For this episode, we invite listeners into the realities of rural Oregon, where questions of identity, belonging, and resilience are part of everyday life. In this episode, Kristina Path and Leif Olsen travel to Monmouth to meet Amanda Laister, a longtime high school Spanish teacher, whose classroom reflects the challenges and hopes of a changing community. Through Amanda’s story, we explore the complexities facing students and educators—from shifting demographics to the need for cultural affirmation and safety. Tune in for an honest conversation about the power of listening, community, and the work still ahead.

Show notes & links:

Community Podcasting Microcredential – This 12-credit, graduate-level certification helps you build professional skills in podcasting, interviewing, and audio production to tell meaningful community stories.

Thanks to Leif Olsen for composing the music for the series of Oregon Speaks: Voices from this moment.

Listeners producer Daniel Bloomfield speaks with the Executive Director of the Oregon Humanities about the Trump administration’s recent cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities, and how they’ve impacted the work of the Oregon Humanities. At a time when having respectful and diplomatic conversations is crucial, the cuts have forced Oregon Humanities to cancel many of its programs, including training for conversation facilitators. Adam speaks about the many challenges Oregon Humanities faces, as well as the ways in which he remains hopeful and the unexpected outpouring of community support.

Show notes & links:

• Oregon Humanities – Oregon Humanities is a non-profit organization that fosters understanding and collaboration through public programs, conversations, and storytelling across Oregon. 
• D.O.G.E. – The Department of Government Efficiency is a federal initiative of the Trump administration, which made the decision to cut the funding to the National Endowment for the Humanities by nearly half.
• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) – NEH is an independent federal agency that supports the humanities in every state and U.S. jurisdiction.
• Mellon Foundation Gift to the NEH – The Mellon Foundation’s decision to give $65 million to the NEH in light of the cuts made by the Trump administration.

Community Podcasting Microcredential – This 12-credit, graduate-level certification helps you build professional skills in podcasting, interviewing, and audio production to tell meaningful community stories.

Thanks to Leif Olsen for composing the music for the series of Oregon Speaks: Voices from this moment.

Listeners producer Kaiya Laguardia-Yonamine speaks with Duncan Hwang about the importance of local organizing and turning inward to sustain our communities. In a time where federal cuts, mass political chaos, and daily threats are imposed on marginalized communities, it is more important now than ever to advocate for neighbors and what’s happening immediately around us. Duncan reflects on his experience as the Community Development Director at APANO, as well as his role as an elected official for the Metro Council.

Show notes & links:

• APANO – one of the largest nonprofit organizations serving Asian and Asian American communities in Oregon today. Duncan has worked at APANO since the organization’s origin in 2013.
• APANO Action Fund – a sister organization to APANO that focuses on political advocacy, legislative action, and electing BIPOC and progressive leaders into local office.
• Metro Council – the regional government collaborating between Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties. Metro supervises the waste management systems, some housing developments, and major tourist attractions in the Portland Metro area.

Community Podcasting Microcredential – This 12-credit, graduate-level certification helps you build professional skills in podcasting, interviewing, and audio production to tell meaningful community stories.

Thanks to Leif Olsen for composing the music for the series of Oregon Speaks: Voices from this moment.

In this episode of Mutual Aid, Mutual Love, host Ranya Salvant sits down with partners Cat Parkay and Ryan Stimmel to explore how disaster preparedness and mutual aid shape their relationship to the community, especially in the last 100 Days of the Trump Administration. From the hurricanes to the looming Cascadia earthquake, they share stories of finding each other through chance, growing together in crisis, and building resilience through local networks and grassroots solidarity with threats of federal budget cuts to FEMA programs and trainings. It’s a conversation about the power of community, the importance of showing up for one another, and the ways love itself can be a form of mutual aid.

Show notes & links:

• City’s Federal Disaster Relief Funding Could Be At Risk, Emergency Director Tells City Council
• Dark Angel Medical (the in-person Direct Action Response Training is the one that I did earlier this year)
• Stop The Bleed (they have a free online course and it looks like OHSU hosts a monthly 1hr-long in-person class)
• NOLS Wilderness First Responder
• Portland’s NET and BEECN programs (and CERT info to identify similar training and volunteer opportunities in other communities)
• Cascadia Subduction Zone info for Oregonians, including a guide on how to prepare to “Be 2 Weeks Ready”
• Junior League of Portland (as of last week we celebrated our 115th anniversary AND passed the baton to our first Black president, Pleschette Fontenet)
• National Night Out
• The CyberPony Express – Meshtastic radio project

Local Mutual Aid Groups: 

• Portland Mutual Aid Network
• PDX Free Fridge
• Community Free Store
• The People’s Store(mobile)
• Asset to the Resistance (their site also has a list of other local mutual aid projects)

Community Podcasting Microcredential – This 12-credit, graduate-level certification helps you build professional skills in podcasting, interviewing, and audio production to tell meaningful community stories.

Thanks to Leif Olsen for composing the music for the series of Oregon Speaks: Voices from this moment.