Who We Are

We are a collection of leaders from faith and community-based institutions in Clackamas County. We gather together around the practices of community organizing to leverage our land and our resources for the purposes of the housing needs of our neighbors. 

We are rooted in the work of being anti-racist, of acknowledging that the land we are leveraging was first stolen from our indigenous siblings. We are working on understanding that fast and speedy work is never equitable work. We go slow to go far. We go slow to be equitable. We go slow to build a new way of building community. We work together so that all Oregonians might come home.

How We Work

We are nested within
A broader coalition
Our local Clackamas Land and Housing Cohort exists within an even larger web called the Leaven Land and Housing Coalition whose work stretches across the PNW.

We are made up of:
​Core Teams

A core team is a team of people from a faith community (or neighborhood organization) who listen to the needs of their neighborhood to discern how they can leverage their resources for the good of the community.
Our current Core Teams:
  • Oak Grove United Methodist 
  • Milwaukie Lutheran Church
  • King of King's Lutheran Church
  • Prince of Life Lutheran Church
  • St. Paul United Methodist
  • Land Geneaology and Anti-racist lenses Core Team

We are led by a: 
​County Design Team 

This is a team of organizers who support the core teams within their county. This team:
  • Provides leadership and learning for cohort gatherings
  • Walks alongside each core team as they discern the movement of their neighborhood
  • Supports the cohort in shared action
Design Team Members: 
  • Sara Gross Samuelson
  • Anna Hoesly
  • Jesse Christopherson
  • Josh Kingsley
  • Juliana Padilla
  • Grace Badik
  • Stori Long

We work alongside: 
Co-Conspirators

Our co-conspirators are professionals from local direct service or community organizations whose expertise and position in the housing development world lends power to our process.

Together we operate like a team of: 
forest foragers

Road Map for the Year

Our cohort gatherings are on the second Thursday of every month.

September | Kickoff/Taste and See: All Coalition Gathering
October | Thursday, 10/14 - 6-7:30pm | Relational one-to-ones and building a core team
November | Thursday, 11/11 - 6-7:30pm | Finding Patterns in one to ones + asking more powerful Qs
December | Thursday, 12/9 - 6-7:30pm | Land geneaologies + antiracist lenses
January | Thursday, 1/13 - 6-7:30pm | How power works + power mapping
February | Thursday, 2/10 - 6-7:30pm | House Meetings + Systemic pressures
March | Thursday, 3/10 - 6-7:30pm | Research meetings + Funding pathways
April | Thursday, 4/14 - 6-7:30pm | Issue cuts + determining action
May | Thursday, 5/12 - 6-7:30pm | Public Story + Turnout + Invitation
June | Thursday, 6/9 - 6-7:30pm | Celebration + Teaching Harvest: All Coalition Gathering
July and August: Sacred Pause and Design team cultivation/retreat

Core Team Resources

Resources for Land Genealogy Work: