First Unitarian Portland

Climate Teach-in: Acting to Address Climate Change
2025-02-16 11:45 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Buchan Hall, 1226 SW Salmon St, Portland, OR, 97205, United States
Learn the latest on climate related legislation in Oregon from 350PDX. This teach-in is open to anyone who wants to learn how to talk to their legislator!
A light lunch will be served.

Learn about Activism for Peace in the Middle East
2025-02-25 18:30 - 20:00 | Buchan Hall, 1226 SW Salmon St, Portland, OR, 97205, United States
Are you disturbed by the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza with over 50,000 Palestinians killed and rampant human rights violations? Are you upset about the billions of United States dollars in unconditional military aid to Israel? Were you appalled by President Trump’s call for ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza? Are you ready to learn what UUs can do to work for peace and human rights in Palestine/Israel?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, we hope you will join us on Tuesday, February 25th to learn about Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME) and how we can take action together. UUJME was founded in 1971 to educate and mobilize UUs to greater understanding and action for a just peace in Palestine/Israel. There are over 12 UUJME chapters with over 2,000 members.
In June of 2024, the UUA General Assembly adopted an Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) called Solidarity with Palestinians. Our work is made more urgent by the calls for ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the increase in violence and forced removal of Palestinians in the West Bank. We hope that you will join our efforts in alignment with this denominational call to action.
Join us on February 25th to learn more about UUJME and to get to know other congregants who are seeking community as we work for peace and human rights. Let us know if you are coming, or if you can’t come but want to stay informed, by filling out this RSVP.

The 2025 Sewell Lecture: A Tale of Two States
2025-03-01 15:00 - 17:30 | Main Sanctuary, 1211 SW Main St, Portland, OR, 97205, United States
Tickets are required for this event. To purchase, visit our Eventbrite page.
Although Oregon is a high-access abortion state, we share a border with one of the lowest-access states in the US. That presents opportunities to partner with Idaho to understand their challenges and support initiatives within Idaho and access in Oregon – such as support for the 2026 Equal Rights for All ballot initiative. It also provides a cautionary tale because abortion was legal in Idaho until August 2022. We want to illuminate how to be in solidarity, clarify the broader connection of abortion, birth control, and gender-affirming care to overall healthcare, and find ways to join forces as a united front in opposition to a nationwide ban on abortion.
The 2025 Marilyn Sewell Social Justice Lecture will combine a production of Pro-Voice Project Abortion Diaries followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Amelia Huntsberger (OB/GYN), Jen Jackson Quintana of the Pro-Voice Project, and Yesenia Morales of Latino Network and Oregon’s Equal Rights for All Campaign.
Co-presented with Oregon Equal Rights for All Campaign & Pro-Voice Project of Idaho.
For more details and to purchase tickets, visit our Eventbrite page.

*Registration Required* How Do We Protect Immigrants in Our Community? Part 2
2025-03-04 19:00 - 20:30 | Virtual
This second session in our three-part series will focus on legislative advocacy. We want to be informed, prepared, and ready for action, as the Oregon legislative session progresses. Through an anti-racist lens, we will explore strategic ways we can act in solidarity to promote and defend the rights and human dignity of immigrants and other marginalized communities in our state.
We are excited to host these outstanding panelists: Ricki Ruiz, District 50 Oregon State Representative; Ira Cuello-Martinez, Policy and Advocacy Director of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN); and Jessica Maravilla, Policy Director of the ACLU of Oregon.
Register here by March 4 at 5 p.m. to receive the Zoom link on the day of the event.
It’s not too late to see Part 1! On January 28, more than 150 people participated in the first session, which featured informational presentations by VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project, Innovation Law Lab, and Oregon for All Coalition. The recording of that session is available here on YouTube.

"No Place to Grow Old" Documentary Screening
2025-03-16 12:00 - 14:30 | Buchan Hall, 1226 SW Salmon St, Portland, OR, 97205, United States
Filmed in Portland and hosted by COHHO, First Unitarian’s Shower Project, and WeShine, “No Place to Grow Old” is a poignant documentary that sheds light on the growing crisis of senior homelessness in America. It’s a call to action and a reminder that homelessness is not just an issue for the young or the forgotten. It’s a problem that affects us all in the Portland area and beyond. The film’s producer and founder of Humans for Housing, Michael Larson, will be present as will representatives from COHHO, our Shower Project, and WeShine.
Watch the trailer and prepare to be moved. Pizza and cookies will be served. $10 donation requested. PLEASE RSVP!
WeShine designs, builds, and operates neighborhood-based micro-villages that provide safe, transitional shelter and services where vulnerable, unsheltered adults in the Portland metropolitan area can live as they prepare to become successful tenants in permanent, affordable housing.

Opportunities to Help Our Immigrant Neighbors
2025-05-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Virtual
With the incoming administration, we know that big changes are coming that will impact immigrant communities. We want to be informed, prepared, and ready for action.
The third of our forums on protecting immigrants in our communities (co-sponsored by IJAG and ARJAG) will explore different paths to active allyship with our immigrant neighbors, whether as individuals or as a community. We want to be informed, prepared, and ready for action, as the current administration’s attacks on immigrant populations continue.

Our Panelists:

Keren Rodriquez – Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice (IMIrJ)
Parker Berger – Western Farm Workers Assn. (WFWA)
Beth Ronk – Immigrant Mutual Aid Coalition (IMAC)
Romeo Sosa – Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC)

Registration info can be found in the Front Steps e-news.

Watch Part 1 (January 28): Featuring VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project, Innovation Law Lab, and Oregon for All Coalition. The recording of that session is available here on YouTube.
Watch Part 2 (March 4): Featuring Ricki Ruiz (District 50 Oregon State Representative), Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), and ACLU of Oregon. The recording of that session is available here on YouTube.

Conversation: How Do We Protect Immigrants in Our Communities?
2025-05-13 19:00 - 20:00 | Virtual
Over the past few months, we’ve learned so much at the Immigration Forums hosted by IJAG and ARJAG. Now it’s time to do something! Please join other members of First Unitarian as we deepen our conversations about what we can do, both individually and as a congregation.
Many of you are already involved and might like others to join you. If you are not involved, would you like to do so with others? Come & meet others who want to do something!
Let’s do something!
Register here!

Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub and Statewide Impact
2025-05-28 19:00 - 20:00 | Virtual
Join Community for Earth (CFE) for an online presentation and dialogue on how the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub is a ticking time bomb. Why is it a statewide danger? The Hub stores 90% of the liquid fuels used throughout the state. Storage tanks sit on unstable ground within two earthquake zones. Millions of gallons of combustible fuels border Forest Park. In the event of an earthquake, the area would be prone to fires, releases and emissions which would travel down the Columbia River. It would be extremely difficult to transport these fuels elsewhere in Oregon. Learn about bills pending in the legislature right now that could help mitigate this risk and how you can help get them enacted.
Register here for the Zoom link.

Shower Project Open House
2025-08-24 11:30 - 13:00 | Buchan Hall, 1226 SW Salmon St, Portland, OR, 97205, United States
Curious about our 13 Salmon Shower Project that our congregation runs weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the lower level of the Buchan Building? Come to the Open House after church on Sunday, August 24, from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Meet us in the Buchan Reception Hall for snacks and a brief movie about the Shower Project. We’ll then head downstairs to tour our shower, day room, and clothing closet and experience the welcome our unhoused guests receive. The Open House is open to all – with stickers for the kids! The space is ADA accessible.
If you’d like to contribute to the Shower Project, feel free to bring NEW men’s or women’s underwear (size M boxer briefs, sports bras, etc.) or USED clothes, shoes, and belts for the clothing closet.

Supportive Housing Services (SHS) Conversation
2025-09-28 11:30 - 13:30 | Eliot Chapel, 1011 SW 12th Ave, Portland, OR, 97205
Join us for an honest, values-based conversation about what’s working—and what still needs to change—in our region’s response to homelessness.
Across Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, people are working hard to make progress on homelessness—but that progress isn’t always visible. These small-group conversations are designed to help bridge the gap between what the public sees and the real impact of the Supportive Housing Services (SHS) program.
Laura Golino de Lovato is the Executive Director of Northwest Pilot Project (NWPP), a nonprofit organization providing housing assistance, transportation, and advocacy to very low-income seniors in Multnomah County.
Led by Laura, this conversation will offer a chance to:

Learn how the SHS program is helping connect people to housing and supportive services
Hear real stories of progress and challenge from trusted local voices
Ask questions and share your perspective in an honest, respectful space
Leave with a clearer understanding of the path forward

Whether you’re concerned, curious, frustrated, hopeful, or all of the above, you’re welcome to join the conversation. Event sponsored by COHHO (Committee on Hunger and Homelessness) and HereTogether Oregon.

Know Your Rights Training
2025-09-30 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
A beginner’s introduction and a veteran’s refresher to the principles and practices of nonviolence, knowing your rights as a protester, and an overview of basic de-escalation techniques. Facilitated by engaging, long-time activist, and trainer Malcom Scott.

Registration required! Click here to RSVP.

Accompaniment Workshop
2025-10-05 11:45 - 13:00 | Eliot Chapel, 1011 SW 12th Ave, Portland, OR, 97205
Please join Heather Vickery from the UU Service Committee after the service in Eliot Chapel for a workshop on “Accompaniment.” In these times, members of our community — including immigrants, trans and nonbinary kin, and houseless neighbors — are often pushed to the margins and treated as “other.” This workshop will explore how we can show up and accompany those most affected.

Public Grids and Rumble on the River #26
2025-10-10 17:00 - 21:00 | Fuller Hall, 1211 SW Main St, Portland, OR, 97205
“Portland’s Future: It’s In Our Hands”
Join our Economic Justice Action Group (EJAG) for a panel featuring Rumble on the River and Public Grids, a national organization empowering people to ensure that our utilities serve the public and the planet.
This conversation will include guests who are a part of transformative, grassroots campaigns here and across the nation. Hosts: Mitch Green, Portland District 4 City Councilor, and Isaac Sevier of Public Grids. Learn more here.
For questions, email Susan W.

5:30 p.m. – Community Reception and Organizational Tabling in Fuller Hall
6:30 p.m. – Doors open to Main Sanctuary
7 p.m. – Event begins in Main Sanctuary

*Registration Required* De-Escalation Training
2025-10-12 13:00 - 16:00 | Buchan Hall, 1226 SW Salmon St, Portland, OR, 97205, United States
Please join us to learn the basics of nonviolent resistance and hone your de-escalation techniques in this dynamic workshop featuring role-playing and other skills embodiment exercises. Facilitated by long-time activist and trainer Malcom Scott. Please register here.
Malcom Gregory Scott is a long-time AIDS survivor, activist, and writer with decades of experience organizing and participating in nonviolent direct actions. He currently serves as East Portland Indivisible’s Safety Team Co-lead responsible for training and on an advisory group developing protest safety guidance for the Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network (COIN).

Targeting Doctors in Gaza: Breaking the Silence
2025-10-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Eliot Chapel, 1011 SW 12th Ave, Portland, OR, 97205
Join us for a vigil for murdered Palestinian health care workers, followed by a screening of Jan Haaken’s short film, “SUMUD: A Doctor’s Report on Genocide and Survival in Gaza,” and a presentation and Q&A with Dr. Travis Meleen on his experiences in Gaza in summer 2025.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. $5 – 20 suggested donation; no one turned away for lack of funds.
To learn more, visit the Facebook event.
Hosted by Nadia Hasan, Beaverton City Councilor. Co-sponsored by our Economic Justice Action Group, Peace Action Group, and UUs for Justice in the Middle East, as well as Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, Jewish-Palestinian Alliance of Oregon, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Portland for Palestine, and Veterans for Peace.

Neighbor-to-Neighbor Interfaith Witness at ICE
2025-12-03 14:00 - 14:45, 2025-12-17 14:00 - 14:45, 2026-01-07 14:00 - 14:45, 2026-01-21 14:00 - 14:45, 2026-02-04 14:00 - 14:45, 2026-02-18 14:00 - 14:45, 2026-03-04 14:00 - 14:45, 2026-03-18 14:00 - 14:45 | Portland ICE Facility, 4310 S Macadam Ave, Portland, OR, 97239, United States
Neighbor-to-Neighbor Interfaith Witness at ICE is an opportunity for faith communities to be in solidarity, declaring our moral outrage at the cruel practices of abducting community members, terrorizing communities, and separating families, in the name of an inhumane political agenda. We will demonstrate that neighbors show up for neighbors. We will be shoulder-to-shoulder to bear witness to our outrage, deepen our relationships, and build solidarity among our interfaith communities. Please dress accordingly for the weather. Please do not bring signs. We will provide whatever is needed for the ritual.

This series is supported by Together Lab, which has been organizing interfaith clergy to be a daily moral presence at the ICE facility on Macadam and at the Federal Courthouse downtown, as well as organizing neighbor-to-neighbor solidarity with teachers and families around Portland.

*Registration Closed* Faithful Resistance: The Power of Noncooperation
2026-02-01 12:00 - 14:00 | Daisy Bingham Room, 1011 SW 12th Ave, Portland, OR, 97205
Join Dana Buhl, Director of Social Justice, and Mary Ann B. to explore how we Unitarian Universalists can participate in the larger movement to resist authoritarianism, grounded in our faith commitment and connected to our communities. We’ll learn about the local and national movement to build people power through the nonviolent strategy of “noncooperation.” This will be a 2-hour interactive workshop, and childcare is available.
Space is limited and advance registration is required. Register and reserve childcare here.
For questions, please email Leslie C.

Justice Delayed, Finally Gained: EDPA2 Update
2026-02-22 12:00 - 14:00 | Eliot Chapel, 1011 SW 12th Ave, Portland, OR, 97205
Justice Delayed, Finally Gained: How Portland Families Displaced by Urban Renewal Won Restitution
Ms. Byrd, the founder of Emanuel Displaced Persons Association 2 (EDPA2), with whom our congregation has been long connected, returns to recap and update the efforts that led to their remarkable settlement with the City of Portland last year. Under Byrd’s determined and creative leadership, EDPA2 persisted for many years as an ad hoc, community-based social justice organization made up of people whose family homes and businesses had been demolished in the 1970s to make way for a hospital expansion that never happened. Byrd dedicated almost ten years of her life to advocating and agitating for justice, for restitution. It was Byrd’s scholarship, study, research and persistence that led to the filing of a lawsuit that resulted in an unprecedented settlement. Don’t miss this uplifting story about a successful struggle to achieve redress that took more than 50 years.
Click here to view the flyer.

"The Water Factor" Author Reading
2026-03-01 11:45 - 13:30 | Classroom B304
A reading and discussion with author Marilynne Eichinger
Join members of Community for Earth for a reading from The Water Factor, a near-future eco-thriller set in the Oregon High Desert, and a discussion of what happens when something as sacred as water is treated as a commodity instead of a human right. Light refreshments provided. Grab a drink from coffee hour and join us for a lively conversation.
The Water Factor raises urgent moral and spiritual questions about stewardship, justice, and our responsibility to one another. Award-winning author Marilynne Eichinger follows James Hokama Byrne as his trust in corporate systems gives way to a deeper calling to protect life and community. Set in Oregon’s High Desert and drought-stricken Ethiopia, the novel blends action and compassion into a powerful call to conscience. Join us for a conversation about the story, the real-world issues behind it, and what our faith asks of us in a time of climate crisis and growing inequality.

2026 Sewell Social Justice Lecture: AI as a Tool for Oppression and for Resistance & Liberation
2026-04-25 13:00 - 16:30 | Main Sanctuary, 1211 SW Main St, Portland, OR, 97205, United States
Sylvester Johnson explores AI as a force that can entrench systemic control or catalyze human agency. Lecture 1pm; Optional Workshop 3pm.
Register here!

AI as a Tool for Oppression and for Resistance & Liberation:
Lecture: 1-2:30 pm
Join us in person to explore how AI can be both a force of control and a powerful ally in the fight for freedom. Dr. Johnson will dive into the ways technology shapes society, from surveillance to activism, and discuss how to harness AI for positive change.
Optional Workshop: 3-4:30 pm
Please join us for Dr. Johnson’s optional workshop after the lecture. We’ll explore more deeply the implications of AI for social justice and identify ways to take action in our communities.
Summary:
AI introduces profound risks to privacy, the integrity of information, and collective well-being. We will critically examine the tension between state-sponsored surveillance, which poses an existential threat to civil liberties, and the rise of democratized civic technology fueled by the plummeting costs of computing and expanding access to information. Ultimately, Dr. Johnson details the building of an automated infrastructure of oppression and how we can leverage these powerful tools to create a new era of resistance and liberation.

Rumble on the River Data Centers Forum
2026-04-28 17:30 - 20:00 | Main Sanctuary, 1211 SW Main St, Portland, OR, 97205, United States
As a follow up to our Sewell Lecture about AI as a Tool for Oppression and for Resistance & Liberation, First Unitarian is hosting a session on data centers in Oregon. Aside from providing limited long-term employment opportunities and receiving tax breaks, data centers demand extreme amounts of water, energy and land.
The excellent panel includes Klickitat Chief Wilbur Slockish, John DeVoe from WaterWatch, Kaleb Lay from Oregon Rural Action, Nellie McAdams from Oregon Agricultural Trust, Kelsey Shaw Nakama from Tualatin Riverkeepers, and Jody Wiser from Tax Fairness Oregon. Moderator: Barbara Bernstein, Filmmaker and host of KBOO Radio’s Locus Focus.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for tabling. Session begins at 6:30 p.m.
