Dear ROP friends and community,
What has always been true about ROP is that our leadership comes from the ground up. That includes the leaders of our 90+ Human Dignity Groups who are local community members seeking to create change in their communities. That includes our Board of Directors–representatives of Human Dignity Groups from around the state–and all of our ROP Directors over the years, whose leadership has been rooted in their deep connection to the ROP network of local organizers around the state.
With that history guiding us, we are announcing some significant staff transitions at ROP. These transitions will continue the tradition of drawing leadership from within the organization to carry ROP forward as we continue to work hard with and for rural Oregonians.
A Heartfelt Goodbye
Jess Campbell is a vital part of this legacy of ground-up leadership. Today, with our hearts full of gratitude and appreciation, we announce Jess’ transition away from her position as Executive Director at ROP.
Thank you, Jess, for your love for rural Oregon, your belief that our communities can have what we need to thrive, and your years of leadership that brought us closer to that goal.
Jess first came to ROP when organizing a walkout at her high school against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. From the very first day ROP met Jess, it was clear that she demonstrated bold and visionary leadership. Jess joined the Board and served for five years before becoming a staff Organizer.
She then became the Organizing Director, later Co-Director, and then Executive Director.
During Jess’ tenure at ROP, she led powerful organizing campaigns. When rural post offices were threatened, Jess worked with groups and leaders across the state to launch a campaign that saved rural post offices from significant cuts. When militia members set up a roadblock to a mine in Southern Oregon, Jess and local leaders organized a response and ultimately got the militia to stand down. She went on to become a national leader in responding to the expanding militia movement and co-authored “Up in Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement.”
Under Jess’ leadership, ROP has expanded and adapted in important ways, like decentralizing our team so that staff can work from their home communities and opening community organizing centers in Cottage Grove and Hood River. To further uplift our communities and amplify rural voices, Jess helped launch the Rural Organizing Fellowship and the Rural Roots Rising podcast, which was broadcast on community radio stations across Oregon. Jess’ visionary leadership over the last 18 years has shaped the work of ROP in countless ways that will continue to have an impact for years to come. We will forever be grateful for the dedication and leadership Jess has given to ROP!
We will be providing an opportunity to appreciate and celebrate Jess. Stay tuned for more details! In the meantime, we’ll be compiling a book of stories and photos. Will you share a photo, a funny story, or loving words about how Jess has impacted you and your community? You can send them to office@rop.org or PO Box 664, Cottage Grove, OR 97424. You can reach Jess directly at jesscampbellorganizes@gmail.
A Warm Welcome
We are thrilled to welcome Emma and Hannah into new roles as Co-Directors. They will support the incredible ROP team, many of whom have also taken on new leadership roles. We are grateful to have such an experienced staff team to support the broad and deep network of Human Dignity Groups across rural Oregon as we face this time in which democracy is under attack. Emma and Hannah are working alongside local leaders and the rest of the staff team to prepare for a variety of outcomes this November, including political violence. This is a moment when many of us feel afraid, but we are holding tightly to each other and nurturing a seed of hope that is resulting in unprecedented engagement nationally to protect against authoritarianism.
***Emma just got top surgery and won’t be able to reply to email until after he returns at the end of October, but he’s excited to chat when he gets back!
Emma Ronai-Durning
Emma Ronai-Durning has been with ROP for over seven years. Emma brings a creative, fearless, and deeply strategic approach to organizing that responds to the call of the moment. For this reason, you will find him helping launch a new Human Dignity Group one day, leading a session coordinating statewide groups in election scenario response planning the next, and meeting with new supporters to invite them to join us in our work.
Based on his deep relationship with the ROP network, the staff team often looks to Emma for leadership and grounding, making this transition into Co-Director a natural fit. Over his years at ROP, Emma has been the point person for organizers in the majority of counties in the state. He has built deep trust with hundreds of leaders because of the way he shows up with insightful questions and the belief that when we come together, we can face whatever is before us. It’s a belief that has been tested again and again in his time with ROP and always holds true.
Hannah Harrod
Hannah Harrod has played multiple roles at ROP since 2016. She joined ROP to coordinate taking rural Oregonians to Standing Rock, bolstering indigenous resistance to the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline. She was then a staff Organizer for nearly five years. Hannah recently returned to us to support the team while our Director was on parental leave.
From leading programs like ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) Out of Sheridan and the Rural Organizing Fellowship to working with groups to build their leadership team cohesion and supporting a growing ROP staff team in leading innovative work, Hannah brings a strong sense of heart, connection, and vision to ROP that inspires us all to become leaders in our rural movement for justice.
(Re)Introducing the Rest of the ROP Staff Team!
Abelio Carrillo Chales
Abelio Carrillo Chales is the Community Resource Organizer based in the Community Building Center in Cottage Grove. Abelio joined the team in 2021 to coordinate the food pantry that opened at the height of the pandemic and to serve as a Mam translator for the Guatemalan community. Abelio’s ability to form connections and make people feel at ease quickly led to him taking on additional responsibilities at ROP. Alongside translation work, Abelio also leads our program to navigate people into the Oregon Worker Relief Program, creates vital informational videos in the Mam language, and is helping to lead efforts to form a Lane County Accompaniment program to help keep people out of ICE custody.
Cara Shufelt
You may have seen a familiar name pop up again recently at ROP! Cara Shufelt, staff person for 17 years and former Director and Co-Director, has returned to ROP as Special Projects Coordinator. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have her back, especially in this time of transition. Cara has nurtured the leadership of many ROP staff over the years, including our new Co-Directors and other members of this current team, who wouldn’t be the organizers they are today without her support. She’s constantly saying, “I need to go talk to a local leader about this,” and coming back even more grounded. Cara’s enthusiasm and joy in the work are baked into the culture of ROP. Cara’s ability to see the larger strategies and how the many moving pieces of the organization relate to one another helps keep us centered.
Kerri Campbell
Kerri Campbell keeps the ship afloat from Cottage Grove as our Operations Coordinator with over 45 years of experience in Administration and Human Resources. Kerri came into the organization at a key moment of growth, and has seamlessly improved and built our internal systems to make sure everything is humming along and that our policies and structures reflect our external commitments to equity and community care. Kerri’s organizational skills are essential to being able to do the work we do, and her ability to see the big picture alongside the tiny details constantly amazes us.
Martha Verduzco Ortega
Martha Verduzco Ortega is an Organizer and the Director of our new Immigrant Help Center and ROP field office in Hood River in partnership with Hood River Latino Network. Before joining the staff team, Martha brought her natural leadership skills and joyful energy, joining our board in 2017 and serving as board chair until her transition onto staff in 2024. Martha brings an unmatched passion to her work and an incredible ability to make her vision come to life, bringing people in and building up strong leadership around her as she goes. Martha began organizing to get ICE out of the local jail. After three years of dedicated work, they won! Over those years, Martha continued building through the Hood River Latino Network, knowing we needed more than resistance. Martha throws the best parties, building community through events in the Gorge, including LatinoFest, which had 1,000 attendees this summer!
Sam Corti
Sam Corti is our Development Director extraordinaire, also based in Central Oregon. As you can see, ROP has grown! And it takes a lot of financial resources to support that growth. Sam is a natural relationship builder and storyteller, demonstrating the incredible work of the ROP network and the impact of the staff team to our financial supporters and broader community. Sam is constantly claiming her job is easy due to the phenomenal work she gets to represent, but we know that isn’t true! Sam brings years of experience to the table, ensuring ROP is resourced for the work ahead. She also brings warmth and a sense of humor that reminds us to slow down and laugh together, especially in the tougher moments.
Sidra Pierson
Sidra Pierson is a Senior Organizer and Communications Manager based in our Central Oregon Field Office. Sidra joined ROP in 2022 and quickly began forming relationships around the state with new and longtime local leaders. She is an incredibly skilled facilitator and has been instrumental in nurturing existing Human Dignity Groups and fostering new ones, supporting the vibrancy of our network, and helping to bring ROP to a place of connection with member groups in every rural county in the state. Sidra is also a brilliant communicator and serves as a project lead for many of the essential ways that ROP interacts with our network and supporters, as well as statewide and national partners.
Rooting in Our History as We Grow
The heart and soul of ROP’s work is the Human Dignity Groups that make up our rural movements for justice and democracy. That has been true since our formation in 1992 when Marcy Westerling and leaders from the women’s anti-violence movement and the No on 9 campaign traveled the state.
As they went, they helped form over 30 local Human Dignity Groups to respond to the Far Right’s attacks on democracy and civil rights of LGBTQ+ people in a coordinated way across the state. More than 30 years later, we still use this model of local, autonomous groups that strategize together! Those newly formed groups gathered together for the first time at what became our annual Rural Caucus and Strategy Session. They collectively decided to form the Rural Organizing Project, with Marcy as our first Director.
The original Human Dignity Groups knew we needed to build a network that was organized and long-lasting to counter the Far Right’s influence in our small towns. In the decades since ROP was created, threats to democracy have grown to the point that democracy itself is on the ballot this year. But as those threats to democracy have grown, so have we. While our staff team is expanding, that represents only a fraction of the size and strength of ROP. The ROP network has tripled in size in the three decades since our founding, and we have learned so much along the way. ROP has always known that our strength lies in having a broad base of rural organizers with shared values of human dignity for all and a shared vision of a thriving rural Oregon. We are ready to defend and build democracy in every corner of rural Oregon.
We don’t know what is coming next. We do know that ROP was built to face moments like this one and we’ll face it together.
Warmly,
The ROP Board of Directors
