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Opportunity Details

TeamWorks: Advocate for Youth through Social Action & Systemic Change (age 18+)

Join a TeamWorks team of volunteers for a series of done-in-a-day projects led by a Hands On Greater Portland TeamWorks Leader. TeamWorks offers volunteers the opportunity to make a slightly longer-term commitment to volunteering, delve into a topic or issue-area, and get to know other volunteers in the process. 

Every year we face the same abysmal facts in Portland; only about 65% of our high school students graduate on time, as many as 400 youth currently live on the streets, many experience mental health problems or addiction, they lack adequate job training and therefore become victims of poverty, unemployment, and possibly criminality. In response to all this and more, we provide numerous services to help alleviate some of the problems our youth encounter. However, these services only secure bandages to wounds. The mechanisms that are responsible for hurting young people are left untouched and able to negatively impact the next infant, child and adolescent that meanders by.

How can we instead focus our energy towards changing the systems that are causing these wounds? Wouldn’t our efforts toward ensuring bright futures for young people be more productive if our solutions impacted youth on a systemic level instead of one at a time?

If this notion sparks something in your gut, join us for our Social Action & Systemic Change TeamWorks project! We will be exploring deeper the issues that youth face and analyze our current methods for addressing them. Some of our areas of focus will include education, foster care, nationality/legal status, homelessness, and mental health.

Our goal is to be able to examine the current institutional make-up of Portland and think critically about where we can enact change, both individually and as a whole society. We will meet with change agents currently working to influence local and national laws or structural and organizational policies. We will participate in a Community Organizing workshop to develop the skills necessary to see our visions for youth fruition. And we will have the privilege of joining multiple non-profit organizations in order to further our knowledge of existing programs to better understand what works, what doesn’t, and what could.


What is TeamWorks? TeamWorks teams consist of approximately 10-15 individuals, led by a Hands On trained volunteer leader, who commit to volunteering for every project in the series, so please carefully check the schedule below before signing up! Signing up for the FIRST session will sign you up for the entire TeamWorks. If you know in advance you'd have to miss one of the projects, let us know and you might still be eligible to join the team. Questions can be directed to Katie Seibly at <kaitlin@handsonportland.org>.   

TeamWorks Schedule:

Session One: Volunteer at Sand in the City 
Sunday, July 20th, 11:30 - 4:00 pm
We will kick off this TeamWorks by volunteering at Yoshida's Sand in the City. Sand in the City is an all-volunteer, non profit organization committed to furthering the well-being of children in the greater Portland Metropolitan area through proceeds generated by an annual sand castle building event and competition. We will help run carnival games with Impact Northwest and will enjoy this great event as we kickoff our team and get to know one another. After our shift is finished we will gather for a brief team meeting to get to know each other a bit more and to share our hopes for this team. We will also discuss a brief "homework" assignment that will help foster our discussion for our next meeting.  

Session Two: High School Mission Reconstruction at Roosevelt High School
Friday, July 25, 3:00-5:00pm; N Portland
A few years ago, the Portland school district told Roosevelt High School to either improve their graduation rates or the school would be closed. They were given three years to develop, implement and demonstrate their ability to increase graduation rates. With the help of Dr. Angela Nusom, the Facilitator for Strategic Partnerships for College and Career Readiness, Roosevelt has applied a new “College Ready, Career Focused” mission and are currently reconfiguring the structure of the school. We will meet with Dr. Nusom herself to talk more about the failing educational system, what it take to be a change agent, the difficulties she has faced, and her end-goal for Roosevelt and for Portland Public Schools. We will then review our “homework” assignment and talk about other social change agents we’ve identified.

Session Three: Mercy Corps Community Mobilization Workshop
Thursday, July 31, 4:00pm - 6:30pm; Downtown Portland
When you get people working together, you can solve big problems. How do we begin to analyze problems and assess our community practices? Find out how to recognize where social change can occur. Be sure to think of an area of interest prior to the workshop so we can practice with real life ideas!
*Note: The cost of this workshop is $5 per person to be paid on the day of. 

Session Four: Prep Books for Kids with Children's Book Bank & Discuss Education & Systemic Change
Tuesday, August 12th, 4:00pm - 7:30pm; NE Portland

Our next session brings us to the Children’s Book Bank, an innovative nonprofit that grew out of one woman’s Teach for America experience, during which she learned about the “book gap” that exists in our society. For children in poverty, one of the biggest obstacles to literacy development (which begins at birth) is the scarcity of books in the home; and 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 exists to help narrow the book gap by providing the community with a place for families to donate the books their children have outgrown, moving thousands and thousands of children’s books into the homes of kids in need.

We’ll help out by cleaning up donated books and get them ready to put into the hands of children. We'll also be joined by Molly Day, Early Learning Director at United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, who will get our group thinking and talking about issues of youth, education, and the opportunities and challenges inherent in efforts to steward systemic change. Molly Day, MSW, has worked for 20 years providing parent education and support to families facing a host of challenges. For the last five years, She's advocated for policy changes at the state-level that support investments in early learning.


Session Five: Play Soccer with Kids through 4 Worlds United
Monday, August 18th, 5:30pm - 8:00pm: SE Portland

Our final session will introduce us to 4 Worlds United Soccer Alliance, a local nonprofit that works to bridge the gap between first and fourth world children by bringing them together on the soccer field. What is the “fourth world?” When third world people are living in a first world country, there are numerous barriers keeping them from integrating and interacting with the culture around them. Language, literacy, poverty, and other cultural elements can alienate a newcomer, denying them the chance to improve their lives with the advantages provided in the new world around them. This creates a unique living situation where the first and third worlds meet but don’t merge -- this makes the fourth world.

Our team will come together for a rousing game of soccer in the park with kids from the Kateri Park Apartments, an affordable housing community run by Catholic Charities that supports a large refugee population. 
After some time on the soccer field, we will gather for a final discussion and Team wrap up to talk about what we have learned in our time together!  

Project Requirements:

  •  Volunteers must be 18 years of age or older to attend this project.

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.
Children & Youth Education, Civic & Community
Families, Other

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

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