#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.

Don’t Shoot Portland is a Black-led human rights nonprofit that advocates for accountability. Since 2014, we have implemented art, education and civic participation within our programming to create social change.Our organizing and activism work include educational workshops to support the outreach of our continued advocacy as first respondents and has helped community members contribute through direct engagement and legislative value. There are a vast amount of policy based assets influenced and being harnessed in our strategic building of relationships and networks used toward the shift in culture and systemic discrimination. Activists from the front line need to be encouraged to continue frank and honest conversations about our connection with Ferguson, race in America and its influence within politics. Known for our intersectional community advocacy, it comes with great pride that on Martin Luther King’s birthday, we moved into the former Albina Arts Center in North Portland. To occupy this historical Black neighborhood in a now heavily gentrified area, we are excited to host our educational programming, youth events and community-based archival workshops here.