Multicultural Resource Center

Office for Institutional Diversity

Off Campus Resource Guide

The Reed College Guide to Multicultural Portland is designed to provide Reedies with a starting point for beginning the exploration of this great city. With so much to take advantage of, so many activities to engage with, and so many events to participate in, it may be a daunting task to think about what to do first. We may not be able to come to a consensus about what to do first, but with this guide, your choice likely becomes a bit easier! Download the Off Campus Resource Guide here

Additional Resources

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is a grassroots civil rights organization that welcomes people of all backgrounds, faiths, and ethnicities as members. ADC is committed to empowering Arab Americans, defending the civil rights of all people of Arab heritage in the United States, promoting civic participation, encouraging a balanced U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, and supporting freedom and development in the Arab World.

Visit their web site: http://www.adc.org/

American Civil Liberties Union

Since its founding in 1920, the nonprofit, nonpartisan American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of nearly 300,000 members and supporters. The ACLU is active in national and state capitals, fighting to ensure that the Bill of Rights will always be more than a "parchment barrier" against government oppression and the tyranny of the majority. The ACLU has maintained that civil liberties must be respected, even in times of national emergency.

Visit their web site: http://www.aclu.org/
Visit the Oregon-based ACLU web site: http://www.aclu-or.org/

American Latino

American Latino offers links to top news stories dealing with Latinos in the United States.

Visit their web site: http://www.AmericanLatino.net/

Anti-Defamation League

The immediate object of the Anti-Defamation League is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.

Visit their web site: http://www.adl.org/adl.asp

Asia Week

Asia Week - "The Voice of Asian America" news.

Visit their web site: http://news.asianweek.com/

Basic Rights Oregon

Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) seeks to end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. BRO was founded in 1996, and in 1999 BRO founded the Fair Workplace Project, which now boasts over 400 employers across the state who have instituted nondiscrimination policies. BRO has also implemented youth and transgender committees to ensure that their perspectives are heard. BRO initiates and champions legislation, and monitors the legislative process with the help of one of Oregon's most respected lobbyists. And BRO recruits, educates, endorses, and supports candidates, then works closely with them once they are elected.

Visit their web site: http://www.basicrights.org/

The Civil Rights Project at UCLA

The Civil Rights Project (CRP) has found eager collaborators nationwide among researchers, advocacy organizations, policymakers, and journalists. Focusing initially on education reform and now on civil rights research, it has convened dozens of national conferences and roundtables; commissioned over 90 new research and policy studies; produced major reports on desegregation, student diversity, school discipline, special education, dropouts, and Title I programs; and published four books. CRP has also initiated joint projects across disciplinary and institutional lines at universities, advocacy organizations, and think tanks throughout the country.

Visit their web site: http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/

Colorlines.com

"Colorlines.com is a daily news site where race matters. At Colorlines.com, we believe that instead of being defined and divided by racism, we can become uplifted and united by racial justice." Colorlines.com is published by the Applied Research Center (ARC), a racial justice think tank.

Visit their web site: http://www.colorlines.com

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute

"The mission of CHCI is to develop the next generation of Latino leaders. Our vision is an educated and civically active Latino community who participates at the local, state, and federal policy decision-making levels. CHCI seeks to accomplish its mission by offering educational and leadership development programs, services, and activities that promote the growth of participants as effective professionals and strong leaders."

Visit their web site: http://www.chci.org/about

Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive

The Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive was established in 2002 to provide students and scholars with web-based access to Jewish recordings that are not commercially available and related, searchable information that can aid in the study of Jewish music and culture, Jewish society, and the history of Jewish recordings. You will find a rich array of recordings, some of them rare, dating back as far as 1904. The database includes sound files, graphics of record labels, and details of the recordings and their contents.

Visit their web site: http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7edjsa/

Hillel

The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life provides opportunities for Jewish students at more than 500 colleges and universities to explore and celebrate their Jewish identity through its global network of regional centers, campus Foundations and Hillel student organizations. PDX Hillel primarily serves the campuses of Portland State University, Lewis and Clark College, University of Portland, and Reed College. Hillel is the only student run organization that has the ability to connect students on multiple campuses through Jewish, cultural, and social justice programming.

Visit their web site: http://www.pdxhillel.org/

Indianz.com

The Indianz.com website provides quality news, information, and entertainment from a Native American perspective. Stay updated with reliable, concise, and relevant information and content affecting tribes and Native Americans. Visit their web site: http://www.indianz.com/

Japanese American Citizens League

The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) is a membership organization whose mission is to secure and maintain the human and civil rights of Americans of Japanese ancestry and others victimized by injustice. The JACL has 112 chapters nationwide and 8 regional districts with over 24,000 members found in 23 states. In addition to its national headquarters in San Francisco, the JACL has five regional offices (Los Angeles, Fresno, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago), as well as an office in Washington D.C. and an organizational newspaper, the Pacific Citizen, distributed nationally from its office in Los Angeles.

Visit their web site: http://www.jacl.org/

League of United Latin American Citizens

The mission of the League of United Latin American Citizens is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, and civil rights of the Hispanic population of the United States.

Visit their web site: http://www.lulac.org/

Latino Justice

LatinoJustice PRLDEF champions an equitable society. Using the power of the law together with education and advocacy, LatinoJustice PRLDEF protects opportunities for all Latinos to succeed in work and school, fulfill their dreams, and sustain their families and communities.

Visit their web site: http://latinojustice.org/

LAWbound is a special LatinoJustice project that seeks to increase the number of Latinos who successfully stay on the path to law school (focus on first and second year college students).

Visit their web site: http://latinojustice.org/legal_education/lawbound/

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project

The King Papers Project is a major research effort to assemble and disseminate historical information concerning Martin Luther King, Jr. and the social movements in which he participated Initiated by the Atlanta-based King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the King Papers Project is one of only a few large-scale research ventures focusing on an African American. In 1985 the King Center's founder and president Coretta Scott King invited Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson to become the Project's director and senior editor. As a result of Dr. Carson's selection, the Project became a cooperative venture of Stanford University, the King Center, and the King Estate.

Visit their web site: http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/

Media Action Network for Asian Americans

MANAA "is dedicated to monitoring the media and advocating balanced, sensitive, and positive coverage and portrayals of Asian Americans."

Visit their web site: http://www.manaa.org/

Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Founded in 1968 in San Antonio, Texas, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) is the leading nonprofit Latino litigation, advocacy, and educational outreach institution in the United States. MALDEF's mission is to foster sound public policies, laws, and programs to safeguard the civil rights of the 40 million Latinos living in the United States, and to empower the Latino community to fully participate in our society.

Visit their web site: http://www.maldef.org/about/

Minorities Global Village

Minorities Global Village provides non-traditional news, as well as links to sub-affinity groups such as African American and Asian American related news.

Visit their web site: http://www.imdiversity.com/diversity-news/

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the oldest, largest, and strongest civil rights organization in the United States. The NAACP ensures the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of the United States through non-violence. The NAACP relies upon the press, the petition, the ballot, and the courts, and is persistent in the use of legal and moral persuasion, even in the fact of overt and violent racial hostility.

The Vancouver Branch of the NAACP works to advance the political, educational, and social status of Black people and other people of color, to eliminate racial prejudice, and to establish a harmonious relationship between all people.

Visit their web site: http://www.naacp.org/
Visit the Vancouver, WA NAACP web site: http://www.naacpvanc.org/

National Council of La Raza

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization established in 1968 to reduce poverty and discrimination, and improve life opportunities for Hispanic Americans. NCLR has chosen to work toward this goal through two primary, complementary approaches:

  • Capacity-building assistance to support and strengthen Hispanic community-based organizations: providing organizational assistance in management, governance, program operations, and resource development to Hispanic community-based organizations in urban and rural areas nationwide, especially those which serve low-income and disadvantaged Hispanics.
  • Applied research, policy analysis, and advocacy: providing an Hispanic perspective on issues such as education, immigration, housing, health, employment and training, and civil rights enforcement, to increase policy-maker and public understanding of Hispanic needs, and to encourage the adoption of programs and policies which equitably serve Hispanics.

Visit their web site: http://www.nclr.org/

Online Paralegal Program Project

The Online Paralegal Program Project seeks to provide a comprehensive look at the legal system.

Visit their web site: http://www.onlineparalegalprograms.com/

Pocho.com

Pocho.com centers on political satire from a Chicano perspective. The website says, "Satire, News Y Chat for the Spanglish Generation."

Visit their web site: http://www.pocho.com/

Rainbow/PUSH Coalition

The National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition (RPC) is a multiracial, multi-issue, international membership organization founded by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. The RPC works to move the nation and the world toward social, racial and economic justice. From the national headquarters in Chicago and a bureau in Washington, D.C., the RPC unites people of diverse ethnic, religious, economic, and political backgrounds to make America's promise of " liberty and justice for all" a reality.

Visit their web site: http://www.rainbowpush.org

The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute

"Founded in 1985, The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute advances critical, insightful thinking on key issues affecting Latino Communities through objective, policy-relevant research, and its implications, for the betterment of the nation."

Visit their web site: http://www.trpi.org/

Uniting to Understand Racism

Uniting to Understand Racism is a nonprofit organization in Portland whose mission is to "advance racial justice and reconciliation
through honest dialogue, acts of reconciliation and education." UUR works with local businesses, schools, government, nonprofits, and community groups to sponsor a six-week dialogue on race and racism, led by two trained facilitators. UUR also helps organize Race Talks, an on-going dialogue series that addresses race and racism in Oregon, hosted at McMenamins Kennedy School.

Visit their web site: http://www.understandracism.org

The Urban League of Portland

The Urban League of Portland seeks economic justice and social equality for all people. Whether it is through their senior center, their educational programs for youth, community health programs, or advocacy efforts, the Urban League of Portland is a positive agent for social change.

Visit their web site: http://www.ulpdx.org/