ROP Member Groups

We are planning a garden at the ROP house, 33421 SW Maple in Scappoose,  across from the Middle School. We hope that a community-tended garden  of ornamentals, fruit bearing plants, and raised vegetable beds will be a great way to inspire adults, children, and creatures, and demonstrate the values of cooperation.  Please consider donating materials to this project.

Progressive rural Oregon has stepped up with bold responses to recent challenges to community peace and unity, but now more than ever we count on the ROP network throughout the state of Oregon to maintain vigilance and open lines of communication.  Let’s send a message to hate groups and perpetrators of hate crimes that says, “Not in our Town, not in our STATE!”

ROP board member and member of Concerned Citizens of Coquille Mary Geddry has been working for years to get to this point. Her visionary wind power project that would create jobs, energy independence, and revenue for coastal Coos County and local town school districts, is being considered for funding in Washington D.C. this week.

Seaside, Oregon -- Two gay men survived a serious beating after their 4 attackers shouted homophobic slurs at them and left them unconscious on the beach.  The attackers have not been found yet, but police have confirmed that they will prosecute this as a hate crime. 

Already the human dignity community in Clatsop County is organizing to send a strong, united, and timely response to condemn the attack and affirm that Seaside, Clatsop County, and the Oregon Coast affirm the human dignity of all people. 

Are you hungry for peace?  Craving a better deal for Oregon's working families and immigrants?  Or thirsting for the chance to tell your elected representative what your rural community really needs?  ROP's 2009 Rural Caucus & Strategy Session has something for everyone - no matter what your taste and passion!  Scroll down for a full menu of this year's delicious and inspirational options.

Last week, a group of Latino residents of Columbia County formalized their status as ROP’s newest member group. Latinos Unidos para un Futuro Mejor (LUFM, or Latinos United for a Better Future) was formed, complete with a nine-person leadership team and big ambitions for their first public action (contact ROP to find out how to support).

LUFM identified three central messages and goals for their first action:

1. Show that we are honest, working people, that we are struggling, organizing, and that we are united.
2. Show that we are the same: human beings, and that we deserve to be treated with dignity.
3. Make change, and be recognized throughout the state of Oregon.

In The Real Oregon, a four-minute video about Umatilla-Morrow Alternatives, ROP board member Frank Roa describes why he founded this Eastern Oregon group that develops leaders and works to end discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, or HIV status.

Read ROP's 2008 Letter to Members and our 2008 Annual Report.

December 2008

Dear Friends and Supporters,

The year 2008 has been full of hope, excitement, and change. But as our new president said on November 4th, “This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.”

“You” are the 62 human dignity groups and over 7400 households who make up the Rural Organizing Project. Throughout the past decade, even as our civil liberties have eroded you have stood your ground for democracy and human rights. 2008 was no exception. Now is the time of year where we ask you to match your brave work with your dollars by paying your individual dues to belong to our shared organization.