Long Tom Watershed Council’s June Public Meeting
June 8, 6 – 7 p.m. via YouTube (Youtube.com/LongTomWSC)
We are excited to welcome Troy Tate of Oregon Black Pioneers for LTWC’s June virtual public meeting. Troy will be presenting on Black history in Oregon, including in and around the Long Tom Watershed. Oregon Black Pioneers is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 and is the only historical society in the state dedicated to preserving and presenting the experience of Black Oregonians by researching, recognizing, and commemorating Black culture and heritage throughout Oregon.
The history and contributions of Black and other People of Color are an important part of the story of Oregon and the Long Tom Watershed. Oregon has a painful history of exclusionary practices, displacement, and violence toward Black people, and Black communities still contend with systemic racism and injustice. Black and People of Color are also integral to the fabric of Oregon’s society and have made, and continue to make, important contributions to our state and communities. This history and their stories too often go untold or left out of education entirely.
So how does this topic connect to the Long Tom Watershed Council and our work? Human health is inherently linked with water quality and watershed health. As we heard from Haley Case Scott’s Climate and Racial Justice presentation in March, Communities of Color experience the impacts of an unhealthy environment and a changing climate at disproportionately higher rates. The disproportionate impacts felt by Communities of Color intersect with systems of oppression and social injustice. LTWC has long talked about the value of the collective wisdom of our community, and it’s vital that this collective wisdom include, value, and lean into the perspectives of Communities of Color. It supports our mission to make sure that everyone has access to clean water as well as healthy places to work, and live, and play.
We hope you’ll join us for this special presentation! No registration required. You can view live or at your leisure by visiting LTWC’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/LongTomWSC). To watch live, click “live” at the top of the channel at 6 p.m. on June 8.
Check out our June Newsletter!
Meet the Speaker:
My name is Troy Tate and I’m born and raised in Portland, Oregon. I joined the Oregon Black Pioneers in 2018 after a visit to the DMV area (District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia). While there, I visited the African American Museum in Washington DC, and also the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum highlights contributions of African-Americans in the state of Maryland and sparked an interest in creating a similar legacy in the state of Oregon. That hunger led me to the Oregon Black Pioneers, whose mission is to highlight, document and inform the citizens of the state of Oregon about the contributions made by African-Americans in this state. I have since dedicated some time through this organization to that mission.
On a personal note, I am the owner/operator/founder of the Sunshine Center preschool in North Portland, and also the Associate Pastor of Christ Memorial Church. I’m a husband, and father of 2 young children. I enjoy making positive impacts in my community and have a passion for new adventures and experiences. I’m glad to have opportunities to inform the public about Black success in this region, as we have been a part of the fabric of this region since Lewis and Clark arrived on the Oregon trail.