Portland observer., May 08, 2024, Page 5, Image 5

May 08, 2024
Page 5
‘PDX People of Color’ Brings Group Outdoors
Local Group
Received
$75,000 Grant
from Adidas
By Beverly Corbell
When Portland native Pame-
la Slaughter was a little girl, she
loved the outdoors and spent a
lot of time exploring city parks
and nearby woods.
“My mother loved nature,”
she said. “My five siblings and
I had lots of wonderful walks
and picnics in beautiful set-
tings, thanks to my mother.”
Years later, she tried to bring
the same love of nature to her
own children, until one day on
a trail they were threatened by
another group on the trail.
“Coming towards us, with
shaved heads, steel toed
boots, Confederate flag patch-
es and hateful scowls, was a
group of racist skinheads,”
she recounted on her website,
pdxpocoutdoors.com.
“I told my children to walk
with me a few feet off the path
to let them pass without contact,
but they followed us off the
path and surrounded us,” she
wrote. “I couldn’t tell you what
they said, because my mind was
completely occupied with how
to keep my children safe.”
About that time, other hikers
came along, and the skinheads
moved on, but it left Slaughter
no longer feeling safe on Port-
land’s many trails. So, she took
a different strategy until her
children grew up.
“We stuck to group activities
and did a lot of volunteer work
after that, even though we were
usually the only Black fami-
ly present,”she said, but their
presence was usually tolerated
rather than welcomed.
Years later, as a grandmother
and great aunt, she saw her
grandson and nephews were still
experiencing racism in natu-
ral spaces. So, she vowed to do
something about it, and contacted
the national group Outdoor Afro
and went to their training retreat
in Virginia, where she learned to
lead events safely.
Then, in 2017, she started
a Meetup group for people of
color, which eventually became
People of Color Outdoors. Since
then, POCO has hosted more
than 350 events that include
hiking, trail running, biking,
camping, canoeing, fishing, bird
watching, rock climbing and
much more.
Fast forward to May of last
year, when Slaughter entered the
Black Ambition Contest, spon-
sored by singer-songwriter and
rapper, Pharrell Williams. She
gave a pitch on People of Col-
or Outdoors and won a prize of
$1,000, she said, which led her
to giving anothe pitch to the Adi-
das company, and was awarded
$75,000 to keep POCO going.
“The Adidas grant made a huge
difference,” she said. “Because of
Adidas I was able to pay rent for
my office and further our goals.”
Slaughter also sought to in-
crease her own knowledge and
took classes in entrepreneurship
and digital photography, and she’s
now taking a class in finance. Her
daughter, Ashley Slaughter, has
also helped by acting as a part-
time paid program manager, and
by managing social media like
Instagram and Tik Tok, things Pa-
mela wasn’t familiar with, which
has been a big help, thanks in part
to Adidas funding.
Slaughter’s next goal is to
buy some property with for a
retreat center where people can
gainmore training about the
natural world.
With that in mind, on May
15, Slaughter will make anoth-
er pitch to Adidas to fund the
retreat center.
“It’s what I’ve had in my head
for years, to have a space where
people of color can go and learn
and picnic and not feel like they
photo credit to Pamela Slaughter
have to look over their shoul-
der, and at the same time learn
about other cultures,” she said.
People of Color Outdoors be-
came a nonprofit in 2020 and
the group has grown enormous-
ly since then. By 2019 POCO
had 495 members, and by the
end of 2020 membership had
grown to thousands.
POCO is always looking for
sponsors and donations. Cash
is welcome, but camping gear,
binoculars, bird guides, new
sleeping bags (for children and
adults) and other equipment in-
cluding headlamps, lanterns and
flashlights are needed.
The Columbia Slough Water-
shed Council, a fiscal sponsor of
POCO, also asks on its website for
donations to the nonprofit, citing
its many benefits.
“People of Color Outdoors is
founded on the belief that having
regular access to nature is some-
thing that all people should be able
to do safely and free from intimi-
dation fear or feeling unwelcome
because of their color.”
To learn more about People
of
Color
Outdoors,
visit
their website or find them at
www.meetup.com/pro/people-of-
color-outdoors or www.facebook.
com/groups/pdxpoco.
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