Statewide Advocacy
On individual, organizational, local, and statewide levels, we aim to improve the holistic wellbeing of LGBTQIA2S+ communities
History
We want to begin by situating our work within and uplifting the often erased history of LGBTQIA2S+ advocacy and community building in Oregon. With humility and respect, we appreciate the work that our project builds upon. We especially want to credit the work of LGBTQIA2S+ elders, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and community organizers holding it down in rural and remote regions of the state. This work would not be possible without these historic and vital contributions.
Since 2021, The Marie Equi Center and Pride Northwest, Inc. have been promoting rural-urban LGBTQIA2S+ solidarity statewide, building relationships with and offering capacity-building support to LGBTQIA2S+ Community Based Organization (CBO) leaders and members in 94% of Oregon's counties. In 2023, we hosted an innovative statewide community-based data justice project, a LGBTQIA2S+ CBO Needs Assessment to map resources, paint a picture of organizational strengths and needs, and understand local data priorities. With a response rate of 68%, we heard from 45 CBOs representing 97% of Oregon’s counties.
We define Community-Based-Organizations broadly.
They differ in formality, structure, and purpose. They include informal community-building groups, online affinity spaces, mutual aid networks, grassroots collectives, nonprofits, community coalitions, etc.
From the Oregon Outback to the Columbia Gorge, from the coastline to the Treasure Valley, LGBTQIA2S+ CBOs are critical to creating spaces where we can come together and experience belonging. Whether a virtual meeting for transmasculine folks in the Willamette Valley, a beading circle for Two-Spirit community members in Portland, or a potluck for LGBTQIA2S+ elders in Northeastern Oregon, Oregon’s LGBTQIA2S+ CBOs create spaces to fill up our cup and lean into the power of our cultures. Our community of LGBTQIA2S+ leaders and members holds profound wisdom. We are clever, innovative, insightful, and scrappy. And we are at our strongest when we come together.
Our CBOs are our community’s lifeblood, however LGBTQIA2S+ CBOs in Oregon are profoundly lacking in appropriate resourcing and capacity-building support to execute and evaluate our ideas. As LGBTQIA2S+ CBO leaders, we live and operate within a low capacity-feedback cycle. We are creative and resilient, but we are exhausted and running on fumes.
We found that regardless of whether organizations are rural- or urban-based, the majority of LGBTQIA2S+ CBOs (67%) report meeting their community’s needs only somewhat or a little. It’s frustrating observing these gaps in services and care, because our organization leaders hold profound wisdom and insight into our communities, and are uniquely equipped to design equity solutions.
Vision
Oregon’s LGBTQIA2S+ CBOs are siloed, whether by geography, focus populations, or programmatic areas. But every organization, and the communities we serve, face similar obstacles. And we are all at different stages in the journey toward achieving organizational sustainability. In any given town in Oregon, you might find a LGBTQIA2S+ CBO that’s been supporting community for 15 years or the only out trans person in the area who dreams of creating a LGBTQ+ community center. In other words, across the state, community organizers are working at every stage of organizational development.
Our collaborative envisions a resilient and interconnected ecosystem of LGBTQIA2S+ Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in Oregon where we are able to strategize, learn, share resources, dismantle oppressive systems, and build power together. Through our work, we will see a strong, resourced, and unified LGBTQIA2S+ CBO ecosystem where we are able to affect change and uplift our communities through the power of coordination, connection, and community.
If you have any questions about Equi’s statewide advocacy work, please contact Anna Silberman (they/them) at anna@marieequi.center