Oregon Needs a Green New Deal. The urgent moment calls for climate action that comes directly from frontline communities, transitions our energy systems, ensures workers’ security, cleans up our air, holds polluters accountable, addresses the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and directly funds […]
By Orlando Lopez Bautista, BRU Organizer Last week, I attended a workshop convening of organizations from across the country who are working on improving transportation systems locally. TransitCenter, a national partner to OPAL, convened this gathering so that organizations could cross-pollinate policy ideas, strategies, […]
Since the 2017 state legislative session, which brought new investments in mass transit, OPAL has served on the Public Transportation Investment Plan to represent the concerns of youth and bus riders in how funds are spent. Last Friday, the exhaustive process came to a […]
“To enter and influence history in connection with other people is the need that aches in all our deepest selves. It is this uniquely human desire that is missing in the so called “American” materialism and individualism. We have not fulfilled our need to […]
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 […]
by Hazel Horvath, DukeEngage Intern Chickens clucked. A rooster crowed. The air was a fragrant mix between flowers and manure. These sights, sounds, and smells seem impossible to find in a city, but after just a twenty-minute ride on the 72 bus from OPAL’s offices, the […]
Family separation. Anti-Muslim policy. Right to work. Racist gerrymandering. Corporate handouts. Environmental mismanagement. You’d be lucky not to know about all the many ways the US Government is not only failing to protect marginalized communities, but actively attacking rights we’ve defended and won over centuries. Many […]
The rapid depletion of Mother’s Earth’s non-renewable resources in our current extractive economy goes hand-in-hand with increased energy consumption globally and especially in the United States. Fossil fuel-based energy production harms communities of color, low income communities and communities on the frontlines of extraction. It is […]
Transportation is a human right. Sustainable, equitable funding for youth transportation access is a key goal of the local youth-led movement for transportation justice. Youth Environmental Justice Alliance (YEJA), Multnomah Youth Commission, our allies and supporters have long been working with school districts and […]