Release date: March 24, 2009

Despite the Saturday morning hour, City Hall was buzzing with 42 people representing 37 different ethnicities on March 14, 2009, who gathered for the opening session of Engage '09. The three-month, six session series of public advocacy trainings is a partnership between the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) and the City of Portland. This is the second year the trainings for leaders of non-native and non-mainstream communities has been conducted. The success of last year's event fueled the registration of this year's participants.

Funded by the City of Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement and organized and led by IRCO, this kick-off event included a keynote address by City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, presentations and hands on exercises in things like City Government 101, Introduction to Community Organizing and a primer on Neighborhoods, Coalitions and Programs.

Raining in age from 17 to 78, the participants were mostly people who had agreed to put aside their fears of civic engagement, stemming from their experiences in countries of origin where they were, at best, shut out of the civic process and, at worst, had suffered significantly at the hands of elected officials. People like Raj Botika (India), Niva Bennett (Samoa), Mark Halim (Indonesia), Olom Philavanh (Laos), and Margaret Vu (Vietnam) were among the 25 Asian and Pacific Islander participants.

Certainly the most recent newcomer participants is Mang Suan Pau, who arrived in the U.S. within the last 2 month. A member of the Burmese Zomi ethic group and a longtime promoter of human rights, he spent several years of tortue and imprisonment under the Myanmar military junta before escaping to Malaysia. In Malaysia he worked in nonprofit social services while waiting for approval from the United States Department of State for resettlement in the U.S.

IRCO undertook the project because of the lack of civic engagement from the local immigrant and refugee (I/R) community members which has resulted in local public policy decisions that have historically been limited in their responsiveness to the needs of the I/R communities. The driving force behind Engage '09 is that with increased levels of civic engagement, local policy could be shaped to result in improved outcomes for the I/R communities. At the same time it would enrich the city by bringing in the social capital of those communities and engaging their members in volunteerism, community development and social justice.

The participants have all signed a pledge to fully participate in all trainings, become more active in their own community and neighborhood associations, and to work hard to build civic engagement skills. The trainings are very hands-on, with role playing and other means of developing the skills.

Expected outcomes include placing the 'graduates' on boards, commissions and advisory committees to City bureaus and departments. It is also expected that increased channels of communication, cooperation and support between the various ethic communities themselves and between those communities and the City will result.

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