Everyone has a story to tell. And though social media gives everyone somewhat of an opportunity to be heard, to tell their story some folks need encouragement, others training & editing, some a platform to heard among the many of voices out there. We’re not here to replace mainstream media, but we provide a forum for enterprising neighbors and early career journalists to spread their wings.
We also think it’s incredibly important for folks to get involved in their community. Government and organizations have their role, but individual effort is good for you and your community. There’s also more than enough work to be done holding government and organizations accountable to their roles and responsibilities.
Often these two principles overlap; be it a brave neighbor with a cellphone or a news tip when they see something that that needs to be documented. We want to encourage this kind of engagement as well.
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Based on these two guiding principles is the work you see on Village Portland and our multiple neighborhood-based sites you can see here. News, opinion, art, cartoons, history, satire… when you encourage folks’ passion for civic engagement and creativity… it’s pretty awesome what sprouts and blooms. Thanks for reading.
All the best,
Andrew Wilkins
Andrew Wilkins – Publisher & Editor
After a nearby shooting on a basketball court drew citywide attention, Andrew Wilkins wondered: why don’t other crucial neighborhood-based incident get covered?
That incident and a background in print journalism and community organizing led him down a wending path of hyper-local, neighborhood-based journalism that resulted in the media entity you see today.
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Contributors
Cory Elia – Contributor
Cory Elia is a journalist, photographer, videographer, documentary director & producer, radio personality & podcaster. His journalistic focus is on politics, protest, and poverty.
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Michael B – Contributor
Michael Buchanan is a native New Yorker, board member of Freeform Portland (a non-profit radio station that showcases local music), and music enthusiast. Michael has has performed over the past several years at a number of improv theaters in the Portland area. In addition to Michael’s performance as an improviser he also finds time to volunteer at local non-profit agencies around town.
Fun fact: Michael was an extra in the final season of “Documentary now!”. Michael also has been involved in voice-over projects. Michael Buchanan is the owner of three rescue dogs and features his walks and adventures with them on his social media urbanhumanbeing (Instagram).
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Ree Campbell – Contributor
Ree Campbell is an emergency mental health crisis and disaster relief worker who has been actively involved with advocating for and serving Portland’s houseless community. She currently lives in Olympia, Washington.
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Anne Cascadian – Contributor
Anne is a cartoonist who believes that the Pacific Northwest is a special place and that cartoon animals hold an important and essential truth.
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James Croxton – contributor
James Croxton is a journalist and student. Born and raised in the Bay Area by two Deaf parents and a set of grandparents, James has been a competitive cyclist, a voting precinct inspector, a judge for the Classic Thunderbird Club International, and a contributor to 2017’s three-volume KISS MY WAX: The KISS LP Bible.
After moving to Oregon and finding his passion for writing in 2018, he accepted an offer by Editor-in-Chief of The Torch, MG Belka, to join the student newspaper. For almost two years, he worked as an investigative reporter, and eventually rose to Copy Editor under then-EIC David Galbreath, focusing on major departmental changes and controversies.
Attending the University of Oregon since 2019, James majors in both journalism and cinema studies with a minor in art history. There, he is a former reporter for the Daily Emerald on both the arts and culture desk and the news desk. Since October 2020, James has been with Double Sided Media, a media collective based in Eugene, where he is the Managing Editor and Social Media Manager.
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Carissa Dez – Contributor
Carissa Dez is new to the journalism world, but is learning quickly as she works in the field. Carissa live streams events, edits video, writes, and uses photography to tell a complete story.
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R.W. Harden – Contributor
R. W. Harden is a Portland-based freelance writer and historian with a passion for community-based activism. He focuses on local politics, protests, and the ongoing struggle for abolition of the prison-industrial complex in the PNW.
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Melissa “Claudio” Lewis – Contributor
Melissa “Claudio” Lewis began her professional career in psychology. While building her career she encountered multiple ethical violations that lead her to be a whistleblower and witness, and more recently worked in the non profit sector with incarcerated adults as a mental health practitioner. Melissa felt drawn to independent journalism as she noticed similar ethical violations occurring during protests, and transitioned fully into journalism.
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Darren McCormick – Contributor
Darren McCormick is an amateur philosopher applying to masters programs in political science. When not giving kids chess lessons, he examines local practices and governance through a lens of political theory.
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Lesley McLam – Contributor
Lesley McLam is completing her second degree at Portland Community College, studying journalism and communications. She’s the proud mama of a beautiful 14-year-old black cat, and a volunteer anchor, copywriter, reporter, and occasional producer at KBOO community radio who is just beginning to learn about the world of podcasting.
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Julianna Robidoux – Contributor & Editor
Editor of Rose City Residential, a media collective and Village Portland partner, Julianna Robidoux is a local freelance writer based in Southeast Portland. Passionate about affordable housing and immigrant rights, she is a regular contributor to The Immigrant Story, a local nonprofit that amplifies the stories of immigrants and refugees.
Before graduating from PSU in 2019 with a major in international studies, she wrote her senior honors thesis on gentrification and displacement, focusing on the experience of the Eastern African community here.
When she’s not reporting on social justice issues, you can find her thrifting, enjoying live music or being overly competitive at bar trivia.
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Rosie Riddle – Contributor
Rosie is a houseless trans activist and writer with a focus on tech and queer advocacy. Originally from California, she’s been a Portland resident for over a decade.
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Patricia Sanders – Contributor
Patricia Sanders is relatively new to local history research, but I’ve spent most of my life in other historical pursuits— researching and writing about the work and lives of artists, teaching and lecturing on art histories at San Jose State University and other universities. In recent years, I’ve focused on family history and this interest in my Portland ancestors led me to researching history of the place where I live.
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Jennifer Taff – Contributor
Jennifer Taft is the creator of Pandemic Duck News. I created Pandemic Duck to express my views on politics and Portland issues. The views are my own. Often times humans are exhausting, so I prefer to draw my thoughts in duck. No actual ducks were harmed in creating of cartoon. Stay quacky and stay tuned for more Portland quackiness! And sometimes there are pigs and bears 🐻.
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Village Portland 