Working Together: Turning Ideas Into Action

On Saturday, February 7th 23 individuals from around the Portland area gathered at Euphoria Studios to turn ideas into action. In December and January Community Outreach hosted 5 Community Conversations called Working Together through Challenging Times. Out of all the ideas shared at these conversations, 6 themes emerged: Food Sharing, Celebrating Multicultural Community, Sharing Resources, Environmental Sustainability, Good News, and Neighborhood Activities.

Using an Idea Development Plan groups worked together on ideas based on their common interests. They created a blueprint for their project idea including a purpose, vision and first steps.

We share their project ideas as inspiring examples of people working together. If you are interested in any of the projects, please let Community Outreach know and we can connect you directly with the groups.

Food Sharing

Food sharing as a community interest is growing. 4 people focused on increasing access to local food for hungry residents and created a project called, “Neighborhood Food Outreach Model”. The purpose of their project is to create networks of self-sufficiency based around food on a neighborhood level. This could include cultural food nights, garden swapping, or community composting. Each neighborhood’s network would be distinct--based on the community--and may take on a specific location for gathering or be an informal resource. The group's first step is to evaluate personal and neighborhood resources for creating food networks. Eventually they would like to have a model that they could present to neighborhoods throughout the city. To get involved in this group, email info@ourunitedvillages.org.

Celebrating Multicultural Community

Storytelling was on this group's mind as they brainstormed ways to celebrate multicultural community. They desired to create a “tool-kit” to encourage personal and collective storytelling events in order to connect with neighbors and “encourage minority voices to be heard.” “Spicing the Stew: Encouraging Personal Storytelling to Connect Communities” will be a resource that neighborhood associations and organizations can use in their communities. The first step of this group is to begin researching similar projects and to compile additional resources from the community. To get involved with this group email info@ourunitedvillages.org

Neighborhood Activities

Shared activities can bring neighbors together and build community. This group began by creating a plan for hosting a neighborhood craft night where individuals could work on their own projects in a supportive environment. Additional community service projects could be taken on by the group such as “making Christmas stockings for homeless and low-income youth.” “Craft Night” would allow neighbors and friends to socialize while also accomplishing personal goals. The first step of this group is to identify interested friends and neighbors. To get involved with this group email info@ourunitedvillages.org

Sharing Resources

Have you ever had a bad day and needed someone to talk to? This group decided to create a network for emotional support that would link people having a good day with people having a bad day throughout the city. “Neighborability” would be a peer-to-peer support network that is non-judgmental and serves to connect people. Interested individuals could sign up in acknowledgment of their own life experiences to support community. This group hopes that this project will raise the visibility of everyone’s own resources to support each other. Their first step is to find an existing infrastructure to connect with. To get involved with this group email info@ourunitedvillages.org

Environmental Sustainability

“Sustainability, Economy and You” was the project envisioned by this group to bridge the information gap and engage a broader and more diverse audience in issues of sustainability. This group recognized that currently information about sustainability or the economy is not communicated in terms of personal relevance. They want to create an “official comprehensive community resource information sheet”. This would compile existing information in an easy to understand format. Their first step is to research existing resources and decide which ones to include in the information sheet. To get involved with this group email info@ourunitedvillages.org

To read more about these projects, download resource handouts on the various topics or get involved with one of the groups please visit our website.