Bilingual Paddle Program Launched this Fall!
Blog post by Rachel Walsh, Community Engagement and Volunteer Director
This September and October, the Columbia Slough Watershed Council started a new program to host free bilingual paddle events in languages commonly spoken in our watershed.
This season, we focused on two languages commonly spoken in the Columbia Slough watershed, Spanish and Russian. We partnered with two local nonprofits, Vive NW and Slavic Community Center NW, who played key roles in helping create culturally-responsive programming and connecting with the Latinx and Slavic communities. Funding from East Portland Action Plan, East Portland Community Office, and Bureau of Environmental Services made this new program possible.
Planning began early this year to recruit and train bilingual paddle leaders who would then co-lead bilingual paddle events with members of their communities in their own languages. The program had to adapt to COVID-19, and two additional paddle events were added to allow for more participation at smaller events. Trainings for new paddle leaders took place in early fall, and the new leaders co-led four bilingual paddle events this September and October.
Altogether, ten new bilingual paddle leaders led four free paddle events with 45 participants from the Latinx and Slavic communities. This program has allowed the Council to engage new community members in outdoor recreation on the Slough by overcoming language barriers as well as other barriers to participation in the outdoors. The program helps the Council achieve our goal of serving everyone who lives, works and plays in our watershed.
“These events have expanded leadership opportunities and local, place-based outdoor recreation for Portland’s Spanish-speaking community and we look forward to similar program partnership in the future,” said Jorge Guzman, executive director of Vive NW.
Yana Kostina, a bilingual paddle leader, said, “A lot of people just don’t have access to going outside, and the more we can hold events like this, the more people get out there and connect with nature and other people, too.”
“I think promoting events where people from different backgrounds and nationalities can take advantage of the nature that’s right outside their doors, especially in these times where there’s a lot of political divisiveness and not enough safe spaces, is important,” said Zulma Terrones, a bilingual paddle leader with the new program.
Check out this short video featuring the bilingual paddle program in the words of our bilingual paddle leaders: