At MRG Foundation, we have a somewhat unique opportunity to see across issues, across communities, and across the state. From Ashland to Scappoose and from Coos Bay to La Grande, MRG’s grantees, donors, and leaders work in nearly every county and come from every movement. Read our analysis of the current issues, strategies, and events that are shaping Oregon's social justice movements.
(Guest post by MRG board member Shizuko Hashimoto.) For the last two weeks, I have lived, breathed, and Facebooked Occupy Portland. On October 6, I left work and arrived in Chapman and Lownsdale Squares in downtown Portland. This was ground zero of the new Occupy Portland movement and I was eager to see what was […]
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I’ve been riveted by Occupy Wall Street taking over the news, and excited that it has spawned supportive local efforts across the country. There’s something wonderful when regular people – our families, co-workers, friends, neighbors – come together to organize in the moment based on shared values. I headed downtown to walk into Occupy Portland, […]
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I recently returned from Arizona: not my destination of choice, certainly not where I’d planned to spend my birthday. After all, I’d read national news reports and watched the evening news. I recalled the special reports on Arizona’s self-appointed border vigilantes, those who seek to deny human rights and dignity to those who cross the […]
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Lately, I’ve found myself thinking out loud about the lessons I learned from watching my parents, Frederick Douglas and Bobbi Lou Gary, live their lives in a time of compromised options for African-Americans in Oregon. My father held a government job so that my mother was free from work worries and could engage in making […]
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Being selected as the new executive director of MRG Foundation has really begun to sink in: it’s a humbling and exciting recognition of progressive justice in ‘the giving business.’ Over these weeks as a ‘newbie,’ I’ve seen glimpses of what is possible when change and commitment merge. Let me share a few of my observations […]
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