Staff
The Rural Organizing Project (ROP) has paid staff to implement not only specific campaigns, but the daily needs of a network supporting over 50 human dignity groups.
CARA SHUFELT has an infectious passion for organizing. Since Cara’s early years in her home state of Michigan, she has been drawing people together to make the world a better place. As a student at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, she organized over 10% of the student body to attend the direct action of the World Trade Organization in Seattle in 1999 where she saw the power of solidarity and democratic decision making first hand. Cara joined the Rural Organizing Project in 2002 as an organizer and immediately fell in love with a life criss-crossing Oregon meeting with folks in living rooms across the state, having conversations on how we build power and make change in our communities across rural Oregon. In 2008, Cara took a brief leave from ROP that provided her the opportunity to work closely with student organizers and study other models of movement building. Cara returned to ROP and now serves as our fearless Director, while continuing to be an active part of the organizing team. Cara inspires with her generous spirit and ability to make building a movement for justice in rural Oregon compelling, possible, and fun! Send Cara an email at cara(at)rop.org
AMANDA AGUILAR SHANK has been organizing with the Rural Organizing Project since 2008. She brings experience in trade justice, union organizing in rural Oregon and around the country, and experience working for the Christian Base Communities of El Salvador, where she learned about the social justice movement from organized communities who continue to raise their voices as social and political actors despite rural isolation and extreme poverty. She is the daughter of a Salvadoran mother and U.S.-born father, and believes that building a cross-race all-inclusive movement strong enough to defend human dignity is the only way to go. Send Amanda an email at amanda(at)rop.org.
KEYLA ALMAZAN joined the ROP staff as an organizer in September 2011. Originally from Mexico City, she moved with her family to The Dalles nearly 15 years ago, and currently lives in Newberg. Her organizing savvy comes from a long history of organizing: from working with MEChA during her time in Corvallis to volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, to being a volunteer leader on a project to build a community garden and bridge the gap between Latinos and Anglos in Yamhill County. Keyla first got involved with the ROP in 2009 through Newberg Human Dignity, where her warmth, her passion for organizing and her skill at developing camaraderie with a wide variety of people was clear right away. She was a volunteer co-facilitator of ROP’s 1st Rural Latino Leadership Summit in February 2011 and has been a core adviser to ROP’s work in rural Latino communities. She is so excited to now dedicate herself full time to organizing — and could not imagine a better place to build the movement than rural and small town Oregon! You can email Keyla at keyla(at)rop.org.
JESSICA CAMPBELL spent her 18th birthday at an ROP Board retreat speaking to her deep passions for politics and grassroots. She first became involved in justice issues when she organized her peers to remove corporate advertising from Cottage Grove High School. In high school, Jessica organized two successful walkouts for peace and immigrant fairness and served on the Cottage Grove City Council. After graduating from Oregon State University in June 2011, Jessica made her second trip to Gaza where she taught over 70 Gazan children digital photography as a facet of the United Nations-sponsored cultural exchange she founded in Eugene and Corvallis. After 5 years of serving on the ROP Board, we are thrilled to have Jessica a part of the staff team! Send Jessica an email at jessica(at)rop.org!
MARCY WESTERLING has been a leader in organizing, educating, and mobilizing grassroots responses to violence, bigotry and injustice in rural communities for over twenty years. Marcy founded the Rural Organizing Project (ROP) in 1992 to develop the ongoing capacity of pro-democracy groups in over 60 rural and small town communities in Oregon. This network of human dignity groups, committed to a broad agenda of social change, is the first of its kind in the state of Oregon and has since become a national model. The ROP is noted for its work in not only empowering rural, small town and frontier activists to develop and use their progressive voice, but also for linking issues through transformational organizing which understands the long term nature of justice work. Fully inclusive democracy is the frame through which issues are woven together. The 2008 book Lessons from the Field: Organizing in Rural Communities leads off with a chapter from and about Rural Organizing Project. Marcy is currently working on special projects that raise up the history and unique organizing model of ROP. Send Marcy an email at marcy(at)rop.org
INTERNS help us to stay in touch with leaders in 36 counties, pioneer new projects, and add to the spirit and strength of ROP.
ANDY KIYUNA is our current intern. Born and raised in rural Nyssa, Oregon, Andy finished up his B.S. in Ethnic Studies, focus on Asian Pacific American Studies, with a Minor in Chemistry last year. He joined ROP as an intern at the end of August and is interested in learning more about organizing and how ROP does the great work it does. Send him an email at intern(at)rop.org
VOLUNTEERS also serve critical roles in making the work of the ROP happen. Nearly all of ROP’s member groups are volunteer managed and led, meaning ROP works with upwards of 150 volunteers to make work happen at the local level. Around the state office, the staff is strongly supported by dedicated volunteers that provide computer support, data entry, event coordination and maintenance of our office-home. The ROP works with dozens of volunteers who give between two to twenty hours a month.