York Collective Presents "Our Rooted Futures"

Our Rooted Futures is a community-led storytelling and wellness gathering that uplifts Black, Afro-​D​iasporic, and allied voices in Portland through art, dialogue, and collective care. The event will feature a Community Wellness Fair alongside workshops, performances, exhibits, guest speakers, and panel discussions that highlight both the legacy of York—the only Black member of the Corps of Discovery—and the York Collective’s vision for the York Urban Village (YUV), a community-led development centered on liberation, place, and collectivism.

At the heart of the event is The Griot: Liberated Storytelling, Education, and Qualitative Research Hub, where participants will immerse themselves in oral histories, connect with elders, historians, and archivists, and contribute their own narratives in our Oral History Booth. Live performances, art exhibitions, and a Folk Opera performance inspired by York will animate the evening, affirming the power of story as a tool for justice.

The Community Care Marketplace will take place from 11 AM to 5 PM PST and will bring together organizations aligned with the York Collective’s tenets—Wellbeing, Permanency, Storytelling, and Stewardship—creating opportunities for ​education, resource-sharing, fundraising, and fellowship:

• ​Over 12 community partners will be engaging in activities, tabling and vending showcasing their work, opportunities to get involved and to allow for a closer connection between our community and these organizations.
• Participants will have the opportunity to engage in interactive workshops on Regional Community Organizing and Collage Placemaking from 12 PM to 3 PM PST, exploring creative and concrete strategies for building resilient communities.​
• Our Rooted Futures will also unveil the York Urban Village Exhibit​ and Guild's Lake Diorama, curated in partnership with Colloqate, featuring renderings, dioramas, and archival materials that envision housing, health, cultural, and green spaces for Portland’s Black community.
• ​The York Collective, in partnership with BHIRD, Mentor$chip and One World Chorus and York the Explorer: Folk Opera, has co-created art and educational study guides, modules, a book and an interactive AR/VR gaming experience focused on York's perspective as a member of the Corps of Discovery. Students will have the experience to engage in educational material and games with a chance to apply and win as a recipient of the first York Scholarship in Oregon.
  

Our main program consists of speakers, performances and panel discussions ​a​nd will be held from 5 PM to 8 PM PST​. We will confront themes of placemaking, legacy, co-optation, and solidarity, grounding the work in historical truths while imagining liberated futures.

More than an event, Our Rooted Futures is a convocation—a space for healing, connection, and action. It honors the past, resists erasure, and seeds a living ecosystem of care and liberation for generations to come.

Info: The Community Care Marketplace is a time to commune with our family, friends and fellow community members as we share our ideas, stories and engage in activities and interactive spaces with community organizations and groups. We will have Portland Harbor Community Coalition, Black Men in Training, Right 2 Health, LABS Media, Lionspeaks, Vanport Mosaics, and so much more working with us as community partners and having a presence at the event to table, engage with patrons and contribute to the overall vision of the marketplace. We will be presenting our Inaugural York Urban Village Exhibit and Oral History Booth at the Marketplace. Patrons will engage with archives, art and other materials, while contributing their own stories through audio recording and/or written word. Lastly, we will be providing a special experience through our Community Altar so that all may come to learn intentional offerings and ancestral work. Food and beverages will be made available throughout the day.

Info: Our Rooted Futures is offering two community-led workshops: 1) Regional Community Organizing History and Tactics and 2) Collage Placemaking. This will be offered concurrent to the Community Marketplace in a seperate room during the event. Please sign-up for either workshops when completing the registration form.

Info: The inaugural Our Rooted Futures main program will begin at 5 PM, after the Community Care Marketplace. We will present performances, speakers and panelists throughout the evening. Patrons will get to watch a special teaser from cast members of the York the Explorer: Folk Opera premiering at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, along with speakers and panelists like Ron Craig, Chisao Hata, OB Hill, James Holt, Valeriana C. B. Estes and more that will discuss the York Urban Village, oral history, placemaking and continued community organizing towards true collective liberation.

Host or Publisher York Collective