Portland Community Gathers for The Mixer to Focus on Intentional Resilience
The Mixer in Portland, Oregon brought together a group of Rose City residents at The Evergreen in April to discuss the future of their city through the lens of the Black experience. Centered on the theme of "intentional resilience," the event featured eight speakers who shared personal narratives and professional insights aimed at fostering community growth.
A Focus on Community and Progress
The gathering was a hub for networking and the exchange of critical resources among individuals of all ages. Attendees engaged in intimate conversations covering a broad spectrum of topics:
Economic Development and Mobility: Discussions focused on driving economic recovery within Portland.
Infrastructure and Safety: Speakers addressed clean energy and overall community safety.
Lived Experiences: Participants shared their histories to help rebuild and repair the city’s social fabric.
Defining Resilience in Modern Portland
For many, the event was a response to the "decimation" and physical separation of the local Black community over time.
"For me, transformative resilience is if you go through a traumatic incident and/or moment and then how you use that moment to make change at scale,” Multnomah County Commissioner Vince Jones said.
Anyeley Hallová, founder and CEO of real estate development company Adre, explained that being a Black woman in real estate development requires “a bit of resilience” every day.
“If you take all the Latino and the Black developers and you total them all up, they make up less than 1% of real estate developers.”
A Catalyst for Change
The mixer moved forward ongoing work in Portland, providing a space for marginalized and underrepresented groups, including small business owners, to share learnings and opportunities. By centering these voices, organizers hope to move beyond just weathering past storms toward a future of innovation and collective progress.
"We're at a moment in the city of Portland that we're just rebuilding what needs to be rebuilt and repaired. This event is helping provide a catalyst to all that work that we're doing,” Sierra Ellis, Ceasefire Manager for the City of Portland, said.
Learn more about The Mixer at themixer.org
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