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 […]
OPAL is proud to announce a major victory in the state legislature: we finally secured a mechanism for the state to pay for students to utilize public transportation to get to and from school. The Youth Transit Initiative is about to become law! Many […]
In early February, Bus Riders Unite (BRU) convened a conference call with bus rider unions from across the continent! This huge display of solidarity came in conjunction with our National Transit Equity Day planning, and connected riders’ unions in the US and Canada who are […]
OPAL works in coalition with labor and environmental groups to ensure major new developments benefit our communities. Right now is a critical decision-point for a project that could change the face of Northwest Portland, and we want your input! Join us March 21st at […]
When we first started organizing transit riders and elevating rider concerns around safety, affordability and accessibility of the system, Twitter hadn’t launched yet, Snapchat hadn’t created its first filter, and Facebook was still a platform for connecting college students. We’ve embraced online platforms for […]
Community members, led by OPAL’s Youth Environmental Justice Alliance and the Multnomah Youth Commission, are calling on Mayor Ted Wheeler to help preserve the vital YouthPass program through the next city budget. Their letter went to City Hall on Friday. Check it out: […]
Update to Community Stakeholders on the TriMet General Manager Hiring, It’s been two weeks since TriMet paused their rushed hiring process thanks to the advocacy of Bus Riders Unite and OPAL. On Wednesday, we finally had our meeting with leaders from TriMet. We had […]
On Monday February 5th, OPAL celebrated Transit Equity Day! We invited community members to come out with us to organize on the buses, celebrate our recent victories, and build power and interest in our campaigns to demilitarize transit, make our transit system better serve […]
Update to the community stakeholders regarding Trimet’s impending hire of a general manager: First of all, thank you for paying attention to this issue of great significance to our region. We are blessed to live in a civically-engaged place such as this, where elected […]