The Killingsworth Community Food Forest serves as a demonstration site for home-scale organic food cultivation, with an emphasis on fruit trees and other perennials. The KCFF also produces fresh, healthy food for neighbors in need, with most of the produce going to a local food bank. As a Community Food Forester, you can put your gardening skills to good use while learning new things, meeting new people, and providing healthy food for your community! Two years of gardening experience (or equivalent) is recommended, but not necessary, as folks who are able to commit to a weekly gardening shift will be given priority. This volunteer position begins in April and ends in October, 2012, averaging 2-3 hours per week.

Killingsworth Community Food Forester Responsibilities:

–          Attend orientation meeting: Thursday, April 5th, 7:00-8:30pm
(If you have a scheduling conflict, we can try to arrange an alternate time.)

–          Work with other Community Food Foresters and PFTP staff to maintain the garden throughout the 2012 growing season, from sowing the seeds to harvesting produce

–          Participate in monthly Community Food Forest team meetings

–          Commit to a weekly gardening shift (1-2 hrs) for on-going tasks such as planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, feeding chickens, etc.

–          Opportunity to design and implement projects that interest you within the garden!

If interested in applying, please email treecare@portlandfruit.org to request an application, or call our office at 503-284-6106 to arrange a pickup or mailing.

Applications are due Thursday, March 22nd.

King Neighborhood Association’s testimony to the Portland City Council about the Portland Playhouse’s appeal of a staff decision denying them permission to stage theatre productions at 602 NE Prescott, delivered by KNA Co-chair Nora Diver in person on March 1, 2012:

Subject: Portland Playhouse Survival in King Neighborhood

(LU Case # 11-187799; HO Case # 4110034)

Dear Commissioners:

602 NE Prescott is more than just a dot on the zoning map, more than just a structure on the corner. It is a gathering place with deep roots – part of the history of many members of our community. For over a century at this address, neighbors have shared appeals to god, heartfelt interactions, and a commitment to compassion and interracial justice. Meaning has been created at this place. The Portland Playhouse has upheld this tradition through community programming and its performance themes exploring racial experience and social justice. The Playhouse cannot exist without the plays. For this reason, the King Neighborhood Association asks you to allow the Playhouse to continue in our neighborhood by approving all components of their Conditional Use Permit application.

Many current and former neighbors have testified to the integral role the Portland Playhouse plays in our community. The Playhouse has opened their hearts wide enough to create performances that resonate deeply with the people who live here and opened their space to other uses that fill community needs. I have seen former residents returning to the neighborhood to see plays that have touched and inspired them. I have witnessed the neighborhood kids hold impromptu band performances there, and have seen how thrilled they were to be playing up there on the stage. I am sure you will hear many more stories about how the Playhouse serves a vital niche by providing a community driven cultural experience. This is the kind of art that stems from and connects with the people who live here, and that is why it is so important the Portland Playhouse be allowed to continue operating where it has been.
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Occupy Northeast meets at Reflections Coffee on Saturday afternoons. From their facebook: ” We are seeking out Black people threatened by foreclosure so that we can fight back. We need help forming committees to process all of the requests we are receiving so anyone interested in this type of activism work is encouraged to come to our meetings and play an active role.  Anyone experiencing foreclosure is encouraged to contact us.”

N-NE study group on “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander

Saturdays, 11-noon, Talking Drum Bookstore,446 NE Killingsworth
Beginning March 31st, ending May 5th

A six week, chapter by chapter, book study of Michelle Alexander’s powerful analysis of how and why a majority of young Black men in major American cities are locked behind bars or labeled felons for life. Alexander argues that racial caste in our country has not ended but has been redesigned. Through the War on Drugs, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control.

Participants will take turns summarizing and asking questions about each chapter. This is a N/NE group. Other study groups are happening elsewhere in the city. Books available for sale in hard and soft cover at Talking Drum.

Please sign-up by e-mail or phone
Jamie Partridge

503-752-5112 jamiep7206@aol.com