The Portland EWOKS are excited to announce we are officially joining forces with PDX Alliance for Self-Care (PDX ASC)!

This is a change that we have been working towards for many months now. Almost since the beginning, PDX ASC has been a key partner for the EWOKS, but up until now this has been an informal relationship. We have frequently turned to them for guidance as a Black-led organization whose goals are in alignment with our own.

We are aware of the ways in which new groups have formed and taken up a lot of space, attention, and resources in the wake of the uprising prompted by the murder of George Floyd. We are taking this action to become a subsidiary of an existing Black-led organization because we do not wish to center ourselves and our own voices; we volunteer our knowledge and expertise solely in support of Black and/or Indigenous and non-Black people of color (B/IPoC) comrades.

It has been a frequent topic of conversation that the nonprofit industrial complex often works for, not against, capitalist interests. Because of this, we want to elaborate on why we have made the decision to become part of a registered nonprofit organization. Our vision is simple: social services that serve the community without putting them in danger of violent police intervention. Too many times we have witnessed neighbors in crisis who are threatened, injured, and killed by police. However simple this vision, there is a lot of time, person power, and resources that need to go into such an effort. Officially becoming part of a registered nonprofit opens up many more opportunities for funding and improves our ability to reach those most impacted in our community.

Regardless of formal structure, we are committed to continuously examining our impact in an effort to ensure we are doing everything we can to amplify Black and Indigenous communities, and we always welcome feedback about how our actions impact members of our community. We hope that in combining forces with PDX ASC, our community sees an increase in the impact of accessible emergency services. Together, PDX ASC and EWOKS hope to create better services for our community which can also serve to disrupt systems of oppression by lowering barriers to accessing these training programs. Thank you for letting us serve you this last year with informal boundaries, and we are excited to serve you in new ways for many years to come.