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Opportunity Details

TeamWorks: Focus on Income Inequality & Economic Justice (age 18+)

Join a TeamWorks team for a series of interrelated projects, designed to explore a local neighborhood or community issue through the lens of volunteerism. Learn, serve, and connect with others on this team-based commitment to your community!


Economic equity entails equal privilege and opportunity for all individuals to access basic needs, services, skills and assets required to succeed in life. Yet in our rapidly growing city, more families and individuals are failing to meet self-sufficiency standards. Gentrification and a challenging economy are forces impacting equal access, especially for a changing demographic.

This TeamWorks team aims to explore and support economic justice in our community and better understand how insecurity impacts different intersections of race, gender, and age. Through facilitated conversations and volunteer projects, we will delve deep into underlying issues of poverty and inequality, and how we as citizen volunteers can help enact change in our own lives and community.

As we discuss the many faces of income inequality, we will help clean books destined for head-start children with Children's Book Bank, pack food at the Oregon Food Bank, and help get an East County school ready for the new school year at Portland Public School's Community Care Day. We will hear real stories from hardworking community members through the interactive Wage/Work jukebox at the Portland Mercado, and learn more about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the amazing work of CASH Oregon in helping low income families navigate their financial landscape. All of our sessions are designed to help furnish insight into local resources and initiatives, and work on real solutions to economic injustice.


Now is the time to engage in working towards a more equitable future within our community -- join us!

What is TeamWorks? TeamWorks teams consist of approximately 10-12 people, who, like you, are interested in getting to know our region through volunteerism. Led by a Hands On trained volunteer leader, your team will work together on a series of projects (listed below) with opportunities to discuss the impact your service is having on our community. Some projects will be paired with happy hour or a meal to allow your team to continue the conversation (meal/drink expenses are the responsibility of each individual team member).

Signing up for the FIRST session will sign you up for the entire TeamWorks. Commitment to every project in the series is ideal, so please carefully check the schedule below before signing up! If you know in advance you'd have to miss 1-2 of the projects, let us know and you may still be eligible to join the team. Questions can be directed to Melia Tichenor at melia@handsonportland.org.

Team Schedule:

Session 1:
Sunday, August 9th, 5:00-7:30pm
Wage/Working Exhibit at the Portland Mercado & Team Kick-Off
SE Portland

For our kickoff event, we will meet at the Portland Mercado, Portland's first latino public market and economic development project based on Latino cultural heritage, bringing together diverse cultures through entertainment, art, and food. Over a delicious dinner from one of the 8 food carts present (bring your wallet!), we will meet our team, learn more about the Mercado, and hear from documentary media artist Laura Hadden, as she introduces us to the Wage/Working installation currently active at the Mercado.

Wage/Working is a community-based art project by Tennessee Watson and Laura Hadden that uses oral history to address the issue of income inequality and the concept of wage through a time-based audio installation. Over the past few months, stories and audio from local Portland workers have been gathered and edited to a length which corresponds with the amount of time it takes the worker to earn $1. Those who earn the least are given the most time to speak, drawing attention to the contrast between the workers at the both ends of the range and profiling workers across the spectrum.

Session 2:
Wednesday, August 12th, 6:00-8:00pm
Clean Books for Kids at the Children's Book Bank
NE Portland

The book gap: For children in poverty, one of the biggest obstacles to literacy development (which begins at birth) is the scarcity of books in the home. While the ratio of books to children in middle-income neighborhoods is approximately 13 books to 1 child, the ratio in low-income neighborhoods is a mere 1 book to 300 children. The Children’s Book Bank narrows the book gap by providing the community with a place for families donate the books their children have outgrown, moving thousands and thousands of children’s books into the homes of kids in need.

During this project, w
e'll lend a hand by sprucing up community-donated books, which will later be distributed to low-income preschool children in the Portland area! Every gently-used donated book is inspected and cleaned by volunteers.  Tasks include wiping covers, taping torn pages, erasing scribbles, covering inscriptions, and reinforcing worn spines. Feel free to bring some gently-loved children's books to donate when you come.

Session 3:
Wednesday, August 19th, 6:00-8:00pm
An Evening with CASH Oregon 
NE Portland

During our third session, we will spend the evening with CASH Oregon, learning more about the work they do to move the needle on economic justice -- and how we can get involved! CASH (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope) Oregon is committed to improving the financial health of low income working families and individuals. CASH Oregon provides low income families and individuals from every community and background in Oregon with the tools and resources to begin building solid financial futures. From providing Earned Income Tax Credit outreach and free tax preparation programs to working with financial service organizations around the State, including Innovative Change$, we facilitate easy access to financial education and services.

Session 4:
Saturday, August 22nd, 8:45am - 1:00pm
Community Care Day with Portland Public Schools
East Portland 


Educational access is a key element in conversation around economic justice, and particularly with the rising costs of housing in the inner city, East County is seeing incredible growth in the number of students its schools are working to serve. During this session we will help beautify and prepare an East County elementary/middle school for the return of its students in September, as part of Portland Public School's Project Community Care. From landscaping to garden work, painting, to classroom cleaning, we will help out where ever we're needed -- some come dressed to get dirty and willing to be flexible! We'll wrap up our shift by sitting down for some food (bring a bagged lunch if you can) and talking more about how to address inequalities in our education system.

Session 5:
Thursday, August 27th, 6:00-8:30pm
Oregon Food Bank
NE Portland

During our fifth session, we will help Oregon Food Bank meet their mission to eliminate hunger and its root causes, as we reflect on health and food access disparities across the economic spectrum. Our group will unpack and sort donated food destined for agencies that directly serve low income people in Oregon. Please wear closed-toed, closed-heeled shoes, and clothing you wouldn't mind getting just a little dirty.

Session 6:
Thursday, September 3rd, 6:00-8:30pm
Guest Speaker/Documentary Night and Team Wrap-Up
TBD

During our final session we will get together to either watch a documentary focused on the topic of Economic Justice (e.g. Robert Reich's Inequality for All), or we will hear from another guest speaker tackling a different aspect of income-inequality in our community -- stay tune for more details!

As part of our final session together, we'll circle up over dinner for our TeamWorks wrap-up. Time to explore what we've learned and set our intentions for future engagement!

Click "Sign Up" below to reserve your spot on the team! Need help signing up? Call 503-200-3355.

The opportunity date and time you are looking for is no longer available.
Civic & Community, Internships & Employment
Families, Homeless, Low-income Communities, Immigrants, Refugees or Ethnic Groups
Gardening/Planting,Other,Collecting, Sorting & Packaging,Event Organizing

Age Minimum (with Adult): 18+, Minimum Age:18+

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