My internship with the Center for Intercultural Organizing

          Three weeks ago I started an internship with the Center for Intercultural Organizing in Northeast Portland. As a sociology student, I was always particularly interested in how community organizing can, by giving people a collective voice, effect change in communities and create potent social movements. I was under the misimpression, though, that my love for research and writing would restrict me to the academic world and I never thought that I would find myself in the position of an activist.

This pic is from my very first day with CIO, when I sat in on their superb
PILOT [more info coming soon] program and met these wonderful activists.

          Boy, am I glad I'm giving it a try now! I really feel like I've stumbled upon a exceptionally caring and efficient professional community. The last few weeks have been jam-packed with exciting chances for me to watch grassroots community activism, write interesting grants, learn about the effects of inequitable legislation, contribute my research to new projects, and even testify before the United States Department of Justice as part of their investigation into Portland Police.
          Now, I am going to revive this blog and make a habit of posting about CIO's activities and other projects in Portland. Over the next few months, I imagine there are going to be a lot of cool projects and changes in my life to write about, so stay tuned!

          Until then,
          Laura