This year’s Rural Caucus & Strategy Session will be on Saturday, June 1st in Cottage Grove! Mark your calendars and talk to your group about getting registered in time for the early bird discount!
For over 27 years, small town and rural organizers and community leaders from across Oregon have come together annually at the Rural Caucus & Strategy Session to set the direction and priorities for our rural human dignity movements in the upcoming year. Join us to share stories about what your community has been working on, connect with groups and community leaders from other parts of the state, and plan together for the year ahead!
We are thrilled to be hosted in Cottage Grove, a community that has been at the core of the Rural Organizing Project since our founding in 1992. Cottage Grove has been on the frontlines for decades, fighting for dignity for LGBTQ folks, immigrants and others in the community, and most recently, jumping into action when a knife shop owned and operated by neo-Nazis opened on Main Street last year.
When Cottage Grove leaders heard that white nationalists were moving onto their Main Street, they formed Cottage Grove Community United and immediately got to work posting “Cottage Grove United for a Safe and Welcoming Community” and “Cottage Grove United Against Hate” signs in downtown businesses, sharing research and analysis in public meetings and with community and church groups, holding packed public events centered around building hate-free communities, engaging teachers and the schools, leading a workshop series on racism and white supremacy for community leaders, and more. After almost a year of constant pressure, the white supremacist knife shop is closing down! We cannot wait to celebrate this organizing victory at the Caucus with the community of Cottage Grove! You can bet there will be strategy sessions dedicated to the longer-term work that must be done to ensure our communities aren’t seen as easy recruitment centers for white nationalist movements.
Represent your county and your group at the Rural Caucus & Strategy Session! Talk with your friends, family, and human dignity group members to decide on the team of 3-5 people who will represent your group at the Caucus. Register here to reserve your seats before May 1st and receive the early bird discount!
ROP is committed to making participation in the Rural Caucus & Strategy Session as accessible as possible and we will provide free on-site childcare, food and interpretation, as well as scholarships, carpool arrangements, and community housing. 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 caucus@rop.org and let us know!