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June 2023 – June 2024
Ed Edmo speaks during the second Restoration through Storytelling gathering at Oxbow Regional Park. Photo credit: Howard Draper
As the recipient of the Partners in Conservation grant awarded by East Multnomah County Soil and Water Conservation District (EMSWCD), the Restoration Through Storytelling series was designed to elevate ancestral innovation and agricultural wisdom of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) through a series of gatherings within East Multnomah County. This place-based series sought to uplift storytelling as both a meaningful knowledge system and a cultural and community preservation practice. Our host sites were Black Futures Farm, Oxbow Regional Park, June Key Delta Community Center, and the Historic Alberta House (home of Vanport Mosaic).
This series aimed to activate the resurgence of BIPOC land stewards in East Multnomah County, utilizing storytelling to inspire engagement in resource management through culturally relevant leadership. It offered aspiring BIPOC land stewards culturally specific educational opportunities in response to the lack of programming for retaining and restoring cultural and community traditions related to lands and waters stewardship and the lack of culturally specific leadership development opportunities in sustainable agriculture and land conservation careers.
Restoration Through Storytelling Series
Click on each event below to learn more.
Black Futures Farm’s Story at Learning Gardens Laboratory 
A Story of Place and Tradition at Oxbow Regional Park
Sisterhood & Sustainability at June Key Delta Community Center
A Story of Mapping the Meaningful at the Historic Alberta House
Malcolm Hoover tells the story of the founding of Black Futures Farm. Photo by Ben Anang via FLI Social
September 12, 2023
Participants heard from Black Futures Farm co-director Malcolm Hoover and had the opportunity to ask questions and connect directly over dinner.
Speaker
Co-founder, Black Futures Farm
Photos by Ben Anang via FLI Social
Photo by Howard Draper
February 10, 2024
Participants heard about the history of Oxbow Regional Park, followed by a panel of storytellers who spoke to traditional storytelling. The gathering was followed by an opportunity to ask questions and a short walk to the river.
Speakers
Traditional storyteller, poet, playwright, published author, actor, performer, instructor, and tour guide
Ed Edmo, Shoshone-Bannock, is a traditional storyteller, poet, playwright, published author, actor, performer, instructor and tour guide who lectures on cultural issues at cultural sites in the Pacific Northwest, such as the flooding of Celilo Falls, as well as drug and alcohol abuse and mental health for Native peoples. He has also served as a consultant to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. (OPB via Underscore News)
Community educator
Savahna Jackson is an enrolled Klamath Tribal member and is from the Modoc, Klamath, Hoopa, and Washou People. For the past six years, they has been involved in natural resources, specifically in the decolonization of land management, cultural sensitivity and inclusion workshops for naturalists and outdoor educators, restoration events for the indigenous community, First Foods education and harvesting, and the acknowledgement and respect for indigenous communities to engage in their right of a reciprocal relationship with the land as Lead of Kelipi Camas. This made it a very natural transition to teaching at Portland State University as an Adjunct Faculty Instructor in the Indigenous Nations Studies Department.
Savahna has worked with community organizations, non-profits, state, federal, and other governmental agencies on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) education and implementation of Indigenous techniques into their land management plans, while also teaching cultural art and knowledge to Native youth.
Photos by Howard Draper
Photo credit: Ben Anang via FLI Social
February 22, 2024
The third event in the series took place at the June Key Delta Community Center (JKDCC), located in the Albina Neighborhood of North Portland. The women of Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated told the story of how the legacy of their commitment to public service, vision and strategic partnership have provided a safe, nurturing environment for Black communities of Portland. Attendees learned how JKDCC, an innovative community green building project, continues to breathe new life into the community through sustainability and social action.
Speakers
Member of the Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
Retired educator Lela Triplett Roberts has been a steadfast member of the Portland Alumnae Chapter since 1981. She has provided comprehensive service within the chapter to communities in the Albina Neighborhood and beyond and has previously held the office of President (1 term in 1992, the year of JKDCC purchase), Vice President for two terms, among many other offices that she has served for multiple terms. During the 2023-2025 biennium, she is an active community member on the Audit, Scholarship, Property, and Educational Development Committees.
Director of Customer Service, Portland Water Bureau
Before joining the Portland Water Bureau, Quisha served as Manager of Product Development and Lifecycle Management at Portland General Electric (PGE). Quisha is committed to community service, particularly through her work as member and officer in the Portland Alumnae Chapter (PAC) of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. As a member of PAC, she has served as President and property manager of the June Key Delta Community Center (JKDCC) and has been vital in ensuring that the JKDCC maintains its Net Zero status. She is 1st Vice President and Chair of Membership Services for the 2023-2025 biennium.
Photo credit: Ben Anang via FLI Social
A map of the historic city of Vanport.
May 21-31, 2024
For the fourth and final gathering of the Restoration through Storytelling series, Ecotrust partnered with Vanport Mosaic to honor the city of Vanport, its residents, flood survivors, and their descendants.
During the 9th Vanport Mosaic Festival, Ecotrust displayed an art installation. at the Historic Alberta House. Through mapmaking, this visual collection of memories aims to uplift places of belonging that nourished those displaced from Vanport. The installation sought to acknowledge the effort it took for Vanport residents and their descendents to make new lives for themselves in what is known as the Portland Metro Area.
Speakers
Co-organizer, Vanport Mosaic Festival
LaVeta Gilmore Jones is the daughter of the late Beatrice and Rev. Rozell Gilmore and a descendant of Jack and Mariah Summerall who were formerly enslaved. LaVeta was born in Portland, OR and comes from a family with deep roots in ministry, labor unions, healthcare and education. She is the co-organizer of the Vanport Mosaic Festival, the former co-executive director of Leaven Community and a retired educator. She is nourished by the love and joy experienced through relationships and interactions with people and nature.
Co-organizer, Vanport Mosaic Festival
Laura LoForti is a multimedia journalist, cultural organizer, and a “story midwife” supporting communities in defining how their stories should be told and shared. Since 2014, she’s been facilitating a community-based participatory oral history project capturing the memories of those who lived in Vanport and those who survived the 1948 Vanport Flood. She is the co-organizer of the annual Vanport Mosaic Festival, and she curates year-round screenings, exhibits, community storytelling projects, and civic engagement initiatives. Along with Chisao Hata, she is the co-creator of the “Stories in Movement” program. Her approach to community engagement and ethical storytelling have been featured, among other events, at Tribeca Film Festival, Collaborating for A Cause, Media that Matters, Restorative Narratives conferences.
Photo credit: Ben Anang via FLI Social
Partners
Metro is a regional governance serving more than 1.5 million people in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties. The agency’s boundary encompasses Portland, Oregon and 23 other cities. Metro runs various visitor centers and conservation efforts in East Multnomah County including the Portland Expo Center, Oxbow Regional Park, and more
Black Futures Farm (BFF) of Black Food Sovereignty Coalition (BFSC) is a 1.15 acres a community farm located on the grounds of the Portland State University Learning Gardens Lab stewarded by a group of Black identified/ Diasporic and Continental African people working together, growing food and community
The Vanport Mosaic is a memory-activism platform. They amplify, honor, and preserve the silenced histories that surround us in order to understand our present, and create a future where we all belong. The Vanport Mosaic’s work honors the experience of Portland’s underrepresented communities by surfacing, celebrating, and preserving their cultural and historical memories.
Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide assistance and support through established programs in local communities throughout the world. June Key Delta Community Center, a “green” living building project developed, owned, and operated by the Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. that provides and sustains the needs of the multicultural neighborhood it serves, encouraging sound and healthy social, educational, artistic, economic, and environmental development and awareness.
Ecotrust Project Team & Services
Want to learn more? Check out the full Ecotrust Staff & Board and all of our Tools for Building Collective Change.
We build and deliver mission-aligned projects in partnership that support leadership development.
We build and deliver mission-aligned projects in partnership through large group facilitation
We engage and communicate powerful stories at the intersection of equity, economy, and the environment by amplifying messages and storytelling.
Resources
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The Restoration Through Storytelling Series is designed to elevate Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) ancestral agricultural wisdom, restore and preserve cultural traditions along with uplifting storytelling as a meaningful knowledge system.
“A story of mapping the meaningful” was an art installation honoring the city of Vanport, its residents, flood survivors, and their descendants. The installation was viewable at the Historic Alberta House during the 9th Vanport Mosaic Festival.
Partner website
“The annual festival is a highlight of Portland’s cultural calendar, blending history, culture, arts and activism into a living and highly creative memorial.”
~Oregon Arts Watch/Bob Hicks
