Everyone should have access to the tools and information they need in order to make the changes they want to see in their communities.

“When you attend programs [like Lideres Verdes] you learn that you have a power. You have the power to organize more people and make changes for your community,” said Melecia Torres, a 2019 Lideres Verdes participant, “It’s called empowerment.”

This winter, neighborhood youth are learning to confront climate change and displacement in their community; and it all begins with a garden.

J’hane and Cierra hop on a yellow school bus with the other Multnomah Youth Corps (MYC) students once a week to join Verde and the Columbia Slough Watershed Council in building rain gardens on the properties of low-income homeowners.

In response to The Living Cully Community Energy Plan, Verde and Hacienda CDC’s after school program Expresiones have teamed up to launch a pilot Solar energy curriculum here in the Cully Neighborhood.

Verde welcomes Raina Brot-Goldberg to our outreach team, our second Confluence Environmental Center AmeriCorps member. Raina will be working closely with our Education Coordinator Nestor Campos to support our youth programs. You will see her around coordinating our annual Cully Critter Cruise, leading field trips to the Columbia Slough natural areas, building solar panels with Cully youth, and rebooting the Club Aves neighborhood birding group!

Thanks to supporters like you, we have many election victories to celebrate!

Just minutes after the polls closed, local news agencies announced the Portland Clean Energy Initiative, Measure 26-201, passed by a strong margin: 63% to 35%!  This is truly a historic achievement by communities of color in coalition with mainstream environmental organizations, faith institutions, neighborhood associations, and more.

***En español abajo.***

Portland Clean Energy Initiative: Yes on Measure 26-201

Verde supports the Portland Clean Energy Initiative because it ensures low-income communities and communities of color have access to the green energy revolution that is coming.

Low-income communities and communities-of-color have borne the burdens of the fossil-fuel economy and have fewer resources to be able to withstand the impacts of climate change. In addition, these communities have been left out of the city of Portland’s sustainability movement, and the Portland Clean Energy Initiative centers these communities to be the leaders in climate change adaptation, renewable energy, and energy efficiency.

On Saturday, September 8th, adults and youth got their hands messy with paints and colored pencils at Cully Park to vision and create artwork for Cully’s upcoming Wayfinding System.

We did it! Together, we turned a landfill into Portland’s newest park: Cully Park!

Your energy and support made the Grand Opening a memorable party. Thank you for joining thousands of your neighbors Saturday, June 30th to celebrate our victory after 12 years of hard work and creativity.