Dear ROPnet, Last week we held our third and final session of our fall communications series, On Message, with Meaning, focused on leveling up our communications in time for 2024. Read on for highlights from the session, which focused on managing misinformation and advancing queer inclusion. If you’re hungry for more opportunities for skill-building and strategizing with […]
Read MoreDefending Human Dignity
KTA: Sheriffs Must Follow Sanctuary Law
WHY THIS ACTIVITY? A University of Washington report determined that the majority of Oregon sheriff’s departments have immigration policies that violate the Sanctuary Promise Act (SPA). Rural Oregonians have organized for decades to build safe and welcoming communities for all, and we won a huge victory in 2021 by passing the SPA. The new law expands Oregon’s Sanctuary […]
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Protecting Our Victories for Treatment Over Criminalization
Dear ROPnet, In 2020, human dignity leaders across the state helped pass Measure 110 to establish a statewide drug addiction treatment and recovery program funded by the state’s marijuana tax revenue and to decriminalize possession of certain drugs. Thanks to thousands of conversations with neighbors through phone calls, texts, and community events, Oregonians voted yes […]
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Safety for Palestinians and Israelis
Dear ROPnet, Our hearts have been heavy the past two weeks as images and reports of awful violence in Israel and Palestine flood our screens. In the swirl of reactive messaging and confusing and often conflicting information, we return to what we know: everyone has the right to safety and human dignity. To ROP, a […]
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Oregonians Demand Healthy Watersheds
Dear ROPnet, Rural Oregonians are deeply connected, despite the miles between us. The many human dignity leaders across the state who are organizing campaigns to protect their watersheds feel this deeply, especially when decisions by powerful upstream actors directly affect livelihoods downstream. An article by OPB last month described how federal lawmakers are considering the struggles […]
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Housing Justice in Bend and Cottage Grove
Dear ROPnet, Oregon has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the country, and our state has experienced a huge increase since the start of the pandemic. With hot summer temperatures spiking, not to mention the smoke rolling off wildfires and into communities, having stable housing is more important than ever. Organizers across rural Oregon know […]
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KTA: Democracy Education for All
Background: Kitchen Table Activism (KTA) is a monthly activity by the Rural Organizing Project. The idea is that small actions can lead to powerful collective results when groups of people gather to complete the same action across the state of Oregon. ROP works to keep each KTA easily achievable so that groups with other projects […]
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Summer of Pride
All across the state, we are celebrating Juneteenth and Pride in living rooms, parks, and community art centers. Inclusion of all and equality for all is one of the four core pillars of a thriving democracy. In these times of culture war, public celebrations like these are a key way that organizers are holding space […]
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Native Youth Call for Dam Removal
You may have met the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Youth Leadership Council at the Rural Caucus and Strategy Session, or read about them in last month’s ROPnet about Human Dignity Awards. In today’s ROPnet, we want to share with you the full story of their powerful campaign to remove the four […]
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Congresspeople are Home. Let’s Talk!
WHY THIS ACTIVITY? The August recess is prime time for human dignity group leaders to meet with their members of Congress since they are home in Oregon for the month. Currently, our two Senators have frequent, open, unscripted, in-person town halls. These “real town halls” are quite different from the sterile, “tele-town halls” that representatives […]
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