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Assertive Engagement Newsletter
November 2024
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Hello everyone,
Community care. Mutual aid. Collective care. By any name, we are stronger together. Of course we must practice self-care. We must rest, set healthy boundaries, practice gratitude and mindfulness. We do these things so we have what we need to take care of each other. Supporting others feels good, it gives us purpose. Connection is healing.
We explored resilience last month and what came up time and time again is how important our support networks are to our resiliency. This month we look at examples of community care and how we show up for each other, how we invest in those support networks. Sometimes giving that care to others is what we need to heal. We're including in this issue quotes, poetry, and bits of wisdom those in our community have shared that have been helping us.
On a personal note, I lost someone close to me recently who embodied community care. She was the person who built elaborate backdrops for photos at parties and events. She would give rides to anyone who needed one. When people came in from out of town, she'd take them out, recommend places to eat, and make them feel welcome in our city and community. During the summer of 2020, she bought 10 different kiddie pools and would host socially distanced pool parties in the yard. When you offer yourself, your creativity, your spirit, your love to others, it can have a huge positive impact in your community. I hope to honor her memory by spreading joy wherever I can.
Take care from your newsletter team,
Helen
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“We have all known the long loneliness, and we have found that the answer is community.”
— Dorothy Day
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"Shouting self-care at people who actually need community care is how we fail people." That's a tweet by Canadian activist Nakita Valerio that went viral because Valerio touched a nerve with thousands of people who were struggling and were told to light a candle and take a bath when they really needed child care or affordable housing.
We do talk about self-care in Assertive Engagement in a variety of ways including practicing mindfulness, gratitude, and setting healthy boundaries. Self-care is important. But self-care isn't going to get women (especially BIPOC women) equal pay. Self-care isn't going to fix a housing crisis. Self-care isn't going to make public bathrooms safer for trans folx. And self-care is not going to undo systemic racism and oppression. That is only going to come from sustained community effort.
When we talked about resilience last month, we discussed how people can work on resiliency within themselves, but to really bounce back they need the support of the loved ones around them. That's community care. As Valerio describes it, community care means people committed to leveraging their privilege to be there for one another in various ways. That can show up in both large and small actions. That can mean using your networks to get a friend a job interview, supporting a coworker when they're having a rough day by covering a client intake, or taking notes in a meeting. It can also look like giving a friend a ride to the clinic so they don't have to go alone. When we show up for each other, we are investing in our community so that it can be strong enough to also take care of us when needed.
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None of this is to say that self-care needs to go away. It's not an either/or, it's both/and. We take care of ourselves, so we are able to show up for our community. Believe me, we're not getting rid of gratitude journals! In fact, you can join us at our Community of Celebration on December 5 and make your own gratitude journal as well as other ways to practice gratitude. While it's necessary to take care of ourselves, we recognize that we get something from being in community with other people. Research shows that helping others offers significant health benefits. It gives us purpose, it improves the our physical and mental health, and nurtures new and existing relationships.
In the Resilience Myth, author Soraya Chemaly discusses how resilience is often linked with the characteristics of strength, which, she says, may lead you to think that the opposite of being resilient is to be weak. She explores how the strength we find in resiliency most often comes from those connections we have with other people and the support they give. If we accept that premise, then she says the real opposite of being resilient is loneliness or isolation. Building connections makes us all stronger.
We ask folks in our AE training what their workplaces could do to support a culture of community care and each training session they give us wonderful ideas. Choose which idea you like best in our poll at the end of this newsletter.
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IN 150 CHARACTERS OR LESS
Everything is on fire, but everyone I love is doing beautiful things
and trying to make life worth living,
and I know I don't have to believe in everything,
but I believe in that.
— Nikita Gill
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This poem shared with us by YFS staff Kat Thompson. | |
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Decolonize Your Thanksgiving
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we wanted to offer resources to rethink Thanksgiving, a National Day of Mourning for Indigenous tribes.
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This list, compiled by the folks at Cultural Survival, has resources and suggestions for each of these steps to honor and celebrate Indigenous Peoples every day.
1. Learn the Real History of Thanksgiving.
3. Learn about Land Acknowledgement, Traditional Lands, and Treaties.
4. Support Indigenous-led Nonprofits.
5. Listen to Indigenous Voices.
6. Decolonize Your Dinner.
7. Celebrate Native Creators.
8. Buy Native This Holiday Season. #ShopIndigenous
9. Attend an Event.
10. Share Positive Representations of Native People.
11. End Racist Native Mascots in Sports.
Please note this list may have events that have passed at the time of this newsletter, but has a lot of good information about where to start searching for current and local events.
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The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love.
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There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it's sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.
Excerpted from a post by Rebecca Solnit, author of Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities. Shared with us by Commissioner Lori Stegman
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Telling the Story of a Community to Preserve Its Past and Revitalize Its Future
Gwendolyn Trice started researching the story of her family, and ended up preserving the story of an entire community. Read how her personal history is linked with the revitalization of a little logging town named Maxville.
| This story was included in the most recent newsletter from our friends at the Fair Housing Council of Oregon. Subscribe to their newsletter to read more great stories like this one. | |
Your voice is important – we really want to hear from you!
The Healthy Columbia Willamette Collaborative (HCWC) is conducting a 15 minute community health survey for people who live in Oregon’s Clackamas, Multnomah,
and Washington counties, and Clark County in Washington. HCWC is an alliance of our region’s hospitals and health systems that collaborate around understanding community health needs. This allows the region’s health systems to leverage its collective resources to improve the health of our communities and the quality of services provided. To learn more about the HCWC CHNA, click here.
The survey will be open from November 8th - December 20th, 2024 and will take approximately 15 minutes for you to complete.
| People who complete the survey will be entered into a raffle to win a $50 gift card. | |
Intro to Self-Compassion
Attend a live online introductory group session to learn the basics about what self-compassion is, how it will benefit your life, and most importantly, how to practice being kinder and more supportive to yourself. These one hour intro sessions are the perfect way to begin your self-compassion journey if you’re new or else to refresh and re-inspire your practice.
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Mindspring Mental Health Training | |
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Knowing more about the conditions folks are experiencing in our community can better prepare us to show up for them in meaningful ways. Mindspring offers free webinars and training on topics such as emotional regulation, depression, motivation and procrastination, and much more.
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Community of Ongoing Practice
(COOP)
Next COOP Session In-Person
Community of Celebration
December 5
2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Come for the whole event or drop in for part of the time!
We are excited to invite you to our December 5 COOP, which will be in person in NE Portland! we will be exploring the concepts of Gratitude and Hope as we look back over the past year and towards 2025. We will have art activities, snacks, and an opportunity to connect with others in a relaxed space. We hope to see you there!
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What is a Community of Ongoing Practice?
A group of people who share a common interest and interact often to learn from each other and advance their work. It is open to all, but is most valuable to folks who have already completed the Assertive Engagement 101 training and are seeking ongoing refreshers of the curriculum, supplemental training to deepen their understanding of AE core concepts, and community building with AE practitioners.
Sign up to join our community of practice email list and get updates on future programming and events.
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Question(s) of the Month
Think of a time you gave or received Community Care. What was the impact? How would the situation have looked if handled it alone?
Share your ideas with us at aeinfo@multco.us!
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What is a practice your organization could implement to create a culture of community care? | |
October Poll Results
Last month we asked what is the biggest factor you have found in your own resilience, and the answers were close to home. Here is what you said:
Community (friends, neighbors) 37%
Nature 25%
Family 19%
Faith/Faith community (prayer, church, fellowship) 19%
A big part of being resilient is leaning on those around you. Take time to build your community and support system. Be there for others and allow them to be there for you.
Thanks to everyone who completed our poll last month!
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AE Blended
Learning Course
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We have launched the Blended Learning Video Series to contracted community partners! | |
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Community partners are now able to register for six self-paced video learning modules to watch when and where it works for you.
After successful completion of the e-learning modules, you'll enroll in a four-hour Skills Practice & Demonstration Workshop where you'll actively practice Assertive Engagement skills in community with other AE learners. Upon successful completion of the workshop and e-learning modules, you'll become AE certified!
We hope by offering training in this format we can better meet the needs of our learning community. Thank you all for your patience as we've developed and launched this training series!
For now we are offering the training to community partners who contract with Multnomah County's Department of Human Services (DCHS) and the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS). If you work with one of our contracted partners, please visit our website to register.
Upcoming Skills Practice and Demonstration Session dates:
Tuesday, November 26 - 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, December 3 - 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, December 17 - 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Thursday, December 19 - 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
We will post all new training opportunities in this newsletter.
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