Sisters’ Systemic Change Program is committed to identifying and implementing immediate and long-term solutions to problems faced by people experiencing homelessness both in Portland, OR & nation-wide.

Our Current Campaign:

It’s not fair to punish someone who doesn’t have a safe place to sleep and rest. There are thousands of people who sleep on the streets of Portland every night. Where are they supposed to go?

1. Read Sisters’ NEW Position Statement on the Sit Lie and Anti-Camping laws.
2. Help Repeal the Sit-Lie and Anti-Camping laws!
3. Click here to get emails about how to Take Action.

Recent Activities:

Civil Disobedience Training- On Saturday June 21st, Sisters held a civil disobedience training here at the café.  The training was to help get more people tooled up in the practice of nonviolence and civil disobedience.  We will have more trainings in the future.  For information on these trainings, sign up for our Action Info List.

Postcard Delivery to City Hall- Street Roots and Sisters Of The Road presented almost 2,000 postcards to Portland City Council on Wednesday, June 11 at 9:30am asking for the repeal of the sit-lie and anti-camping laws. The postcards were signed by citizens who are concerned that the ordinances punish thousands of Portlanders who lack adequate, safe and affordable shelter. Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this successful!  We all need to continue to work together to repeal these inhumane laws!

Other activities

• CAG: Sisters’ Civic Action Group worked its way through its first year campaign, registering 300+ people to vote, marching in several rallies and putting 1438 white flags in a park to represent the people that the city says sleep outside every night.
• Martin Luther King Jr. Annual March and Rally. Click here to watch a video of the 2008 MLK March and Rally by Joe Anybody at zebra3Productions.
• crossroads Leadership Operating Team; guides Sisters’ systemic change work
• WRAP - Western Regional Advocacy Project, of which Sisters became a founding member in 2006.  Click here to read WRAP’s report “Without Housing.”
• Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, one of Sisters’ allies on the national scene, out of Philadelphia’s Kensington Welfare Rights Union.
• Education and Outreach
• Visions Into Action (VIA) (formerly the Mayors’ Visioning Committee)
• Voices from the Street; Sisters book on homelessness, changing hearts and minds!

crossroads Leadership Operating Team (cLOT, ‘see-lot’ ) is the oversight group for the Systemic Change Program, creating its plan of work each year and making sure that work is accomplished.  cLOT takes its leadership from people who have personal experience with homelessness.

CAG, Sisters’ Civic Action Group is Sisters’ exciting community organizing branch made up completely of people who have experienced homelessness. Their current campaign follows Sisters’ and WRAP’s, protecting civil rights and repealing the sit-lie and anti camping laws.  As part of its current campaign, CAG is working on filming CAG-led or participated in events to better bring our words to our community. Their web page features these videos and more; click here to learn more.

Position Statements

As part of our effort to take leadership in the struggle to end the institution of homelessness, Sisters has prepared these Position Statements on hot-button issues around homelessness in our community.

• Sit Lie and Anti-Camping laws
• 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness
• Portland’s Homeless Count

Sisters’ Definition, Vision and Approach to Systemic Change

Systemic Change is a creative process that honors the interconnectedness of all parts of a system and transforms it at a deep and lasting level. We envision a community where all people are valued.  This value is expressed through the sharing of power and responsibility, and each person’s access to healthy food, safe housing, health care, and meaningful work that contributes to the well-being of ones self and community.

Sisters Of The Road works toward this vision through the changing of hearts and minds - by building authentic relationships, sharing our vision, and providing information that transforms perceptions:

• Within the Sisters’ community - Staff, Volunteers, Customers, Donors, and other Sisters’ supporters.
• In the larger Portland community - Housed and Unhoused residents of Portland
• Within policy-making and enforcement groups – City Council, City offices and bureaus, Portland Police Bureau, etc.

To learn more about volunteer opportunities working within Sisters to amplify Systemic Change, click here.

Past Activities