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Opportunity Details

TeamWorks: Refugee & Immigrant Communities in Portland (age 16+) *Hands On*

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.

Our nation is one made up of rich and deep diversity and unique cultures. Each of us has particular connections to different cultures at home and around the world both within ourselves and within our communities. In this way, we are all a part of the global community and the human family. 

Portland is a city which represents many cultures and communities from around the globe. Specifically, Portland is home to many immigrant and refugee populations. Together we will seek to better understand the realities that immigrants and refugees face here in Portland. What challenges do these communities face? What triumphs and joys do they experience?

Most importantly, through listening, discussing, and service-learning we will seek to more thoroughly and precisely understand how the wide and beautiful diversity in our Portland community is preserved in a way that honors and includes all cultures while simultaneously fostering a unified, caring community. 

During this TeamWorks, we will hear from Mussè Olol of the Somali American Council of Oregon. We will work with the Center for Intercultural Organizing to plan and carry out a canvassing day of immigrant and refugee owned businesses to gather information for the Oregon Global Guide project. Team members will have the opportunity to serve for an afternoon at the Northeast Emergency Food Program which helps provide necessities to many members of our community including a large number of immigrant and refugee individuals. We will spend a day working at the Beaverton Internation Festival to help with voter registration efforts and to inform people of the Safe Roads Driver's Card Campaign.  We will get to work on art projects with immigrant and refugee children at Kateri Park Housing Complex's Get Artsy! Program. Then, we will work with Lutheran Community Services to help sort and organize their community donations that help newly arriving refugees get settled and set-up in their new home. In addition, we will have a chance to hear from Catholic Charities about their work in refugee resettlement here in Portland. 

Team members are asked to commit to at least five of the seven sessions. If you can't make it to the first session, but can commit to five of the remaining sessions, you're welcome to sign up. 

What is TeamWorks? TeamWorks teams consist of approximately 10-12 individuals, led by a Hands On trained volunteer leader, who commit to volunteering for the majority of projects 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 1-2 of the projects, let us know and you might still be eligible to join the team. Questions can be directed to Katie Seibly, TeamWorks Leader, by using the "Email Opportunity Leader" link in the grey box at the end of the page. 

TeamWorks Schedule:

Session One: Kickoff Meeting and Discussion with Mussè Olol
Monday, July 14th, 5:00 - 6:30pm

We will kick off this TeamWorks by meeting to learn more about one another and to begin our ongoing discussion of immigrant and refugee issues. 
We will introduce ourselves and have a chance to learn a bit more about everyone's interest and experience with these issues and about what brought each of us to this team. We will then hear from Mr. Mussè Olol of the Somali American council of Oregon who will share his knowledge and experience with us to help inform our discussion as we begin our time together on this TeamWorks. 

Session Two: Oregon Global Guide Business Canvas Planning Day

Sunday, July 20th, 12:00 - 3:00pm
We will spend the afternoon working with the Center for Intercultural Organizing to organize and plan for a cavassing day of immigrant and refugee-owned businesses in the Portland area. This canvassing will be a crucial part of compiling the information to contribute to the Oregon Global Guide which will serve as a resource to connect consumers with local immigrant and refugee-owned businesses. This activity will be followed by a brief group discussion about immigrant and refugee businesses in the area, how we can help make these businesses more visible, and what this all helps us understand within the broader focus of this TeamWorks.

Session Three: Voter Registration and Outreach at the Beaverton International Festival 
Saturday, July 26th, 10:00am-5:00pm
We will spend the day at the Beaverton International Festival and will work with the Center for Intercultural Organizing to facilitate voter registration and outreach about the Safe Roads Driver's Card Campaign. We will wrap up with a brief discussion about the importance of voter registration and outreach of this sort and will share stories of our successes and experiences throughout the day. 
*Note: We understand that this is a longer shift so there is some flexibility on the timing. If you need to come a bit late or leave a bit early, that is OK, however, you must let Katie Seibly <kaitlin@handsonportland.org> know at least a week in advance. 

Session Four: Get Artsy! With Kids at Kateri Park 
Wednesday, July 30th, 4:45 - 6:30pm

Kateri Park is an affordable housing community, in which more than half of the residents are refugees. The largest group is from Somalia with a smaller population from Burmese and Nepali refugee families. 
We will spend the evening channeling our creativity and working on an art project with the kids of Kateri Park through the Get Artsy! Program. Following our high energy work with the kids, we will hear from Elisabeth Gern of Catholic Charities about the work that they do at Kateri Park.

*Note: For this project, if you are under 18 years of age, you will need to bring a waiver. If you need to access this waiver please contact Katie Seibly <kaitlin@handsonportland.org>

Session Five : Information Session and Discussion with Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program
Saturday, August 2nd, 12:00pm - 3:00pm

We will hear from an individual at the Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program who will share some of their knowledge with us about refugee issues in general and refugee populations in the Portland area in particular. We will have time for group discussion and questions and will be able to use this time to synthesize and contextualize a lot of the experiences we have had thus far. 

Session Six: Help Organize and Sort Donations at Lutheran Community Services 
Wednesday, August 6th, 4:00pm - 6:30pm 
Lutheran Community Services accepts donations of clothing, bedding, and household good for newly arriving refugee families and they need help to get these donations organized! 
Join us as we dive into organizing the storage garage at Lutheran Community Services so that these donations can be distributed more easily to these newly arriving families as they get settled here in Portland. 

Session Seven: Oregon Global Guide Canvassing Day 
Saturday, August 9th, 10:00am - 1:30 pm
We will spend the afternoon carrying out the immigrant and refugee-owned business canvassing that we had planned at the beginning of our time as a team. We will break into smaller groups and visit with immigrant and refugee business owners and talk to them about Global Guide and encourage them to take part in it to help promote their business. At the end, we will reconvene to share stories and success of the days and have a final team wrap-up!
 

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*Optional Session: Serve as a Shopping Assistant at the Northeast Emergency Food Program 
Tuesday, July 22nd, 12:30 - 5:00pm
 The Northeast Emergency Food Program meets the urgent food needs of those in our community while seeking to develop community solutions to secure access to adequate, affordable and healthy food. This Program serves a large number of individuals who are immigrants and refugees along with many others from all different backgrounds in our community. 
For those who can make it to this optional session, we will be serving as shopping assistants at the Northeast Emergency Food Program to help individuals gather the proper and necessary food from the food bank to satisfy their needs and will have a chance to better understand how immigrant and refugee services can be bound up within a broader community organization. 

Project Requirements:

  •  Volunteers must be 16 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.
Immigrant & Refugee Services
Immigrants, Refugees or Ethnic Groups
Collecting, Sorting & Packaging,Event Organizing

Age Minimum (with Adult): 16+, Minimum Age:16+

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