This year’s Rural Caucus & Strategy Session will be on Saturday, June 25th and Sunday, June 26th in Redmond! Register your group by May 1st for the early bird discount!
In 2020, Redmond and Crook County leaders with the Central Oregon Diversity Project partnered to host a Black Lives Matter rally that included a resource drive for people on the Warm Springs Reservation who were enduring, and continue to endure, massive disruptions to safe drinking water. Their partnership led to a regional mutual aid project that shared food with poor and unhoused folks, free showers, vaccine access, mobile veterinary clinics, and more!For 30 years, small-town and rural activists, organizers, and community leaders across Oregon have joined together at the annual Rural Caucus & Strategy Session to set direction and priorities for our rural human dignity movements in the upcoming year. We are thrilled that this year’s Caucus will be hosted in Redmond, a community that has been organizing and taking powerful action for decades, and in particular since George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Redmond organizers have been on the frontlines of defending their communities from the violent far-Right, organizing for the dignity of LGBTQ folks, and winning meaningful improvements in the lives of unhoused community members. Read on for more details about the powerful work being done by Central Oregon leaders, and join us at the Caucus to strategize with these powerful organizers in person!
A coalition between Redmond Collective Action, The Helpers, and the Central Oregon Street Kitchens, made connections with social service providers, faith communities, and city leaders to build a bridge between the work of meeting the immediate needs of community members in crisis and creating permanent structural changes to support their communities for the long-haul. Because of their organizing, Redmond has stopped the cruel practice of police sweeps where law enforcement kicks unhoused people out of their tents and throws away their belongings. Some of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act money was put toward a tiny house village. Shepherd’s House, a local service agency, has permanently adopted The Helpers’ shower truck program and is expanding the local emergency warming and cooling shelter into a permanent year-round resource center where people can access support to get into housing, sign up for food assistance, apply for jobs, and more. In recent months, The Helpers have shifted their focus toward addressing the root causes of food insecurity by starting a bison ranch that will connect Native people with the traditional first food of bison meat.
Is your rural community or small town doing similar work of building up mutual aid projects or pushing service agencies, the city, or the county to create safety nets and local solutions to economic inequity? Are you hungry to get started? Come share your experiences and strategize with the folks doing powerful work in Central Oregon and across the state! Join us in Redmond on June 25th and 26th! Register here to reserve your seats before May 1st and receive the early bird discount!
Main Event: Rural Caucus & Strategy Session (Saturday, June 25th, 9am-5:30pm): ROP’s annual Rural Caucus & Strategy Session will bring together leaders from across Oregon to share stories and skills, build relationships and analysis, and advance plans to strengthen the movement for democracy and justice in rural and small-town Oregon.
Join us Saturday evening for dinner, live music, and great company celebrate ROP’s 30th birthday!
Rural Organizing Intensive (Sunday, June 26th, 9:30am-1pm): Want to become a better organizer? Hungry to develop new skills and add to your organizer toolbox? Join us for a half-day training for leaders and organizers of all experience levels!
ROP is committed to making participation in the Rural Caucus & Strategy Session as accessible as possible. We will provide on-site childcare, interpretation, scholarships, carpool coordination and transportation support, and community housing for rural leaders who need it – please name it on the registration form. For more details and information on our vaccination, masking, and COVID-19 test requirements, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. Fill out the registration form and we will follow up to ensure your group has the support y’all need to fully participate!
Can we count on seeing you there? Register here or email us at emma@rop.org and let us know!