Alder Commons

Got some time today? We’re reaching out for support with clean up! We’re here today until about 5. Feel free to DM us if you’re stopping by for more info 💖

As we approach the end of April we want to share that we are having a garage sale to help us clear the space. We’re operating on a pay what you can model and donating proceeds to businesses impacted by our closures.

Dear Alder Commons Community,

In May of last year, the Alder Commons Board shared with our community at large that the gap between our revenue and expenses was unsustainable. At that time, we created a sustainability plan that stretched our remaining funds out over time.

Our plan required bold, steady growth for 15 months. Thanks to our incredible staff, we met these targets through 2024. But in January, we hit a ceiling. Despite countless adjustments, growth stalled, and the gap between revenue and expenses remains too large.

We’ve spent a lot of time poring over spreadsheets to try to find a way to balance the budget. We’ve looked at downsizing our space, increasing membership fees, re-arranging staff roles, subleasing significant fractions of the building, and combinations of these. At this point we don’t see a viable path forward that does not completely compromise the vision and mission of the nonprofit, and our remaining funds do not allow for more experimentation and iterations.

Accordingly, it is with great sadness and humility that we announce that Alder Commons will be closing its doors. The vision for a multigenerational and multicultural space founded on principles of anti-oppression is still inspiring to us, but sadly the finances have proven unworkable.

This is not how any of us wanted to end this grand experiment, though we remain proud of all that we accomplished together. In the last five years we've built a community of over 300 members, hosted countless programs and events, and served as a home base for over 30 small businesses and organizations. We hope and expect that many of the connections made at Alder Commons will thrive beyond the lifetime of the organization itself.

It’s been an honor to serve this community. Thank you for joining us on this journey for over the last 5 years.

With gratitude,
Alder Commons Board

Have you been thinking about beekeeping? Let Glen Andresen help you with that! A morning session followed by a field trip and all the bee knowledge you could imagine!

✅ Learn about handling swarms
✅ Hive management
✅ Pest and disease management
✅ Lot's more!

Have you ever wanted to personalize your own greeting cards, stamp your favorite pattern onto a tote bag, or add a unique touch to fabric, paper, and other surfaces?

✅ Learn fundamental block printing tech niches, including design and choosing patterns.

✅ Gain hands on experience selecting and using the right tools, understanding different types of printing surfaces, and learning which inks work best for various materials.

✅ Learn the best way to achieve high quality designs

Hope to see you there!

Are you seeking a place for artmaking, coworking, woodworking, and/or self-directed education? Do you need access to a commissary kitchen for your business, or a place to host events for your nonprofit or organizing collective? Do you want to build community with others invested in collective liberation, community support, and self-determination? Are you looking for COVID cautious community space? Alder Commons membership may be right for you!

Tour the space, learn about the benefits, and ask us any questions you may have at the next Alder Commons Open House! Upcoming tour dates are March 6th at 5:30 pm, March 10th at 2 pm, and March 12th at 1 pm. You can register at aldercommons.org/membership.

ADA accessible; masks required inside.

✨What can you expect to learn in our upcoming The Truth: Immigration and US Policy in Latin America Series? (Weeks 6-10)✨

Week 6 - Caribbean/S. America - Colombia, Venezuela, Southern Cone
Drug trade, Coups and attempted ones, Destabilization
Preferential status for Rightwing Venezuelans post-Chavez
Cumbia
Southern Cone, Pinochet and Condor
Terrorists in Miami - Chile, Venezuela, Cuba, etc
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** Week 7 - Vietnam, Japan, China, India and Asia**
Chinese Exclusion and railroads, WWII and Japanese internment
Vietnam War and Vietnamese immigration
"Indian doctor" stereotype, Model Minority myth
Gandhi influence on Bayard Rustin, MLK and US Civil Rights Movement
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8 - Africa and the Middle East
Immigrant vs captive/trafficked human, Global slave trade
“African American” vs African-born immigrant
Black identity vs White identity and US History
Uniqueness of US chattel slavery vs historical “slavery” in Africa and Greece
Irish not enslaved in the same way
S. Africa Apartheid and the US, Elon Musk
CIA and coups post-WWII
African migration trends over time and discrimination face
Portland murder of Mulugeta Seraw in 80s by skinheads
Middle East incursions, oil, migration (largely to Europe, but as a result of US policies)
US war spending at expense of social services, immigrants scapegoated
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Week 9 - European Migration
Trends throughout time, Changing definitions of “whiteness”
Whiteness used as tool of exclusion and oppression
European wars and immigration
US policy and racial quotas, Immigration and anti-immigrant rhetoric and violence in Europe, rising Far Right
Colonialism, decolonization
MAGA, Trump, Musk and modern racialized immigration views
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Week 10 - Where we are today?
Who benefits and who suffers as a result of this system?
Did anyone “take your job”?
How difficult is it to immigrate LEGALLY?
Caste, Slavery, Quotas as racism
3/5ths vs “illegal”
Prison industrial complex
Private prisons and mass deportations
Abolish ICE movement
DREAM Act
Trumpism and MAGA, Bipartisan scapegoating of immigrants
Birthright citizenship
Immigrants & working class
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Join us for 10 weeks beginning Tue, Mar 4, 2025 from 5:30pm-6:50pm PT!
https://app.aldercommons.org/program/immigrationpolicy/

🌈This Saturday!!! Will you be joining us?🌈

Learn to Knit Series!
With Lori
Have you ever wanted to learn to knit? Does knitting seem scary or complicated? Have you started a knitting project but found yourself struggling? This class is for you!
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Come and learn how to knit with Lori! Master the basics you will need for every knitting project by learning cast on/off techniques, knit/purl and knitting terminology. Deepen your connection to the human power of creativity while building a fabric of community.
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Class Schedule
Class 1 - Goal setting, learn to cast on and knit stitch
Class 2- Learn the purl stitch and put it all together
Class 3 - Bind off and finish your project
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🌈Join us! Feel held in community! Knit! De-stress! 🌈
https://app.aldercommons.org/program/knit/
Click that ⛓️⛓️👆⛓️

🌱Welcome to Nettle Ways! 🌱

This course offers a welcoming space to explore European ancestral experiences and develop meaningful, place-based relationships.
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Together, we’ll focus on reconnecting with European ancestries so as to remember and revive those European lifeways that support nurturing relations with human communities, more-than-human communities, and with the living Earth. We’ll also ground this exploration in the present, connecting it to the places and times we live in now.
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A key part of this journey will be working with stinging nettle—as medicine, food, and fiber—to embody these relationships. Stinging nettle will serve as both an example of how place-based connections can form and as a bridge between our local ecosystems in the lower Columbia region and those in Europe where stinging nettle is also present and culturally important.
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Central to this work is unsettling ways of being based in systems of domination and supremacy tied to race and colonization, while fostering practices rooted in justice, solidarity, and liberation.
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Who is this course for?
This course is designed to be most relevant for people with European ancestry. However, identity is complex, and the relevance of the course may or may not overlap with being racialized as white, passing as white, or identifying as a white settler. Additionally, anyone who feels drawn to the course is welcome to join. The facilitator will connect with participants ahead of time to receive feedback about how everyone can be supported.
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🌱Learn more & Register here: https://app.aldercommons.org/program/nettle

What can you expect to learn in our upcoming ✨The Truth: Immigration and US Policy in Latin America✨ workshop?

✨(Weeks 1-5, Weeks 6-10 coming soon!)✨
Week 1 - Intro
What is the modern political discourse like around immigration and how did it get here?
What is an immigrant? What is a border? What is citizenship? What does it mean to be “illegal”?
Timeline of US immigration law - from the Chinese Exclusion Act to ICE raids and sanctuary cities today
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Week 2 - Mexico Part 1
Spanish colonization vs British colonization
Miscegenation, Independence, Slavery
Mexican/American War and US Civil War, Largely indigenous people labeled “immigrants”
Manifest Destiny, Porfiriato, Revolution
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Week 3 - Mexico Part 2
Dawes Act
PRI
WWII and Bracero Program
1965 - Mexican immigration quotas put in place, effectively making millions of people illegal, now we can say that it isn’t race, it’s "illegality"
Operation Gatekeeper, EZLN, The growth of drug cartels m US Drug War
Modern US/Mexico politics
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Week 4 - Central America - Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
Walker, Reagan and Iran/Contra, Sandinistas
"Civil war" vs politicide/genocide
Coups and attempted ones
United Fruit Co.
Death squads
Continued Indigenous genocide
Influence on Castro and Che and Cuba
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Week 5 - Caribbean - Haiti, DR, PR, Guam, Cub
Haiti independence and continued punishment by global community
DR - Haitian relations (compare to US-Mexico relations)
Anti-Black racism in immigration policy, Race in Latin America
US colonies/protectorates, PR and Guam citizenship, issues
Cuban Revolution and blockades, special immigration status, Miami, Elian Gonzalez
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Want to learn more? Join us starting next week! Link in bio!

🌈 Support your friends and AC Organization Members *Always Masked Portland* 🌈

Treat yourself to some delightful, captivating, and enigmatic art, all made by local artists. We’ll have a range of items, including jewelry, stickers, coloring
books, paintings, embroidery, and more! Some of our artists also take commissions
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Check out some of our artists’ websites to get an idea of what you may find at the market, or to support the artists if you can’t come to the market
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https://dentedspork.carrd.co/
https://www.beadsandsundry.com/
https://www.fabledfungi.com/
Instagram
Instagram
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If you have symptoms, or have been around someone with symptoms, please stay home. N95 or better masks required, and provided as needed.
The space will have air purifiers, and doors to the backyard will be propped open. The backyard is a good spot to have a snack or drink break. Sipping valves encouraged. Please do not remove your mask indoors at this event.
The building entrance is wheelchair accessible, and there are 2 ADA bathrooms in the building
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If you have questions about the event, please email [email protected]