail, and services to 98848 — including food trucks with a central gathering location and shops that keep residents from having to leave town for everyday needs. Make amenities more accessible to all residents, including those on the north side of the railroad tracks.
- Launch, promote and educate residents and visitors on existing local businesses.
- Launch a ‘Shop 98848’ campaign highlighting existing local businesses across Quincy, George, and Crescent Bar.
- A thriving commercial corridor with diverse dining options, food trucks, signage, and retail that keeps residents shopping locally and meets the everyday needs of all four communities.
Provide resources, training, and support for small businesses — with particular attention to new, existing and emerging businesses. Connect residents to workforce training and career pathways that allow people to build a livelihood without leaving 98848.
- Launch and promote a bilingual small business resource fair connecting local entrepreneurs to existing support programs, permitting guidance, and peer networks.
- A thriving small business ecosystem where new, existing and emerging businesses can access capital, training, and mentorship, and where residents find meaningful local careers without leaving the community.
Advocate for housing solutions that allow families, seniors, and working people to stay in the region long-term. Support construction of more affordable units, advocate for zoning reform, and work with regional partners on transit connections between George, Quincy, Sunland, Crescent Bar, and Wenatchee.
- Convene a housing roundtable with local government and regional housing advocates to map current barriers and funding opportunities.
- A regional affordable housing strategy that allows families, seniors, and agricultural workers to live in 98848 long-term — supported by new affordable units, zoning reform, and transit connections between all four communities.
How we will know it's working
Better Together 98848 is committed to closing the loop with the community. The following commitments reflect our intention to be accountable and transparent.
