Connecting Organizers of Community Conversations for Connecting and Planning

Notes – Jan 2, 2009 – Connecting Organizers of Community Conversations for Connecting and Planning (event on Sunday, 1/11/09 in Portland info below.)

Jas: hosted community conversation. Had five areas: housing, shelter, food, finances, health, well being. conversation at Awakenings the week before thanksgiving. Reports came out of it – resource sharing website created by brian and a sense of regular gatherings coming together from abundance and sharing and helping each other: Art, healing, nurturing touch, food share, clothing share, networking needs board and a time for council to discuss what’s up for each of us. Event sponsored by several non-profits.
Also, as individual, been involved with community activism for decades, political management… neighborhood activist, chair of Multnomah county citizen involvement, etc. also a web designer and made neighborhood networking site. Wants to take that model and develop it for everyone. Urbanvillages.net

Sharon: new to this group. Working on the Vision into Action coalition – cross between city and community. Got 17,000 people engaged in sharing their vision. Now the coalition is a group of individuals and organizations working to move forward to that vision. Hybrid of city and community – interesting position. We need the City but it can’t be only the City. The three values from the community: community, equity and sustainability. The coalition is made of two full time staff people in the bureau of planning, a steering committee of 20 volunteers, a coalition of ? organizations. Event in early December had 150 people.

Rebecca: with Theodor, part of A Circle Group collective, offshoot of eco-psychology conference at Lewis and Clark last year. ACG interested in relationship building and social change, supporting activism. Everyone in group one foot in social work, counseling, therapy and another foot in community organizing. Interested in what helps groups thrive and what creates conflict – facilitate a process where orgs don’t get stuck. In the recent econ crisis, sent some emails asking how people are responding in an emotional way… this led to a community conversation at people’s coop with 100 people there. The energy in the room was very positive, hungry for community. People wanted more so we held another at st. francis church. 50-60 people showed up. Third one coming in late jan. people interested in relationship building and also training themselves to organized their own neighborhoods, communities, scenes. Social skills and information. Strong demand and hope.

Jeremy: CNRG co-chair and Portland Peak Oil – Peak Oil task force. Also permaculture designer. In his own house got all fruit needs last summer. Emergency response and sustainability has connections … going to expo gun shows and talking sustainabiliut

Albert: most recently thinking about Portland 3000. Part of sacred circle dance community. Rabble rouser. Started Freecycle Portland. Interested in helping catalyze this movement, transitioning from this society to one that shops less, makes less stuff. Transitioned own life out of consumption years ago and can support others now. Writes a lot on it.

Brian: working with Jas. Two things: food project, organizing local communities to grow more of their own food. Really interested in what others are doing. Looking at one block in a neigborhood and helping organize that block to grow more food. Help with seeds, worm bins, etc… share. Second: ran in southern Oregon 30 years ago—sharing network. People come together with different skills and share – no tracking and no accounting. Got 80 professionals to join in two weeks. Incredible response. Good way to spread people with high needs and low skills with this kind of economy. Plugged into a network of high producers, loosens the charitable act idea and more into co-supportive system. Will post to community support network: supportpdx.com . sections for food, shelter, health care, etc. social networking site. Post resources. Make requests.

Edie: economic downturn good for people consuming less stuff!

Howard: working as a writer at Ecotrust for 9 years. Touched on a lot of all the activities at Ecotrust – systems level type projects. Recent project: writing and editing an online journal called People and Place. Interested in what about what’s going on is replicable elsewhere, worth spreading. Upcoming issue of People and Place on that topic. Looking for writers. peopleandplace.net

Melora: work with ReCode – city and state level to change building codes to legalize sustainability and remove barriers to sus dev. More community networks so that the community can inform the city on what they want. Talked with Judith on facilitation training, getting those skills out to as man people as possible. Build basic foundation of communications. Personally into urban agriculture. People have fear because they don’t know where their food comes from, basic processes.

Jenny: here as a Cross-Pollinator. Spent the last two years listening and meeting with groups and people working on all types of grassroots social change, seeing redundancy… so many similar ideas and challenges but we don’t connect, link, talk, share, listen. Finding creative ways to do this. Through working at Southeast Uplift, City Repair and TLC Farm, connected with so many groups and now seeing network level patterns and opportunities. Also, was out of the country during election and economic collapse – missed it all! And was in Zimbabwe witnessing FULL systems collapse. Perspective.

Judith: at ONI – Effective Engagement Solutions. Try to come up with ways to systematically address places of conflict, engage civically for higher good focused on chronic issues between developers a land use chairs. Sene f what people don’t want to change. Restorative listening project, restorative justice principles looking at racism in NE Portland. Interested in what is it that makes us decide that you are the other and worth more or less than me, please to continue to perpetuate oppression. We have a lot more common in our interests and needs than separate but live in boxes. Project: six conversations on change with the neighborhood coalitions. Talk about what change means to all of us and our picture of the world. E example: historic preservation proponent talking about outer southeast small houses, unpaved – not “livable” like mount tabor houses but much more sustainable. Invite people to become critical thinkers and curious. Have us determine what govt does. Usually public involvement means that the ask each person or group what’s important but not prioritize together. Also interested in progressive fringe thinkers and groups to connect into city system so that they can shape policy more. Example: in black community the idea of consuming less hits a cultural issue about people having less historically. Talking with Melora about creative a network of facilitators. Was a mediator/facilitator or 20 years and good facilitation skills are undervalued – can make a really big difference.

Kate: works with Our United Villages.—local non-profit on N. Mississippi. Community outreach is three people – convene, consult and catalyze community building. Historically worked with one neighborhood at a time . now working with individuals. Hosting dialogues on improving race relations in Portland (all dialogues chosen by community). Second one tools for community building. Now in series called working together though challenging times – had two and next one is Jan. 10. Two more scheduled in southeast in diverse areas. Workshop on feb. 7. We do our work in ways that honor that some people want to get together to talk and others are project, action oriented… separate opportunities. Consulting: we are available to any individual or non-profit – we listen and see if there’s any way we can help. Maybe it looks like we give them a survey hat we’ve created or lessons learned or linking people together… any way to help. Free service.
Judith adds: OUV is funded through the ReBuilding center. RBC created so that the community work had a funding source that’s not outside. Social enterprise model.

Kerry: worked for 35 years with battered women and abused children. Concluded that without hands on mentoring and walking people through a process where people gain ownership in the things they want to change, they can’t change. They need to rewire themselves – give away ownership. Decided that watching people cycle in and out of the system is not rewarding and there has got to be another way. To be successful it must be open ended, not exclude. Poverty and violence will get worse unless people feel safe. Sharing food with community means less likely to steal it. There are so many languages that people use. Somewhere on the way we decided that we don’t have enough. Working with Judith on Restorative listening Project. Homelessness huge issue. Was at the homelessness protest at City hall. Saw Commissioner Leonard talking to someone who said “I have one question: if there was a natural disaster, what is the plan to take care of all you rich people? That would be a great solution for the immediate need.” It’s al one big system. We are all connected. If we don’t all succeed we all fail. If we can’t go to the gun show, then we lose a huge part of the population.

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Our first Abundance Gathering (aka Hope Gathering) is coming up THIS
Sunday and we’d love for you to be there to help co-create this
community support event.  The two main initiators of this event (Jas
and Brian) have recently been manifesting Nirvana last weekend, but we
are looking forward to next weekend now and would love your help!

We have amazing people in our community who can help facilitate each
of the following areas. We are all artists, healers, facilitators and
networks.  Any one of us can help create the areas below.  Please
volunteer if you feel inspired to help create any of the following!

Food (and clothing) exchange / potlatch area

Networking Board area (should have paper and pens and a way for people
to post and respond to needs)

Healing and nurturing connections area (can anyone help haul mats and
blankets from Awakenings)

Art and self-expression area

We also need a facilitator for the Council at 4pm

Please reply to brian @ nanotech-now.com

Thanks!

jas

Come share in Abundance and Hope with Food, Art, Healing and Community:

Because when we share, we all have more!

ABUNDANCE of HOPE GATHERING
Sunday, January 11 ~ 1:30 – 6:30 PM
John’s Healing Oasis ~ 537 SE Ash #42

A month ago, we held a Community Conversation at Awakenings where over
50 participants focused on how we can come together as community from
a place of well-being and abundance to face the challenges and changes
ahead. Sacred Circle was one of the sponsors of that gathering, and
the report from that event is included below. A clear desire among
those gathered was to come together periodically to share resources,
our healing gifts, food and community.

Our first Abundance Gathering will be Sunday, 1/11, at John’s
Healing Oasis located at 537 SE Ash #42. Please spread the word!

We will designate separate spaces where we can enjoy food, engage in
art, share our healing gifts, and post requests and responses on a
networking board. There will also be a Potlatch Table where you can
leave food and clothing for others to take.

At 4pm, those who wish are invited to sit in Council together to
explore how we (individually and as community) deal with the huge
changes our society faces as we seek to live in greater harmony with
our fellow human beings and the planet.

Bring food, your artistic talent, your healing gifts, and an open mind.

If you have any questions, please call or email Jas or Brian.

See you next Sunday!

Also check out the new support website: https://www.communitysupportnetworkpdx.com (no longer active – 1.7.13

Contact Info:
Jas: jimjas at gmail.com / 503-544-3838
Brian: brian at nanotech-now.com / 541-840-8155