The Center for Women's Leadership

We love a cohort selfie, especially when it’s 27 rural women leaders from 16 Oregon counties coming together as a learning community to explore their agency and navigating state legislative political processes (photo of members of the second annual Turn up Your Voice cohort dinner in Salem Oregon earlier this month)! #grateful #learningcommunity #wearerural #leadershipdevelopment #transformationalleadership #emergingleaders

We had a great time reconnecting with NEW Leadership Oregon Alums for building relationships over dessert and “spilling the tea” last night! We look forward to hosting more opportunities for alums to network and build connection with each other again soon! #NEWleadership #LeadershipDevelopment #RelationalNetworking

We are excited to partner with Shelli Romero, MPA, OPMCP of Rose City Chica LLC to offer one on one career/leadership coaching sessions for our 2024 NEW Leadership Oregon cohort members! Shelli brings multisector leadership experience, intersectional lived experience and a passion for helping our regions leaders navigate their careers. Welcome Shelli!

Meet Esmeralda Bibian-Rodriguez, Youth Futures Fellow (June 2022- present), Portland State University | Spanish, English, and Chicano Studies Major | Class of 2024? "As a first-generation Latina, I've deeply valued education since childhood. Having completed my degree, I feel equipped to offer guidance based on my own experience. I had the honor of being invited as a student volunteer to participate in the 2022 Latine Futures Convening. My initial knowledge about the event was limited to the understanding that it would be a gathering of individuals who shared my background, discussing ways to enhance the lives of our community. When Cynthia asked if I'd assist in creating a report, I gladly accepted. Despite not being involved from the beginning, my journey feels complete as I transitioned from a student volunteer to now being part of the Youth Futures Fellow team planning the next convening. Our aim is to build upon the previous event and tailor our efforts specifically toward empowering the youth. During my involvement in the Latine Futures Initiative, I've been fortunate to contribute as a member of PSU’s Seal of Excelencia team, PSU’s Hispanic Serving Institution committee, and the Macro Convening—a gathering that brought together the other individual BIPOC Convening. It has always been challenging for me to envision something so distant in the future. So much can happen, so much can change. However, what I've gleaned from my time in the team is that while there are no guarantees, taking action increases the likelihood of positive outcomes. If we don't make an attempt, change won’t ever happen. It starts with us." Portland State University's Youth Futures Initiative brings young people together to envision the future of Portland. In the coming weeks, our Youth Fellows will share their findings from our Youth Futures Summit held on October 16th on our website. Image gallery: https://lnkd.in/gvPZSXBb Website: https://lnkd.in/gSs5yuXw @psu.youtfutures #youthleadership #futures #pdxyouthfuturessummit

Stay tuned the application for our inaugural Gender, Policy & Leadership program will be opening soon! This experience is a curated, experiential learning opportunity for community based Oregon leaders rooted in knowledge development and action outcomes. This year’s program theme will be to explore our nation’s caregiving crisis and caregiving economy while focusing on the intersections of race, gender, and other categories of difference, in order to enact systems-level change. Participants will engage in an intensive community building retreat, a series of virtual learning sessions and an experiential learning trip to Washington DC. #LeadershipDevelopment #OrPol #CareEconomy #GenderJustice #TransformationalLeadership

We are excited to partner with Damala Christian of DB Dessert Company for our NEW Leadership Oregon Alum Social on Thursday, November 21! Don't forget to RSVP: https://lnkd.in/gQ7EXs-n

The 2024 Turn Up Your Voice: Taking Action for Change (Rural Women Leaders Cohort) goes to Salem! After 6 weeks of virtual sessions exploring dimensions of power and their relationship to leadership…the cohort had the opportunity to spend the last two days in Salem Oregon for an intensive learning experience around connecting their community based leadership to state politics. We will convene the cohort for one more virtual debrief which was named “power forward” today by participants in this year’s program! Thank you Rural Development Initiatives, Inc. for continuing to collaborate on this project, Director Sophorn Cheang, MBA Business Oregon for welcoming the cohort to Salem, and Teresa Alonso Leon MPA for discussing access to the capitol and engaging with legislators. We are so excited to reconvene members of last and this years cohorts together in Spring 2025!

After a long and intense election season, here we individually and collectively are, facing into whatever happens next. This election has brought a range of emotions and feelings to each of us as we imagine the implications – of any/all election results – for our country, our democracy, our ways of life, and our very lives. We hope that in the coming days, and always, we will each find moments of joy, connection and community, even as we know that difficult days will continue, no matter the election’s outcome. Let’s reflect on the choices we can and do make to care for ourselves and each other. Let’s act with and for each other as agents of mutual aid and collective change. And let’s celebrate being with and for each other whenever and wherever we can. This morning we’re thinking of the words of Maxine Hong Kingston in Tripmaster Monkey: In a time of destruction, create something. A poem. A parade. A community. A school. A vow. A moral principle. One peaceful moment. On this Election Day, and into the unknown future, may we do what we can to make it so. #ElectionDay #Vote #OrPol #Election2024

?Hey NEW Leadership Oregon Alums! You’re invited to get together to build connection and community with NLO Alums from 2003-2024! Join us on Thursday, November 21 from 5:30-7:30pm on the Portland, Oregon eastside (location details shared upon RSVP.) ? RSVP Here: https://lnkd.in/gq2S5xQi

We’re hiring! Native Governance Center is seeking a Program Coordinator for our Leadership Development team. This program is dedicated to building a grassroots movement of Native Nation Rebuilders. Visit our website to learn more and apply today: https://zurl.co/foE2