It’s time to train the next cohort of the OPAL Organizing Fellowship! We are accepting applications now for the next group of movement leaders. The cohort will begin their training on July 5th, and will be organizing with OPAL for 20 hours monthly, for […]
By Shanice Clarke In early November, Black people in the environmental justice movement organized together to co-create solutions for liberation in Detroit, MI for the Black 2 Just Transition Training & Assembly. Within environmental justice movements, Black people often experience erasure and invisibility, while […]
For the first time, OPAL’s Members have elected a new Steering Committee entirely under age 30! In the past several years we’ve been blessed to have the leadership of Keith Scholz, who led the Action Planning Team as an Elder in our movement, […]
From September 6th – 15th, OPAL and delegates from around the world headed to the San Francisco Bay Area as a part of the It Takes Roots Solidarity to Solutions Summit. OPAL and the Oregon Just Transition Alliance sent a delegation of ten organizers, […]
OPAL develops the leadership of low income people of color to dismantle racism, classism, and other systems of oppression. But this is everyone’s movement, and there is an important work to be done by people with race and class privilege. Do you believe in self-determination […]
OPAL is proud to present our 2017 Annual Report! This year, we decided to create a consolidated publication to share our many victories from the past year with our community. OPAL tackles many different issues around Environmental Justice, but in this one place you […]
Organizers in Training is now the BRU Fellowship! This new, six-month cohort program will enable OPAL to have a more consistent presence organizing on Portland’s buses, while we deepen our investment in developing leadership in our communities. Last Saturday, we onboarded the five leaders […]
OPAL, Bus Riders Unite!, and our Fellows are here to make sure that TriMet works for the community. In the past few years, we’ve grown increasingly concerned with the decision-making that oversees the system. Because of the recent turmoil at TriMet, we’ve decided to […]
We are so proud of 2017 Organizer-in-Training Alex Mijares, who is now advocating in our community and across the country for a safer, healthier environment. In this national PBS Newshour special on Oregon’s diesel exhaust problem, he talks about living in low-income housing in […]
For the past seven years OPAL has conducted Organizers In Training (OIT). This program has produced a number of organizers who have gone on to do amazing work in the Social Justice movement. We are proud of the work we have accomplished through OIT. In […]