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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2024)
Page 4 March 20, 2024 Ecotrust's New Director of Food Equity A Conversation With Eric Rodriguez A Festival Float. Photo courtesy of the Rose Festival Website What is Your Dream for Portland? Rose Festival Announces 2024 Theme The Portland Rose Festival is just around the corner, and the 2024 theme is “Dream Forward”. The Festival is asking everyone: What is your dream for Portland? This year, the Festival invites every- one to Dream Forward with an increased focus on regional artists, food, communi- ty groups, and family fun opportunities. The Festival team invites everyone to mark their calendars for May 24 through June 9 to celebrate the incredible diversi- ty and vibrancy of our region with Port- land's official Festival. Opening day of the Rose Festival is Fri- day, May 24, at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, starting at 5:00 PM. All are invited to enjoy the carnival rides, food, and ac- tivities, with opening night Fireworks at 9:50 PM that evening. The Festival will continue for three consecutive weekends, including the Starlight Parade, Fleet Week, Junior Parade, Queen Coronation, Grand Floral Parade, and more. Join us for the 147th Portland Rose Festival Season and Dream Forward together. For more information visit RoseFestival.org. Eric Rodriguez is originally from New York City and now a Portlander of two years, to Ecotrust as Director of Food Eq- uity. In our latest blog post, Eric shares his perspectives on urban agriculture, community-centered programming, and what he’s looking forward to in his new role. In a conversation with Emilie Chen she asked “what are you looking forward to as you move into the role?” Eric then stated “I like being part of projects where you’re building something from its be- ginning, like the FSA urban agriculture cooperative. It seemed rare that you could just walk into something where the [the organization says], “We have the fund- ing, the networks, all of this. Just make it go. We can design something collec- tively.” That was super exciting for me. I’m really excited to put together infor- mational documents that streamline all of these complex governmental programs. I really like taking information and making it simple. That also, to me, speaks to eq- uity and accessibility. I’m really excited to relaunch [the Vivi- ane Barnett Fellowship] in whatever form it takes. I’m excited to think about ways that we can create connections between different programs we have at Ecotrust. Eric Rodriguez. Photo by Emilie Chen I like designing programs where nobody ever really leaves, even if they go off and do something else, because it’s a part of this larger ecosystem of social justice. I really appreciated Ecotrust’s per- spective on indigenous food pathways, environmental care, and ecoregions. These are all things that I love, but hav- en’t quite found a place where all of those conversations are happening simultane- ously. That felt like, “Yeah, this is a place I would love to learn more and grow.”
