Unite Oregon represents the merger of two strong organizations – Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO) and Oregon Action (OA) – who together have decades of experience organizing immigrants, refugees, people of color, and low-income Oregonians to address racial and economic disparities and improve quality of life in our state.
Over the years, we have found that state's population of largely urban and suburban immigrants, refugees, and people of color have a great deal in common with low-income rural communities—a growing economic inequality and lack of access to opportunity. However, urban models of community organizing do not easily translate to rural communities, and deep differences in language, culture, and world-view exist, keeping potential allies from working together for solutions. Having collaborated for over ten years, Center for Intercultural Organizing and Oregon Action decided to join forces to stem and reverse this tide, and act in concert on issues of joint concern through a strategic merger.