Rural Organizing Project

ROP is bringing Suzanne Pharr to Oregon in February to facilitate a series of small group conversations with ROP leaders and membership.  Each conversation with Suzanne will address some variation on an overarching theme: Given our current moment in time, how do we move forward to survive these hard times and organize for our next phase? What has changed over the last few years? How do the global economic and climate crises shift what we do and how we do it?

Here's the quick rundown of the Conversations. Just being in the room with Suzanne is inspiring, invigorating and intellectually stimulating so consider if you would like be a part of one of these conversations:

    Thursday 2/11 3:30-5:30pm, Woodburn: Civic Engagement
    Friday 2/12 1-3pm, Portland: Democratic Economy
    Saturday 2/13 10am-12pm, Newberg: Cross Race/ Latino Organizing
    Saturday 2/13 2-4pm, McMinnville: Survival Economics/ Service & Organizing
    Sunday 2/14 11am-1pm, Scappoose: ROP Vision with Current & Longtime Leadership

We would love to have you join us.  Please RSVP to cara@rop.org or 503-543-8417.  Space is limited so once we reach capacity we will have to turn people away. A confirmation message will be sent to you with locations and directions upon RSVP.

For more information about Suzanne and each conversation, read on.

ROP’s Rural Caucus & Strategy Session: Saturday, April 10th in Albany

WHAT IS THE ACTIVITY? On Saturday, April 10th rural and small town leadership from across the state will be gathering for a day of strategizing, networking, and organizing.  ROP’s annual Rural Caucus and Strategy Session will be from 8:30am- 5pm in Albany.  This month's Kitchen Table Activism is to decide who will represent your group and community at this year's Caucus.

This year’s Caucus will focus on Hometown Strategies for a Democratic Economy. We’ll look at strategies that work in rural and small town Oregon that not only address the current needs of our communities, but build a long-term movement for an economy that is people-centered and sustainable. Join your peers from around the state for conversations on topics such as: moving our money, local banking and creating an Oregon state bank; what’s ahead for immigration reform; organizing secure food systems to feed our communities and promote local sustainability; LGBTQ organizing for safer communities; and much more.

Wow, the work that ROPers have done to pass Measures 66 & 67 is more than you can shake a stick at.  You, ROP, and the rest of our human dignity leaders have:

• Hand-distributed ROP's county-specific STAND voter guides in 20 counties!
• Knocked on 1520 doors and called 3225 voters to encourage voters to vote YES!
• Made calls to all 36 counties to encourage a YES vote!
• As part of the Rural Media Center, sent in over 50 letters to the editors of local papers, and had 11 articles and editorials printed!
• Recruited small business owners in 16 counties to come out as a public face in support of 66 & 67!
• Mailed to 12,496 rural voters with ROP's STAND Voter Guide explaining how the ballot measures will affect their community and urging them to vote YES!

Every Spring the members and leaders of the Rural Organizing Project come together from every corner of the state to reflect on our last year and strategize for our next.

This year, the Rural Caucus & Strategy Session will be on Saturday, April 10th in Albany.

Pull out your calendars and circle this date now and be a part of the planning for Hometown Strategies for Democratic Economies!

Let us know whether or not you can be there by clicking here or emailing cara@rop.org.

Democracy in action is a beautiful thing.  Yes it can be loud, rambunctious and annoying; but that is sort of the magic of the system - that it is a spectacle, on both sides.  As the Town Halls circle back to us this month, we see progressives using creative tactics to get their demands heard and Tea Baggers shouting down Congressmen.  All the while ROP is there beside you, helping make sense of this wild democracy. 

Collectively the ROP and it's human dignity member groups accomplished a lot in 2009!  We invite you to take a moment to look back on all we've done and achieved in our shared project to advance justice and democracy in rural Oregon. 

So here are, in no particular order, ROP's Top 9 from 2009.  Take a look.  And give yourself a pat on the back.  This is about us ordinary folk in rural and small town Oregon, coming together to do some quite extraordinary things...

In 2010, ROP's founding director Marcy Westerling will be on leave working as an Open Society Fellow.  The Open Society Fellowship is a prestigious award that supports individuals seeking innovative and unconventional approaches to fundamental open society challenges. Marcy's work in 2010 will be in Nebraska, Colorado, Washington, and Idaho with the mission of "Mapping to Organize for Justice with Rural Communities."

Whether you wanted progressive health care or progress on health care, you are probably disappointed.  It is tempting to blame the tea bagger protestors when, of course, the real challenge to democracy is that we were sold out by parties beholden to corporate lobbyists.  They steered us to a global collapse and stuck around to pick up the choice pieces.  It's enough to make you angry.