The PCC Learning Garden - and what we do at our Team Meetings

Hello, Confluence Blog! It’s been a while since we updated. With spring turning into summer, our members have been finishing their year out strong, and it’s been hectic in and out of the office.

That said, we had a wonderful opportunity to stop and smell the roses (or, in this case, lavender and oregano) last Thursday during our July team meeting! Confluence headed out to Portland Community College – Sylvania, where our member Steve serves, to learn about the garden, sustainable agricultural practices, and food security. It’s one of our most beautiful service sites, and it was awesome to get to see all the work Steve’s been doing along the way!

We spent the morning getting oriented in the learning garden, where Steve and co-facilitator Sara led us in a scavenger hunt. The next hour and a half involved sharing knowledge about the plants in the garden while Steve led us in a tour, and I have to say – the cohort was super, super knowledgeable about gardening and there was still plenty to teach. We saw vegetables none of us had ever encountered before – lovage, for example, which is related to celery and has a delightful herby taste – and learned more about those that we knew well. It turns out that the seeds of radishes are edible, and delicious!

The part we’re all the most proud of, though, took place after lunch, when we weeded, organized the shed, and were able to put up two trellises at the bottom of the garden. As the day got hotter, people were able to cool off in a little willow house that’s inside the garden and work on some crafts (with non-plastic components to avoid microplastic leaching) that we hung around the garden before leaving.

The peaceful tranquility of the garden was the perfect setting for the last team meeting of the year, and we were able to leave the place a little fancier than we found it. What, you might ask, is going to be growing on those trellises? Who knows, at this point – that’ll be up to the next AmeriCorps member who serves at PCC!

…(Yeah, that’s right, by the way– that could be you! Get your application in soon to be considered for an AmeriCorps position in one of the most awesome community gardens in Portland with an amazing supervisor and years of groundwork done by AmeriCorps members before you!)

Member Spotlight: Helen Sotirakis

We’re really hoping March showers bring April flowers for Helen Sotirakis, a Confluence AmeriCorps member serving with the Housing Authority of Clackamas County, who’s been hard at work outside getting ready for the growing season to start.

While HACC has been a program partner with us for quite a while, this is the first time we’ve brought someone to the cohort who is part of the site, having lived there and worked with our past members before deciding to try out AmeriCorps for herself. Helen joined seeking to improve her community’s understanding of and access to good food, and she’s been busy since!

Through her position, she’s been able to put her deep knowledge of gardening to good use; several raised beds in the back of the building, frequented by the entire community, benefit from her regular weeding, care, and maintenance. She’s expanding the existing garden space into the park behind HACC property, where she plans to grow more food for the community. Meanwhile, she’s been planning cooking demos that feed people weekly while engaging them in the process, tying the food to where it comes from – right out back.

While this is what she came to AmeriCorps to do, she was also able to discover an affinity for event planning that she and her supervisor have been able to put to great use! The community has been able to benefit from regular evening events where she shares food from the food pantry and provides an important place to gather.

Helen “always has a project,” as she likes to say, and we’re looking forward to seeing where the next few months with AmeriCorps take her!

She’s also always on the lookout for volunteers! If you want to get involved with her great work, feel free to reach out to her at hsotirakis[at]clackamas.us.

Plant a Tree with GOCWC!

On a chilly, miraculously dry morning in February, ten of us volunteers shared the park only with one or two dedicated disc golf players as we gathered around to hear Willow, Community Outreach Coordinator at Greater Oregon City Watershed Council, speak about the native plants we’d be planting along Singer Creek.

Singer Creek is a cold-water tributary to the Willamette River, and any efforts to restore the corridor also help the populations of fish that travel inside it, she and her site supervisor Tom told us as we learned our proper planting techniques. Over the course of this February, GOCWC will add hundreds of natives to the area immediately surrounding the creek, ready to grow and flourish this spring.

This work has been a long time coming for Willow; for the past several months, she’s been responsible for the implementation of this plan, from selecting every plant that will be planted to deciding where they would all go. This, along with invasive species removal, publicizing the effort, and finding and organizing volunteers, has kept her busy all winter.

We had an absolute blast out there volunteering with the lovely folks in Oregon City, and know that can only happen when a lot of work goes into it behind the scenes. Here’s to Willow and Tom for making such a wonderful project possible, and congratulations to Willow on a couple very successful plantings!

(P.S. if you’re reading this in February 2023, there’s still time to sign up to help her finish her project off! Visit their website at www.gocwc.org for more info.)

Member Spotlight: Samantha Atripaldi

I pulled into the parking lot next to Clackamas Community College in Oregon City having been warned by multiple people that the Environmental Learning Center (ELC) where Samantha worked would be a bit hard to find.

Sure enough, I almost walked right by it – an observatory nestled into the trees at the edge of campus, next to a pleasantly rustic little building with a sign out front announcing that I’d made it to the right place.

I was fortunate enough to get a walking tour from Samantha while I learned about the area. It’s big enough to feel like you’re on a walk through the forest, but “not big enough that the kids [on field trips] can get too lost.” It’s just the right size for a full-on conservation effort to take place on campus, where artists can paint, horticultural students can get their hands dirty (for credit at CCC!), and local kids can come to get in touch with the environment. And even though I was visiting in the winter - certainly not the time when the ELC is most teeming with life - it was absolutely beautiful.

Samantha, serving as Watershed Health Educator, takes a lead role in community engagement here, bringing people from all walks of life to learn about the ELC’s lush variety of frogs, birds, and bugs and the importance of taking care of our streams. She currently hosts a weekly livestream where she teaches youth from here to Texas about healthy waterways. Her weeks are spent lesson planning, streaming, and bringing volunteers out to help remove invasive species in the nature area. Come summer, she’ll be hosting field trips where kids can get hands-on experience looking at plants and animals native to the area.

The ELC includes both forest and wetland environments and was created around the headwaters of Newell Creek, which is a drain for stormwater that originates on campus and in the surrounding areas. It is immediately apparent that it’s well taken care of – the water is as clear as any stream you’d find in the mountains. In fact, it’s so clean that on one educational trip the ELC found a species of snail which is low-pollution-tolerant living amongst the macroinvertebrates in the stream bed. This means that wildlife that wouldn’t be able to thrive elsewhere in the greater Portland area can find a home at CCC – an absolutely huge environmental impact and a major step to repairing our wetland environments.

Confluence is thrilled to have joined the effort by bringing on CCC as a new partner for our 22-23 cohort, and we’re absolutely amazed by the volume of community engagement and service that Samantha has been able to do in just the first few months of service. Congratulations to Samantha & CCC on all their hard work, and we look forward to more amazing things in the coming months!

Congratulations 21-22 Cycle!!

Another year has passed and the 21-22 cycle has graduated! We want to extend a huge congratulations to our 21-22 Members & Partners.

Collectively our AmeriCorps Members achieved so much! This is just a sample of what they’ve accomplished:

• 3430 Adults Educated

• 1394 Adults in low income communities & communities of color

• 1945 Youth Educated

• 1181 Youth in low income communities & communities of color

• 6295 Trees & shrubs planted

• 45 Healthy Watersheds improved

We capped off the year with a backyard celebration with amazing key note speakers, Ari Ettinger & Sage Fairman, both Confluence AmeriCorps Alumni.

Thank you for all of you hard work. Thank you to the supervisors and project sites for mentoring our members and giving them opportunities. We had an incredible year!!

Member Spotlight: Willow & Derek

Check out the amazing work our Members are doing! Willow Mikles & Derek Palmore are currently serving as Confluence AmeriCorps Members with the Greater Oregon City Watershed Council.

Willow & Derek’s primary objectives are to develop outreach strategies to engage local populations in stewardship activities, create partnerships with diverse groups, attend public outreach events, and coordinate plantings and clean-up events.

I visited Willow & Derek at Abernathy Creek Park in Oregon City. They gave me a tour of the 900 ft of new trail that they planned and built. Before they began their trail work, they also did a full inventory of all native plants on the site in order to do a survivability assessment. As the climate changes, they are experimenting with new plants and ultimately completed 152 new plantings. Together they put in 60 total hours of labor on this awesome project.

Thank you for your service Willow and Derek! We are lucky to have you!

Member Spotlight: Danis Atlacatl

Check out the amazing work our Member is doing! Danis is currently serving as a Confluence AmeriCorps Member with Cascade Relief Team as a Volunteer Coordinator.

Danis’s Primary Objectives are to provide research and insight into the disaster recovery process, source resources and volunteers for the community impacted, and co-chair the Volunteer Management Committee for Clackamas County.

Danis recently visited the Legacy Foundation. They are helping communities impacted by the fire along the Mackenzie river that occurred in 2020.

Danis created volunteer events to help with restoration and landscaping work with a group of 5 volunteers who planted 200 trees! He’s working to procure seedlings and trees to donate to individuals effected by the fire who want to replant and regrow.

Thank you for your service, Danis! We are lucky to have you!

2022-23 AmeriCorps Positions

We’re busy preparing for the 2022-23 cycle and our positions are open! We’ll continue posting in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled. For right now, these are our open AmeriCorps positions:

Portland Public Schools - Sustainability Project Coordinator

Johnson Creek Watershed Council - Outreach and Riparian Specialist

National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and the Association for Northwest Steelheaders (ANWS) - Education & Outreach Coordinator

Housing Authority of Clackamas County - Community Food Coordinator

Washington County Solid Waste & Recycling - Waste Prevention Educator

Trash for Peace - Sustainability Education Coordinator

Environmental Learning Center at Clackamas Community College - Watershed Health Educator

Learn more on our Apply to be a Member page and reach out to Ashlie Tainer at atainer@confluencecenter.org with any questions. Best of luck!

Member Spotlight: Catherine Horwitz

Check out the amazing work our Member is doing! Catherine is currently serving as a Confluence AmeriCorps Member with Portland Community College, Sylvania Campus as a Systems Outreach Coordinator.

Catherine’s Primary Objectives are to establish systems that supply fresh produce to students experiencing food insecurity and provide education in the Learning Garden on organic food production, planting, and sustainability.

Catherine hosted a bunch of events for Earth Week! Most were exclusive to the PCC Community, including:

- a screening of the movie GATHER and panel discussion

- Tomato plant giveaway

- Herb growing workshops

- Learning about food systems event for staff/faculty

Additionally, we were invited to attend and participate in open volunteer hours at the Learning Garden where we helped Catherine weed the garden beds and spread compost. Way to celebrate Earth Day & get things done!

Thank you for your service, Catherine! We are lucky to have you!

Calling all Alumni!

Confluence is hosting an Alumni Social May 18th from 5-7 PM at Migration Brewery! Come meet our current Members & catch up with staff!

We're recruiting Board Members!

Confluence Environmental Center is actively seeking new Board Members to join our organization! On the Board you would help us meet our mission to advance environmental equity by developing leaders in culturally responsive education, ecological restoration, and cross sector collaboration. We welcome individuals with unique experiences in our region who are willing to challenge system norms to help us build a better organization and future.

The skills and experience that would be the greatest asset to the organization at this current time are experience with:

●       Fundraising in the PNW

●       AmeriCorps programming

●       Accounting for nonprofits (i.e. comfortable with Quickbooks)

●       Practiced leaders in environmental justice principles

●       Event planning

●       Strategic planning

As a former Confluence Americorp member, serving on the board allows me to give back and support members and the invaluable work they do. It also has provided me the space to feel comfortable to grow and learn new professional skills that I use in my day to day work life in the non-profit sector.

- Board Treasurer

I’d describe our culture and dynamic with staff as open and collaborative. We are a small board and staff and we try our best to provide the needed support to the staff where there are gaps and guidance needed. We show up, are present, and work together with Confluence staff in our endeavors and it is always so uplifting seeing how the work and the members continue to serve and empower individuals, organizations, and communities.

- Board Secretary

For those interested in applying to join the Board of Directors, please start the process by emailing Board Co-Presidents, Adriana Lovell and Gaylen Beatty at board@confluencecenter.org with your statement of interest. Include your name, current affiliations, and why you would like to serve in this role. You can find the board application materials at http://www.confluencecenter.org/board.

AmeriThanks

Last week Confluence celebrated AmeriCorps Week! We had the opportunity to visit some of our partner sites and to share stories of service from our amazing Members.

From Governor Brown’s AmeriCorps Week Proclamation:

“AmeriCorps provides opportunities for nearly 75,000 people annually to help communities tackle their toughest challenges through an intensive commitment to service at nonprofits, schools, public agencies, and community and faith-based groups all over the country.

In exchange for their service, AmeriCorps Members develop valuable work skills, earn money for education, and strengthen communities, and since AmeriCorps was founded in 1994, more than 20,000 Oregon residents have participated in over 27 million hours of service.

AmeriCorps Week is an opportunity to recognize the dedication and commitment of those who have chosen to serve their community through AmeriCorps and to encourage others to follow their footsteps in service.”

The Confluence Board of Directors and Confluence AmeriCorps Program Staff

From our team to yours, thank you for celebrating AmeriCorps week with us and for continuing to support the Confluence AmeriCorps Program! Together we are getting things done for America!

Member Spotlight: Susan Ramirez

Check out the amazing work our Member is doing! Susan is currently serving as a Confluence AmeriCorps Member with Trash for Peace as a Sustainability Education Coordinator.

Susan’s primary objectives are to educate youth and community about sustainability through hands-on learning and to help to implement, improve, and expand the Education Program that serves to economically and socially empower participants.

Susan leading craft time

We had the opportunity last week to visit Susan at the Fairview Community Center and see her lead some awesome kids in creating some crafts. The kids love to color! Susan is patient and enthusiastic, her optimism is infectious, and you can tell the kids enjoy being around her. Thank you for your service, Susan, we are lucky to have you!

We visited Susan last week as a part of AmeriCorps Week. AmeriCorps Week is an opportunity to recognize the dedication and commitment of those who have chosen to serve their community through AmeriCorps and to encourage others to follow their footsteps in service. We’re continuing to celebrate Members like Susan and share their stories of service. Thanks for celebrating with us!

Member Spotlight: Jake Ehlers

Check out the great work our Member is doing! Jake is currently serving as a Confluence AmeriCorps Member with the Wind & Oar Boat School.

Jake’s primary objectives are to serve as an assistant program instructor and curriculum builder. Jake helps students develop woodworking skills and guides students through integrated topics on watershed and forestry health, engineering, and navigation.

Jake working with a high school student double checking the measurements

Jake mixing up some glue

It was awesome to visit the Wind & Oar Boat School, they were so welcoming and friendly and really really passionate about building boats! Jake has a wealth of knowledge and his students are lucky to have his guidance. Thank you for your service, Jake!

We’re celebrating Members like Jake for AmeriCorps Week. This week is an opportunity to recognize the dedication and commitment of those who have chosen to serve their community through AmeriCorps and to encourage others to follow their footsteps in service.

Member Spotlight: Samantha Ishihara

Check out the great work our Member is doing! Samantha is currently serving as a Confluence AmeriCorps Member with Reynolds Learning Academy as a Environmental Program Specialist.

Samantha’s primary focus is to organize and coordinate environmental education opportunities to engage students from diverse backgrounds and develop bilingual materials to meet the needs of second language learners.

Samantha is doing some amazing things with the Multnomah Youth Cooperative (MYC). Learn more about the MYC and Reynolds collaboration with Verde & the Columbia Slough Watershed Council in her newsletter, here.

We’re celebrating Members like Samantha for AmeriCorps Week. This week is an opportunity to recognize the dedication and commitment of those who have chosen to serve their community through AmeriCorps and to encourage others to follow their footsteps in service.

Member Spotlight: Justin Twiddy

Justin Twiddy is a Confluence AmeriCorps Member serving as a Food Security & Garden Coordinator with the Housing Authority of Clackamas County.

Justin’s primary focus with HACC is to engage housing residents in community garden work parties, health and wellness education, Youth Summer Lunch programs, and assessing food systems for health and food security issues.

Justin with previous Confluence AmeriCorps Member Emily Lilly in the garden. Emily built the boxes that we filled with mulch that are now ready to be planted.

We spent some time with Justin at the Clackamas Heights Community Garden this past weekend volunteering alongside some high school students. Justin led the group in shoveling and hauling mulch to fill garden beds and mulching branches & twigs.

Justin explaining to the group what plants will be planted in the new box including onions & garlic.

Justin is doing an amazing job engaging his volunteers, he has such an incredible knowledge base, and he knows how to make people excited about plants! Thank you for your service, Justin, we are lucky to have you!

We’re celebrating Members like Justin for AmeriCorps Week. This week is an opportunity to recognize the dedication and commitment of those who have chosen to serve their community through AmeriCorps and to encourage others to follow their footsteps in service.

Request for Proposal Available!

Confluence invites all eligible nonprofit organizations, public schools and government agencies to submit a proposal to host a Confluence AmeriCorps Member!

Through participation with Confluence’s AmeriCorps program your organization can create lasting community impact in your community while deepening your relationship to equity, diversity and inclusion in the environmental movement.

Requests for Proposals are due March 14th

You can find Application Materials & Guidelines on our Apply to be a Partner Page. For questions, contact Elizabeth Cabral at ecabral@confluencecenter.org

Member Spotlight: Gray Sorensen

Check out our Members awesome work! Gray Sorensen is a Confluence AmeriCorps Member serving as an Education & Outreach Coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation & the Association of NW Steelheaders.

Gray’s focus is to promote environmental justice by engaging communities and partners in opportunities that help develop stewardship, increase access to outdoors and restores/protects wildlife habitat.

Gray just completed an amazing project delivering schools of salmon to 76 different schools! Check out her project here: https://blog.nwf.org/2021/11/delivering-schools-of-salmon/

10 Years in Review

We wanted to extend a sincere thank you for supporting and being an integral part of Confluence's ongoing mission to advance environmental equity by developing leaders in culturally responsive education, ecological restoration, and cross sector collaboration.

Thank you to everyone who donated for this event and participated in our raffle. These donations were part of an endeavor to celebrate Confluence’s work and further progress our organizational goals in 2021 to expand professional development opportunities for Members and Staff and to offset Partners fees for eligible Community Based Organizations. 

While we're still receiving incoming contributions, as of today we have raised over $2,500! 

Although the live event wasn’t able to happen like we wanted, we still wish to share some meaningful messages from Melanie and our Board Co-Presidents and reflect on a Decade In Review Slideshow Presentation with you. Enjoy!

Celebrate 10 Years With Us!

Time flies! We are now coming into our 11th year with another passionate, hard-working AmeriCorps cohort serving their communities.

It goes without saying that Confluence Environmental Center relies on our members, project partners, and people like you to help make our program a success.

Year after year through AmeriCorps, our members continue to volunteer to deliver a range of environmental education and community outreach interventions that address unhealthy watersheds, inadequate energy and resource conservation, and deficiencies in environmental education in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties in Oregon. 

Our amazing community project partners help host and guide our members to give them the necessary tools to deliver a range of environmental activities that engage, educate, and empower youth and adults to develop new knowledge, skills and behaviors essential to sustaining environmental health. And it is also with our generous donors that Confluence continues to carry on.

Your impact is immediate. With your help, we can continue to help advance Confluence’s mission for environmental equity by developing leaders in culturally responsive education, ecological restoration, and cross sector collaboration. Individual donations are an essential part of the equation to help us achieve organizational goals in 2021 to expand professional development opportunities for Members and Staff and to offset Partners fees for eligible Community Based Organizations. 

REGISTER to attend our 10 Year Anniversary Event

SIGN UP for our Raffle - prizes announced at the event