Who We Are
Unite Oregon is a membership organization led by Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants and refugees, rural communities, and people experiencing poverty. We work across Oregon to build a unified, intercultural movement for justice.
Grounded in the belief that organizing people who are suffering from oppression have the greatest potential to affect the root causes of economic, political, and social injustice, we involve our members in all aspects of program development and implementation.
Our Staff
Executive Team
Interim Executive Director
Nuhamin Eiden
Administration & Finance
HR and Administration Director
Lauren Mittelman
Assets and Operations Director
Joel Williams, PHR
Human Resources Manager
Amaka Agum
Finance Director
Ngozi “NG” Ugwuegbu
Finance Associate
Maria Luna
Finance Associate
Divya Kollu
Database Manager and Systems Analyst
LauraDenise White
Database and Administrative Associate
Juan Carlos Garcia
Community Development
Community Development Director
Leslie Lum
Special Projects Coordinator
Katie Sawicki
Reimagining Community Safety Manager
Je Amaechi
Education Equity Manager
Jessica Carr
Small Business Project Manager
Eugenie Adamah-Tassah
Small Business Advisor Manager
Supriya Shanbhag
Climate Resilience & Environmental Justice Manager
David De La Torre
Indigenous Organizer
Lorri O’Neill
Housing Justice Manager and
Anti-Displacement PDX Coalition Director
Amanda Pham Haines
Small Business & Childcare Organizer
Joy Strube
Workforce Coordinator
Krishna Anand
YIELD Organizer
Alma Molláy Ramos
Communications & Development
Communications Director
Luann Algoso
Digital Communications & Campaigns Manager
Ernesto Oliva
Content Creator
Lance Gallo
Grants Director
Toni Naranjo-Rivera
Donor Engagement Manager
Angelo Duncan
Grants Associate
Andrea Swiedom
Grants Associate
Kristin Teigen
Policy Advocacy
Policy Director
Gloria Ochoa-Sandoval
Policy Outreach Coordinator
Beth Chvilicek
Climate & Environmental Justice Policy Coordinator
Metzin Rodriguez
Reimagining Community Safety Policy Coordinator
Meredith Wadlington
Policy Coordinators
Lucy Pierce
Nicole Rooney
Clackamas County
Clackamas County Chapter Co-Director
Annessa Hartman
Clackamas County Chapter Co-Director
Marion Powell
Climate Justice Community Organizer
Muwafaq Alkattan
Clackamas County Community Organizer
Jay Tomlinson
Multnomah County
Multnomah County Chapter Director
Jamie Sanic-Paz
Multnomah County Manager
Vania Lucio
BUILD Parent Organizer/GEARUP
Jameelah Rasheed
Rogue Valley
Rogue Valley Chapter Director
Virginia Camberos
Rogue Valley Community Organizer
Erika Bucio
Small Business and Childcare Outreach Coordinator
Anita Sanchez
Washington County
Washington County Chapter Director
Mohanad Alnajjar
Community Health Worker
Delfina Andrade
Washington County Community Organizer
Piyawee Ruenjinda
Washington County Community Organizer
Juan Pedro Moreno Olmeda
Washington County Community Organizer
Alex Vargas Hernandez
Our Founder,
Kayse Jama
Kayse Jama was born into a nomad family in Somalia. He left when the civil war erupted, and finally found sanctuary in Portland. From 2005 to 2007, he trained immigrant and refugee community leaders in five Western states — Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah and Idaho — under a prestigious New Voices Fellowship at Western States Center. In 2002, he founded the Center for Intercultural Organizing, which later became Unite Oregon in 2016, after merging with Oregon Action.
Kayse has been awarded the Skidmore Prize for outstanding young nonprofit professionals (2007), the Oregon Immigrant Achievement Award from Oregon chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (2008), the 2009 Lowenstein Trust Award, which is presented yearly to “that person who demonstrated the greatest contribution to assisting the poor and underprivileged in Portland,” and the 2012 Portland Peace Prize.
In 2021, Kayse stepped down as Executive Director after his appointment to serve as Oregon State Senator for Senate District 24, representing East Portland and Clackamas.
Our History
Unite Oregon represents the merger of two strong organizations – Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO) and Oregon Action (OA) – who together have decades of experience organizing immigrants, refugees, people of color, and low-income Oregonians to address racial and economic disparities and improve quality of life in our state.
Over the years, we have found that state’s population of largely urban and suburban immigrants, refugees, and people of color have a great deal in common with low-income rural communities—a growing economic inequality and lack of access to opportunity. However, urban models of community organizing do not easily translate to rural communities, and deep differences in language, culture, and world-view exist, keeping potential allies from working together for solutions. Having collaborated for over ten years, Center for Intercultural Organizing and Oregon Action decided to join forces to stem and reverse this tide, and act in concert on issues of joint concern.
History of Center for Intercultural Organizing (2003-2015)
Founded by Portland-area immigrants and refugees, the Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO) was originally established to combat widespread anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11. On September 8, 2002, authorities arrested a well-known Portland Imam at the airport—Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, spiritual leader of the As-Saber Mosque (Masjed As-Saber)—falsely claiming his brother’s luggage contained traces of TNT. CIO’s founders organized a multicultural march and protest outside the federal building in downtown Portland, attended by local Muslims and other activists.
In subsequent years, CIO continued organizing against the targeting and profiling of Muslims and other groups, while broadening its focus toward building power in immigrant and refugee communities through community education, civic engagement and policy advocacy, organizing and mobilization, and intergenerational leadership development.
CIO engaged thousands of individuals from diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, trained new immigrant and refugee community leaders, produced hundreds of educational events and mobilized countless immigrant and refugee community members to participate in civic life. Center for Intercultural Organizing is proud to build upon this history by joining with Oregon Action to create Unite Oregon.
History of Oregon Action (1980-2015)
Formed in 1980 as Oregon Fair Share, Oregon Action was a statewide broad-based, multi-racial community organization dedicated to addressing economic and racial justice issues. With chapters in Portland Metro and Rogue Valley (Southern Oregon), Oregon Action historically emphasized organizing people to advocate on their own behalf, especially members of historically disenfranchised communities and low income Oregonians. Through leadership development and community organizing, Oregon Action provided the organizational base for participatory democracy, just communities, and a fair economy in Oregon. Through its work on economic and racial justice, Oregon Action has trained hundreds of leaders throughout the state and engaged more than 7,000 Oregon Action members. Oregon Action is exited to join forces with Center for Intercultural Organizing to create Unite Oregon.
Our Board
Jo Davis, Board Chair, OnPoint Community Credit Union
Manijeh, Board Vice Chair, Home
Ann Romer, Board Secretary, OCHIN
Kanika Agrawal, Board Treasurer, Lyft
Reagan Le, Board Member, Oregon State University
Dara Snyder, Board Member, Sisters of the Road
Katherine Baton, Board Member, Arizona State University; Kit Batten Consulting
Melissa Ballard, Board Member, Inspired Boldness