We are excited to announce the launch of Rural Roots Rising, a monthly podcast created by and for rural Oregonians who are creatively and courageously building stronger and more vibrant communities for a just democracy! ROP has been hard at work interviewing organizers across the state who are building rural people’s power for human dignity and social justice! You can listen to our first episode, Anyone Can be an Organizer, on community radio stations across rural and urban Oregon and online at ruralrootsrising.org. Rural Roots Rising can also be found on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn/Alexa, and Google Podcasts!
Grounded in a core ROP value, Anyone Can Be An Organizer features the stories of three rural Oregonians who began organizing for human dignity in their communities in their spare time because the moment called for something to be done. Brenda Flores with Raíces in Umatilla County, Juan Navarro with Here to Stay in the mid-Willamette Valley, and Monica Pearson with Indivisible North Coast Oregon in Clatsop County each share how they went from just starting out to building rural people power to win crucial victories in Oregon, including defeating anti-immigrant Measure 105 and winning Drivers Licenses for All!
The idea of Rural Roots Rising came out of this year’s Rural Caucus & Strategy Session where organizers and community leaders across Oregon strategized about how to intervene in the erosion of strong, vibrant rural media that reflect the priorities of the entire community. From supporting under-resourced but incredibly resilient community radio stations to building relationships with struggling local newspapers to creating podcasts (which had its own well-attended strategy session and workshop!), human dignity groups from across the state expressed the need to strengthen and support community-based media that speaks to and for rural Oregonians as a core tenet of a healthy democracy. We all know the issues our communities face are complex and interconnected, and the stories that are told about us and our communities are often oversimplified.
Help us reflect the beautiful, creative, difficult, and messy work of advancing human dignity in small town and rural Oregon through Rural Roots Rising!
- Do you know someone who has a great story about building rural people power that we can amplify to inspire other organizers? Send us your ideas, suggestions, and feedback at emma@rop.org!
- Ask your local radio station to air Rural Roots RIsing! Check out the list of community radio stations already playing Rural Roots Rising and please let us know who we should reach out to!
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Share the podcast with your groups, neighbors, email lists, and book club by forwarding this email, sharing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and writing to your local paper. Please help raise our ratings by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts!
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Get involved in the making of future episodes! We are looking for transcriptionists, musicians, translators, graphic designers and more. Email emma@rop.org to volunteer.
