Events open doors for service, activism

As Cesar Chavez Week came to a close, students were left feeling inspired to get more involved in the community. 

During a series of informative events, attendees were able to learn about Cesar Chavez and how he inspired change regarding civil rights and farmworker issues. 

“There’s a lot of people trying to raise awareness about different issues, like ‘Hey, this is happening,’ and these issues still need to be taken care of,” said Emanuel Magana, program coordinator for La Casa Latina. “But there’s no way for students to know how to be directly involved.” 

The week’s closing events—a Tim Wise keynote and reception, community fair and migrant housing tour—showed students how to do just that.   

Prestigious antiracism speaker Wise gave a lecture on how to combat racism in America, touching on the importance of having open conversations with one another. 

At a reception following the keynote, attendees were able to meet Wise and have him sign books. 

On Thursday, various nonprofit organizations from on and off campus were available to introduce students to different resources they can access in the community. 

“The community fair was put on to connect students with ways of being able to connect with issues and actually do something about it,”
Magana said.

Organizations participating in the community fair included the Coalition of Communities of Color, the Native American Youth and Family Center, PSU Community Development, the Latino Network, Causa, Milagro Theatre, Educate Ya, Voz Workers’ Rights Education Project, Cultural Centers of PSU, Oregon DREAMers, Youth Villages, the Food Action Collective and Las Mujeres.

“It [was] a good opportunity if you want to learn about the nonprofit sector and what’s going on in the community,” Magana said.

The Native American Youth and Family Center is a large nonprofit organization that serves not just the Native American community but also native Alaskans, other indigenous cultures and other communities in Multnomah County and the greater Oregon area.

“We offer wrap-around services that address every issue in the Native American community,” said Chelsea 
Appel, Volunteers In Service To America volunteer organizer for NAYA.  

Offering several different kinds of services, NAYA has a large youth services program, an alternative high school, family services and community economic development.  

“We’re also here today to talk about the fluoride issue,” Appel said. “We’re promoting ‘yes’ on adding fluoride to Portland’s water.”

Another organization who attended the event, Milagro Theatre, or Miracle Theatre Group, was hoping to promote the services they offer.

“We are known to work with arts, specifically theater, and work in the community,” said Julieth Maya Buri, marketing director for the Miracle Theatre Group. “We promote the Hispanic and Latino arts.”

The arts and culture organization has been around for 29 years and emphasizes art support in the community.

“We do a lot of partnerships with other organizations,” Buri said. “We support the arts in the community.”

The last event of the week, the migrant housing tour, may have been the end of Cesar Chavez Week, but it helped kick off Farmworker Awareness Week.

The event, sponsored by the Food Action Committee, was held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the migrant housing community in Woodburn, Oregon.

A group carpooled to Woodburn in vans to tour houses to see what the facilities for migrant workers were like.

They also went to Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Oregon’s farmworker union, to take another tour and learn about the services they offer.

According to PCUN’s website, they are the largest Latino organization in Oregon. 

“[Students were] able to think of ways to get involved and help migrant farmworkers,” Magana said. 

For more information about farmworkers’ rights, check out the Farmworker Awareness Week events.