Sharon Dunham is one of Beaverton’s neighborhood outreach support specialists, helping with neighborhood association committees and local events. (Kaelyn Cassidy/Valley Times) 

(BEAVERTON) — If you’ve lived in or visited Beaverton within the last 30 years, you’ve probably attended an event, a talk or a meeting that Sharon Dunham had a hand in.  Dunham has been giving back to her community for decades, from caring for newborns for over 30 years to having a part to play in an extensive list of community events and gatherings across Beaverton.  She first put down her roots in the growing city in 1992, unaware of the scene of NACs collaborating nearby. Standing for Neighborhood Association Committees, these groups, composed of homeowners, renters, nonprofits, and business owners, meet to discuss city happenings, plan events and create a sense of camaraderie and fellowship among neighbors.

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“When I got here, I didn’t know what a NAC was,” she said. “Now it’s educate, educate, educate. They are not HOAs.”  After joining her NAC — one of the 11 fee-free, city-sanctioned groups that meet regularly and inform city decision-making — in Central Beaverton, she was quickly elevated to co-chair.  “During the pandemic, a lot of people turned inward,” she said. “I want to break down those silos and rekindle that sense of community.”

She, within her NAC, during stints on the planning commission, Beaverton Committee for Community Involvement, Beaverton Arts Commission and now as a neighborhood outreach support specialist for the city, helps bring different pockets of Beaverton together with their neighbors for movies, picnics, garden sales and more.  “We try to meet people where they are at,” she said. “I ask, ‘What do you want to see changed?’ It’s about active listening and figuring out what people want to see and engaging them.”  Now assisting the NACs through her part-time role with the city since January 2022, Dunham is involved in organizing civic projects like tree plantings, street cleanups, dumpster days and, one of her favorites, the emergency preparedness fair.

As a member of Beaverton’s Community Emergency Response Team, Dunham helped bring together three NACs to host education sessions preparing for events like winter weather, being two weeks ready in case of an emergency, and how to pack a go-bag.  But her desire to give didn’t begin once she got involved in city groups. Dunham spent her early years in New York, followed by a stint in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her initial plans upon attending the University of Oregon were to pursue landscape architecture — that is, until she realized she needed to pivot to something more “people-centric.”  “I love being able to connect with people and network,” she said. “When I see a need, I want to connect them with people who can fill that need.”  Fast forward 31 years, when she retired from being a neonatal intensive care unit nurse at Oregon Health & Science University’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and then Providence St. Vincent. The stress of that job led her and a few fellow nurses to create the aptly named NurseBand. Dunham plays guitar alongside a bassist, a fiddler and another guitar player, covering the hits from Brandi Carlile to The Beatles and beyond.  Dunham is also an artist, creating scenes and caricatures via stained glass.  Outside of work, Dunham is on the board of the Village Gallery of Arts, even teaching weekly stained glass classes at the Elsie Stuhr Senior Center, in addition to being on the board of the Washington County Art Alliance.  Her favorite things about Beaverton are the gem that is the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, the parks interspersed throughout the city and the bustling restaurant scene.  Sharon Dunham Community: Beaverton  Why she is a Community Hero: Sharon Dunham has dedicated countless hours to various volunteer groups, working to make Beaverton a more connected community.  Proudly sponsored by: Beaverton Valley Times