Our Mission
Led by people of color, immigrants and refugees, rural communities, and people experiencing poverty, we work across Oregon to build a unified intercultural movement for justice.
Unite Oregon represents over 13,000 supporters and members across Oregon.
Our Values
Inclusivity:
We believe in creating welcoming, inclusive spaces that make room for all people to be their full, authentic selves.
Social Justice:
We believe in sharing power, opportunities, and resources to ensure equitable participation and representation in an increasingly multicultural society.
Racial Justice:
Because of the United States' history of racism, we believe in putting racial justice front and center in our work.
Empowerment:
We believe all people have the potential to become leaders and agents of change.
Stewardship:
We believe in stewardship and respect for the environment, both within our own organization and in our broader communities.
Respect:
We believe in the fundamental human dignity of all people.
Transparency:
We commit to organizational transparency and accountability to our members and to the communities we organize.
Leadership:
We believe that the people most affected by injustice should be the individuals and communities leading and advocating for solutions.
Equity:
We examine all issues through perspectives of race, economic status, immigration status, and gender to promote equity and inclusion of all.
Vibrancy:
We build strong, vibrant connections through the celebration of families, cultures, and communities. We believe that justice is a journey, and our creation of community is what sustains us on that journey.
Our Staff
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Khan Le
Executive Director
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Claudia Arana Colen
Development Director
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Sushma Raghavan
Deputy Director
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Virginia Camberos
Director, Rogue Valley Chapter
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Nuhamin Eiden
Director, Community Development and SW Corridor Equity Coalition
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Jessica Carr
Multnomah County Director
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Jairaj Singh
Director, Clackamas County
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Gloria Ochoa-Sandoval
Director, Political Advocacy
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Cristina Palacios
Director, Housing Justice Program
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Hamza Bahri
Communications Director
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JJ Jones
Service to Organizing Director
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Jasmine Casanova-Dean
Black Lives Matter Lead Organizer
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Erika Bucio
Rogue Valley Community Organizer
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Guadalupe Torres
Health Equity Organizer
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Muwafaq Alkattan
Washington County Organizer
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Manjeet Kaur
Policy Organizer
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Mohanad Alnajjar
SW Corridor Community Organizer
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Ernesto Oliva
Washington County Lead Organizer
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Toni Naranjo-Rivera
Policy Field Coordinator
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Vania Lucio
Multnomah County Lead Organizer
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Anna Knierim
Political Organizer
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Piyawee Ruenjinda
Community Outreach Organizer
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Maria Delgado
BUILD Latino Parent Organizer
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Maria Luna
Finance Assistant
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Melissa Brabham
YIELD Organizer
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Lorri O’Neill
Indigenous Organizer
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Katie Stringer
Small Business Development Organizer
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Citlali Abarca
Clackamas County Health Equity Community Organizer
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Victoria Young
Tony Lamb Racial Justice Fellow
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Franklin Chen
East Portland Economic Prosperity Organizer
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Joel Williams
Finance and Operations Director
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Angelo Duncan
Development Manager
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LauraDenise White
Database Administrator
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Katie Sawicki
Special Projects Coordinator
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Emma Rickman
Finance Manager
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Callie Riley
Anti-Displacement PDX Organizer
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Alesha Delaney
Communications Development Coordinator
Our Founder,
Kayse Jama
Kayse Jama was born into a nomad family in Somalia. He left when the civil war erupted, and finally found sanctuary in Portland. From 2005 to 2007, he trained immigrant and refugee community leaders in five Western states — Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah and Idaho — under a prestigious New Voices Fellowship at Western States Center. In 2002, he founded the Center for Intercultural Organizing, which later became Unite Oregon in 2016, after merging with Oregon Action.
Kayse has been awarded the Skidmore Prize for outstanding young nonprofit professionals (2007), the Oregon Immigrant Achievement Award from Oregon chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (2008), the 2009 Lowenstein Trust Award, which is presented yearly to “that person who demonstrated the greatest contribution to assisting the poor and underprivileged in Portland,” and the 2012 Portland Peace Prize.
In 2021, Kayse stepped down as Executive Director after his appointment to serve as Oregon State Senator for Senate District 24, representing East Portland and Clackamas.
The Board
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Manijeh Mehrnoosh, Board Co-Chair
Bio
Originally from Iran, Manijeh Mehrnoosh arrived in the US in 1986, moved to Oregon in 1998. She Graduated from Unite Oregon’s Pan-Immigrant Leadership and Organizing Training (PILOT) Program in 2012. She has a Masters in Library Science from Iran. She is active in the Persian and Muslim communities. She is the Board Chair of Unite Oregon. She is also a board member of the Diversity Advisory Board in the City of Beaverton. She is fluent in Persian aka Farsi, English, and familiar with Arabic. She is working as an Oregon State court interpreter at the moment.
Preferred Gender Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Languages Spoken
English, Farsi
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Ann Romer, Secretary
Bio
Ann Romer, MS, CCRP, works for Oregon Health Sciences University as an Initiative Practice Enhancement Research Coordinator (PERC), focusing on Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) practices throughout the State of Oregon. She holds a Master’s in Conflict Resolution from Portland State University, and a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry and Ecology from the University of Arizona. Her previous work experience includes several years in biomedical research at Providence, focusing largely on the therapeutic potential of adult bone marrow-derived stem cells, as well as a brief stint as an Office Manager at PSU. Ann has lived in Oklahoma, Ohio, Arizona, Germany, and the Philippines, but now calls Portland home. She enjoys raising her daughter, advocating for social justice, and learning new things with her husband.
Preferred Gender Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Languages Spoken
English
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Dara Snyder, Board Member
Bio
Dara has been working for social justice in different capacities for over fifteen years. Her practice has spanned the country and the globe: she has been living and working for social transformation along the eastern seaboard as well as internationally in Guatemala and India. Dara earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Temple University, and has worked in direct service, community organizing and policy advocacy, as well as directing multiple crisis alleviation services (including emergency food, clothing and housing assistance). Since moving to Portland in 2013, her practice has been squarely focused on community-level practice with groups and organizations with a grounding in Popular Education, Motivational Interviewing techniques, Transformative Facilitation models, and anti-oppressive service delivery. In Portland, Dara has spearheaded several initiatives centering IBPOC including in 2016 co-founding a radical support and healing group for IBPOC womxn and femmes+. Her passion is facilitating intersectional movement-building with a focus on cultural and institutional change through advocacy, community engagement and education.
Preferred Gender Pronouns
they/them or she/her
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
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Katharine Batten, Board Member
Bio
Katharine (Kit) Batten is a recognized expert in climate-change policy and international development with fifteen years of sustainability leadership in the private sector, government, non-governmental organizations, and academia. She is a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University and a climate change and sustainability consultant. In previous roles, Dr. Batten led a company-wide initiative to increase the climate resilience of Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E’s) operations and infrastructure, as well as the resilience of the communities PG&E serves. Dr. Batten has also served as a political appointee in the Obama Administration, as the Global Climate Change Coordinator at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she led the agency’s efforts to implement climate-resilient, low-carbon sustainable development programs in more than 40 countries, and as science advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. She has also held positions in the offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Joe Lieberman. In academia and non-profit sectors, Dr. Batten has served as Executive Director at the University of California, Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy; as senior science and policy fellow and program director at the H. John Heinz III center for Science, Economics and the Environment; and as senior fellow/managing director for energy and environmental policy at the Center for American Progress. Dr. Batten earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees in ecology from U.C. Davis.
Preferred Gender Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Languages Spoken
English
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Steve Barnes, Board Member
Bio
Heavy equipment operator, Elementary School teacher, school librarian, Small business manager, personal care assistant, mental health worker, and long-time volunteer with numerous organizations and initiatives including: The Oregon Country Faire, Democracy Watch News (teleconference host and podcaster), Harrison School gardens, local garden club, Odd Fellows, Grange, many local fundraisers, Coast Fork Farm Stand, KSOW Low Power FM President, and Sustainable Cottage Grove. Board member for the former Oregon Action.
Preferred Gender Pronouns
He/Him/His
Languages Spoken
English
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Tiago Denczuk, Board Member
Bio
Tiago Denczuk has been an active artist, performer and advocate in Portland since he moved here over a decade ago from his home country of Brazil. He has focused both his art and volunteer time supporting issues of environmentalism, bicycle transportation, human rights and immigration. Tiago’s passion for social justice and community organizing lead him to Unite Oregon and in 2010 he graduated from the Pan-Immigrant Leadership and Organizing Training (PILOT) Program. You can find Tiago’s stencil art as commissioned by the Regional Arts and Culture Council all around Portland and commercially in locally-owned business and independently published books across the nation. He has a degree in mechanical engineering and enjoys exploring the intersections of art and math.
Preferred Gender Pronouns
He/Him/His
Languages Spoken
English, Portuguese
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Ben Lischner, Board Member
Bio
Ben Lischner is an IT professional and co-founder of Valant, the leader in behavioral health software for private practice. Ben previously volunteered with Peace Brigades International, a non-governmental organization that protects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts. He was the longest-serving Center for Intercultural Organizing Board member, having joined in 2004.
Preferred Gender Pronouns
He/Him/His
Languages Spoken
English
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Josephine Davis, Board Member
Bio
Josephine (Jo) has spent most of her career as a financial services professional in both the credit union and community banking industries. She has held roles in consumer lending, overseeing retail operations, and commercial banking relationship management. Jo serves on the board of Unite Oregon and Raphael House. She is also on the finance committee of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon, program committee for Partners in Diversity, Taste for Equity steering committee and is participating in the inaugural SINE mentorship program through The Contingent.
Since joining OnPoint in January 2021 as Diversity Equity & Inclusion Program Manager, Jo has led internal efforts to bring DEI to employees across the organization through education and training, has helped build and strengthen relationships with community organizations supporting underrepresented communities and has provided insight into many credit union initiatives, teams and projects. This is truly a dream job for her as it allows her to combine her 16+ years of banking experience with her deep passion for economic and racial justice.
Preferred Gender Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Our History
Unite Oregon represents the merger of two strong organizations – Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO) and Oregon Action (OA) – who together have decades of experience organizing immigrants, refugees, people of color, and low-income Oregonians to address racial and economic disparities and improve quality of life in our state.
Over the years, we have found that state’s population of largely urban and suburban immigrants, refugees, and people of color have a great deal in common with low-income rural communities—a growing economic inequality and lack of access to opportunity. However, urban models of community organizing do not easily translate to rural communities, and deep differences in language, culture, and world-view exist, keeping potential allies from working together for solutions. Having collaborated for over ten years, Center for Intercultural Organizing and Oregon Action decided to join forces to stem and reverse this tide, and act in concert on issues of joint concern.
History of Center for Intercultural Organizing (2003-2015)
Founded by Portland-area immigrants and refugees, the Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO) was originally established to combat widespread anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11. On September 8, 2002, authorities arrested a well-known Portland Imam at the airport—Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, spiritual leader of the As-Saber Mosque (Masjed As-Saber)—falsely claiming his brother’s luggage contained traces of TNT. CIO’s founders organized a multicultural march and protest outside the federal building in downtown Portland, attended by local Muslims and other activists.
In subsequent years, CIO continued organizing against the targeting and profiling of Muslims and other groups, while broadening its focus toward building power in immigrant and refugee communities through community education, civic engagement and policy advocacy, organizing and mobilization, and intergenerational leadership development.
CIO engaged thousands of individuals from diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, trained new immigrant and refugee community leaders, produced hundreds of educational events and mobilized countless immigrant and refugee community members to participate in civic life. Center for Intercultural Organizing is proud to build upon this history by joining with Oregon Action to create Unite Oregon.
History of Oregon Action (1980-2015)
Formed in 1980 as Oregon Fair Share, Oregon Action was a statewide broad-based, multi-racial community organization dedicated to addressing economic and racial justice issues. With chapters in Portland Metro and Rogue Valley (Southern Oregon), Oregon Action historically emphasized organizing people to advocate on their own behalf, especially members of historically disenfranchised communities and low income Oregonians. Through leadership development and community organizing, Oregon Action provided the organizational base for participatory democracy, just communities, and a fair economy in Oregon. Through its work on economic and racial justice, Oregon Action has trained hundreds of leaders throughout the state and engaged more than 7,000 Oregon Action members. Oregon Action is exited to join forces with Center for Intercultural Organizing to create Unite Oregon.
Contact us.
...OR REACH US OFFLINE
Media Inquiries:
Please contact our communications staff at:
communications@uniteoregon.org
Multnomah County:
1390 SE 122nd Ave
Portland, Oregon 97233
Main Phone: (503) 287-4117
Washington County:
12745 SW Beaverdam Rd
Cubicle 193
Beaverton, OR 97005
Main Phone: (503) 828-9736
Rogue Valley:
1017 N. Riverside Avenue, Suite 116
Medford, OR 97501
Main Phone: (541) 772-4029