From the beginning, ROP has been about connecting people with shared values to take shared action. Geographic distance, COVID, and economic distress are being used to sow divisions in our communities when we could be finding solutions that bring us closer together, not further apart. ROP strives to combat these isolating forces by gathering, finding ways to share our stories (like this exhibit!), and continuing to bring new people into our work, ultimately building a stronger and more powerful movement for change.
“If we can’t find people that care about our message in every county, what the fuck are we doing?” – Marcy Westerling, ROP’s Founder
From “County-by-County Organizing,” Rural Organizing Voices
Saving Our Post Offices
From 2011 to 2013, the US Postal Service (USPS) proposed closing thousands of post offices across the country, including more than 120 post offices and 5 mail processing plants in rural Oregon. The USPS was in a funding crisis after a law was passed by Congress in 2006 that forced the USPS to pre-fund retirement benefits 75 years in advance. This law was meant to damage the postal service so private shipping companies could take over. More than 20 communities held friendly “Occupy Our Post Office” rallies to show how much their post office meant to them during the busiest USPS day of the year: the Monday before Christmas.
Community leaders collected more than 1,600 petition signatures from customers waiting in line to mail Christmas packages, shared gifts of appreciation with postal workers, and encouraged people to share the role their post office plays in their communities. The petitions were delivered to all of Oregon’s congresspeople by delegations of rural postmasters and human dignity group leaders. Oregon Senator Merkley shared some of their testimony on the US Senate floor.
Dozens of rural communities took action and succeeded in keeping their post offices open! In 2022, federal legislation was passed that removed the 75-year pre-funding requirement and opened post offices up to offer services beyond mail.
Organizing to Save Our Local Post Offices Toolkit
To capture some of the initial lessons learned, ROP put together this toolkit, including the story of how Summer Lake successfully stopped their post office’s closure. We then mailed the toolkit to every post office threatened with closure across the state and got connected with even more folks who wanted to keep their post office open.
Organizing to Save Our Local Post Offices Toolkit
To capture some of the initial lessons learned, ROP put together this toolkit, including the story of how Summer Lake successfully stopped their post office’s closure. We then mailed the toolkit to every post office threatened with closure across the state and got connected with even more folks who wanted to keep their post office open.
In 2022, after 11 years of pressure from rural communities across the country, Congress passed a law allowing the US Postal Service to provide services beyond mail!
What services could the post office provide in your community?
Breaking Rural Isolation
In rural communities, finding each other is the key to building a powerful group. For 30 years, human dignity groups have used newsletters to keep people connected between meetings or actions and to find other friends and supporters.
Young Expressions, April 1998
This youth-focused newsletter from 1998 was a way for young people to find other queer youth and supporters at a time when attacks on queer people were happening throughout rural Oregon.
In 2019, ROP began Rural Roots Rising, a monthly radio show and podcast that plays on 20 community radio stations across Oregon. Rural Roots Rising features rural Oregonians taking action for democracy and justice and combats negative stereotypes about rural people.
Here’s an example from Rural Roots Rising of how community radio can work for the good of all our neighbors. This free, accessible service fosters a sense of belonging and the resilience and connection necessary for survival. Arturo Sarmiento from KTUP in Woodburn shares his perspective on the importance of hearing folks on the radio speaking his first language.
From “Community Radio: Tune In, Speak Out,” Rural Roots Rising
Newsletters, radio shows, and this exhibit help rural Oregonians break isolation by sharing stories, announcing opportunities to take action, and responding to local and national headlines.
Developing Young Rural Leaders
In 2018, ROP launched the Rural Organizing Fellowship to help sustain and grow the movement for justice into the future. Each year, the fellowship brings together 10 emerging young leaders from rural and small-town Oregon to foster long-lasting relationships, share struggles and successes from their local community-building work, and develop their community organizing skills.
The first cohort of fellows took on local projects to advance democracy in their home communities.
The second cohort brought fellows together virtually to break isolation and build vital connections in a year when our communities experienced huge changes, including the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, record-breaking wildfires, massive rallies for racial justice, and the 2020 election.
30 Years of the Rural Caucus & Strategy Session
In 1992, the first human dignity groups gathered for the first Rural Caucus & Strategy Session, a statewide gathering that brought together county leaders to discuss the attacks our communities were facing from the Oregon Citizens Alliance. At this first Caucus, groups decided to form a statewide organization to support and connect local organizing in rural communities across the state, and the Rural Organizing Project was born.
Every year since, we have gathered for the annual Rural Caucus & Strategy Session to strategize, break bread, reflect, celebrate, and plan for the year ahead. Each year we give out Human Dignity Awards to honor local organizing victories, and elect human dignity group leaders to ROP’s Board of Directors, which helps shape ROP’s direction throughout the year.
Kathy Paterno reflects on how welcomed she felt at her first caucus, and how empowering it was to connect face-to-face with other human dignity leaders across the state.
From “Kathy Paterno – My First Caucus,” Rural Organizing Voices
ROP in Action!
Are you inspired to find others in your community and connect with leaders around the state? Do you have stories about your community that you want to share?
