Our Discovery Forum was a great gathering of Girlfriends and guests (72 in all!) and an excellent exchange of ideas. Panelists from the Oregon Center for Public Policy, The Interfaith Alliance on Poverty, and Impact Partner Constructing Hope addressed our learning question for this year: “How are equity, poverty and social mobility related and how can our philanthropy support positive change?”

Some unsettling food for thought: 12% of Oregon households live in poverty. Forty percent of households cannot afford basic needs. Poverty is a policy choice.

Read more here

We will continue to share what we learned via these member updates.

Our Member Education Committee planned the program which was moderated by our own Jody Feldman and Northwest Natural generously donated the space and a delicious, nutritious meal. Girlfriends had the opportunity to socialize at lunch and engage in discussion while developing questions for the panel.

We moved beyond a recitation of a land acknowledgement as we seek to include more authentic education about Native people in our area and shared Klamath River Meditation by Judi Brannan Armbruster, a Karuk poet, published in Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California (2016), an anthology that Lucille Lang Day co edited with Lakota poet Kurt Schweigman.

Klamath River Meditation,
by Judi Brannon Armbruster

There is a trail
down through tall cedar,
down to the River.

The Sun shines
in shafts of gold
creates patterns
on the red dirt.
Light beams glisten
and dance on the water.

I sit on a boulder
flat and gray
that lies part way
under the water.

I feel warmth
from this rock
from the Sun
from somewhere
deep inside.

I listen . . .
the Water’s voice
speaks to me.
I feel . . .
Peace.
I am . . .
Peace.

All I see is sacred.
I am . . .
sacred.

Ha’a