About City Repair

The City Repair Project is group of citizen activists creating public gathering places and helping others to creatively transform the places where they live.

With a mostly volunteer staff and the help of hundreds of volunteer citizen activists, our many projects:

educate people about why most American neighborhoods are socially isolating and culturally inactive, and how we can transform them from the grassroots, inspire people to both understand themselves as part of a larger community and fulfill their own creative potential, and activate people to be part of the communities around them, as well as part of the decision-making that shapes the future of their communities.

Upcoming Events Earth Day 2007

History

City Repair was formed in Portland, Oregon in 1996 by citizen activists who wanted a more community-oriented and ecologically sustainable society. Born out of a successful grassroots neighborhood initiative that converted a residential street intersection into a neighborhood public square, City Repair began its work with the idea that localization (of culture, of economy, of decision-making) is a necessary foundation of sustainability. By reclaiming urban spaces to create community-oriented places, we plant the seeds for greater neighborhood communication, empower our communities and nurture our local culture.

Operations

We are an almost entirely volunteer-run social-profit (non-profit) organization. Our projects include: temporary and permanent placemaking installations, community events educational presentations consultation and technical assistance, community placemaking facilitation, and the development of our own egalitarian community of activists and volunteers.

The City Repair Project maintains an office in Portland, operating with over 15 largely volunteer and part-time staff, coordinators, and assistants.

Our current staff

Yveline Wilnau, Placemaking and VBC coordinator Elliot Rasenick, Events Coordinator Hindi Iserhott, Program Coordinator

Our Board of Directors:

*Kathleen Walsh, President and "Take Back Your Time" activist
*Mark Lakeman, Treasurer and City Repair co-founder
*Sarah Iannarone, Secretary and coordinator of the Arleta Triangle project
*Bruce Podobnik, Board member and professor at Lewis & Clark
*Courtney Dillard, Board member and Willammette University teacher
*Jan Semenza*, Board member and PSU professor (*on sabbatical)

Our Coordinator's Council includes most of our paid staff, some of the Board, and also each project coordinator. People you may see at Council meetings include:

*Deepak Saxena, Council member, technical and publicity consultant
*Josef Ruben, Oregon Country Fair
*Hindi Iserhott, T-Horse Coordinator
*Dat Nguyen & sometimes Ellie, SHIFT
*Leonard Barrett, "City Riparian" / Village Planting Convergence

Many others have been involved in many ways. Check out People for a sampling of profiles.

We receive funding from private donations and some agencies and foundations. Major project funders have included:

* Regional Arts and Culture Council
* The Larson Legacy
* Equity Foundation
* Eric Steindler, Realtor (Affinity Realty, Portland)
* City of Bay City (Oregon)
* City of Portland
* anonymous

We depend almost entirely on individual donations to cover our general operating expenses. Please help support our work with a monetary or in-kind donation! (All donations are tax-exempt under our federal 501©3status.)

Who We Are

We're Portlanders and newcomers, students, professionals, laborers, cooks and bottle-washers. Get to know a few of us People at Earth Day 2007