No More Freeways

Summer 2017 - Present

The Oregon Department of Transportation is proposing to widen Interstate 5 through the Albina neighborhood in the backyard of Harriet Tubman Middle School. Since August of 2017, a loose knit organization of advocates I helped found called “No More Freeways” has been working to stop this freeway expansion. I’ve organized massive turnout for public hearings and organized testimony to speak at local, regional, and state level governments. No More Freeways filed three lawsuits with Neighbors for Clean Air and the Eliot Neighborhood Association demanding a full Environmental Impact Statement in 2021, and held a rally at Harriet Tubman Middle School featuring students concerned about the air pollution and carbon emissions the freeway would create. Over the past few years, while our focus has remained on the Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion, our organization has found opportunities to speak out against freeway expansion across the state of Oregon, assembling testimony to attempt to stop legislation for more highway funding and tracking other expansions on Interstate 205 and the proposed Interstate Bridge Replacement Program. We have also worked closely with Sunrise PDX to help establish a bi-weekly “Youth Vs ODOT” strike outside of the downtown Portland ODOT headquarters, which has occured for over a year and has drawn attendance of numerous elected officials.

Chris for Metro

January - November 2020

In the spring of 2020, I served as the campaign manager for the Metro Council campaign for longtime Portland climate and housing advocate Chris Smith. Chris advanced to the general election after finishing second in a contested, five-way primary election this May. Chris won the endorsements of the Portland Mercury, Willamette Week, Sunrise PDX, The Street Trust, Metro Council President David Bragdon, and others.

Next Up Oregon (formerly known as the Oregon Bus Project)

May 2014 - Oct 2015

I served as outreach coordinator for the Oregon Bus Project (now known as Next Up Oregon), empowering youth to lead voter registration drives and push for progressive policy in the state legislature. As Outreach Coordinator of the Oregon Bus Project, I led the program's voter registration drives, built a volunteer base of enthusiastic high school students, and passed the #FreshStartOregon bill through the Oregon Legislature. The law provides a legal pathway for expungement of petty marijuana crimes for as many as 60,000 Oregonians, and Oregon's successes led to similar legislation being introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer in Congress that summer. I also conducted the Bus Project's social media, outreach, and logistics for passage of New Motor Voter, the first automatic voter registration legislation in the country. I also coordinated the organization's voter registration drives for the 2014 cycle, working closely with immigrants' rights organizations in support of driver's cards for undocumented residents. I ran Brewhaha! events that discussed local political matters, and orchestrated the Bus' 2015 National Voter Registration Day, which mobilized over 140 volunteers to register 1230 Oregonians to vote in 12 communities and 35 schools across the state on a single day. 

In other relevant employment contracts, short-term positions and internships, I have produced content, coordinated programmatic offerings and events, and provided administrative support for the Outdoor School for All Campaign, New Approach Oregon PAC, Portland Public Schools, Oregon Environmental Council, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, The Intertwine Alliance, Groundwork Portland, and Oregon Metro.