Following up on our T.O.A.S.T (Transformative Organizing and Skills Training) series, we are launching a new series of events to help us grow our skills and knowledge as organizers.
Social change requires both action and reflection. In this study group series, we will explore topics identified by our members in order to deepen our collective understanding of important histories, theories and movements that inform our work for human rights and social justice. This series is for SMWC members and the general public.
We will be posting reading materials on this page in advance of the study groups. Follow and share the event series on Facebook.
Saturday, November 17 | 9:45 a.m. | Poverty in America
Where: Where: 56 North Street, Portland
Readings:
$2.00 a Day – Chapter 1: Welfare Is Dead
Reading Classes Chapter 2: The Invisible Ism
These days, its a real challenge for low income members of society to make their lives work, given the many policies and forces that function to keep people in poverty. We’ll look at some of the forces that keep people down, including the rising costs of rents, stagnant and decreasing wages, and cutbacks on support services. What puts these forces in motion, and how can we interrupt them? We’ll look a the strategies of organizations like Homeless Voices for Justice, and the SMWC to push for policies to end poverty and promote human rights.
Monday, December 17 | 5:45 p.m.| Challenging Oppression in Outreach & Organizing
Where: Where: 56 North Street, Portland Outreach is a key tactic in community and worker organizing and is the primary tool we use to build our base and grow our organizations. During outreach we may encounter situations that are contrary to the just world we are organizing for. This could be talking to people at the doors who blame poor people, immigrants, or transgender people for their problems. It could be finding yourself in the middle of interpersonal conflicts or as witness to troubling police activity. This training will combine bystander intervention training with practice having difficult conversations in outreach, in order to provide us with the skills we need to respond to these situations in principled and powerful ways.
Friday, January 25 | 5:45 p.m. | Movie: Salt of the Earth
Where: Where: 56 North Street, Portland
A 1954 film about a miners strike in New Mexico. The film is a shot on scene with the local miners in the lead roles.