Community Engagment and
Low-Barrier Job Opportunities
Another important part of our Sustainability Education Program is to provide access to civic engagement and job development opportunities.
Recently, we helped facilitate a Community Based Master Recycler program (in partnership with City of Gresham, City of Portland, and Metro). Read more about it here!
Karen and Alina
These incredible sisters are teaming up to be the dynamic duo of Environmental Promoters! Their family has been recycling their whole lives and they also reuse containers to store rice, beans, and more! Karen loves to play the guitar and is graduating this spring from PCC with an associates in science and starting PSU in the fall. Alina is in high school and loves to draw and watercolor. We are so honored to have them on our team!
Liz
Liz “believes residents deserve to be educated and have a voice in how sustainable their community is.” She is also is a crochet expert and loves psychological thrillers, and her fur babies (two cats and one dog)! We are so thrilled to work with Liz!

Tory
One of our Environmental Promoters AND Community Based Master Recycler graduates, Tory is a reuse expert! She creates endless art out of reclaimed materials and also helps run the Urban Gleaners Program in her community! Thank you, Tory, for all that you do for your community and the environment!
Josefina
Josefina is passionate about taking care of the environment and loves spending time with her family! We are so grateful and excited to have her on our team!
Eilene
Eilene loves to play the violin, play soccer, go to church, and hang out with her friends and family. Recycling and waste prevention also runs in her family, as her mom was one of the first residents to participate in our Community Based Master Recycler class! We are so grateful to have Eilene as one of our Environmental Promoters!!
Isaiah
Isaiah has been working with Trash for Peace and helping out with our programming almost since we started! Now, as an Environmental Promoter, he has already identified many ways to improve recycling where he lives! He also loves to hike and go on adventures, and we cannot wait to see all the cool things he will accomplish next!
Zerét
Zerét has been a master multitasker, not only rocking being a high school student, but also helping out with our youth groups almost every week, and handing out recycling and green cleaning information around the city!

Toney
Toney not only helps lead Urban Gleaners programs every week, but is a tireless advocate for her community’s needs. She also is an artist, especially with pen and ink! We are so lucky to work with her!

Katheryn
Katheryn thinks being able to “reuse and repurpose things to help clean up our environment for future generations” is important. She regularly has kiddos that live in her same apartment complex come craft with her out of reclaimed materials, in addition to helping out with our weekly activities! Thank you for being such an eco-rockstar, Katheryn!

Luis
Luis loves to play soccer and draw, and is passionate about recycling and reuse. This also runs in his family, as his mom, Cristina, recently participated in our community based Master Recycler class! We are thrilled to welcome Luis as one of our Environmental Promoters!
Environmental Promoters Program
Take a moment to get to know all of our Environmental Promoters!
Through this new program in partnership with Metro, we have hired eleven residents across five different multifamily Home Forward sites in the Metro region with the goal of improving recycling, waste reduction, and green cleaning opportunities on their housing sites. This program provides the opportunity to gain leadership and job experience as it relates to recycling, reuse, toxics reduction, and waste prevention.