91视频

Rakeem Washington was born in Northeast Portland and raised with a strong sense of community by his family. These included his grandmother, Joyce Washington, and his father, Charles 鈥淐huck鈥� Washington, both of whom were instrumental in publishing the Portland Observer for more than three decades.

Rakeem and Kansas native Kasia Rutledge met at Lewis & Clark Law School and the pair became fast friends. After earning their law degrees, Washington began practicing child welfare law and Rutledge became a public defender. They also mentored law students at Lewis & Clark and heard some familiar sentiments from BIPOC and female students.

鈥淭hey described the same experiences that a decade earlier we had been experiencing, and that people of color experienced the decade before that,鈥� Washington said.

Washington鈥檚 legal work evolved more toward the education sector, including restorative justice in high schools within the Portland Public Schools district and teaching courses for Portland Community College students who previously had been incarcerated.

At the same time, Rutledge had been trying to initiate conversations about race within the criminal justice system, but found it wasn鈥檛 leading to any systemic or 鈥渂ig picture鈥� change. 鈥淭he work cannot be done by white folks alone. It needs to be done in solidarity with people and communities of color,鈥� she noted.

Rutledge and Washington had already teamed up to teach courses in race and social justice at Roosevelt and Jefferson high schools and, building upon their mentorship at Lewis & Clark Law School, soon were approached to provide guidance on anti-racism and anti-oppression programs for other law schools, legal firms, nonprofit organizations and state agencies.

Their work quickly expanded to include health equity, environmental justice and racism, and change management. They began providing trainings and facilitating groups, strategic planning, policy reviews, and restorative conversations for organizations that encountered race-related conflict.

Rutledge recalled talking with Washington over a glass of bourbon and realizing they were, without meaning to, more formally expanding their work as consultants. They established Engage to Change in 2017 and now have about eight contractors working with them.

鈥淲e realized it was important work and that by charging folks and making it a more formalized process we were actually valuing the work, which was important not only to us but to others who are also in the community of anti-racism consulting and facilitation,鈥� she said.

Washington said he appreciates the human development and growth that stems from the work they do. 鈥淭here is a lot of introspection that happens and I鈥檝e grown tremendously as a human being over the last several years,鈥� he said.

However, when it came to the administrative aspects of launching the business, including obtaining certification as a COBID firm, the pair found themselves stymied by hurdles in the application process. It was particularly vexing given that they are attorneys with vast experience in navigating government rules and regulations.

鈥淣AMC-Oregon was the third party that got those things resolved. We went from being incredibly frustrated about this minority business certification to getting it resolved fairly quickly,鈥� Washington said, adding NAMC-OR has provided technical assistance with insurance issues and other administrative support.

Rutledge pointed out that the process must be even more daunting for BIPOC business owners who don鈥檛 have a legal background. The experience further reinforced the importance of the work Engage to Change is doing to end systemic racism, discrimination and oppression.

鈥淭he problem is huge, ongoing, complicated and intersectional, and the work is extremely difficult and challenging intellectually, emotionally and relationally,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t feels as though, through our internal struggle, messiness, mistakes and relationships, that we are actually able to support folks of color, first and foremost, but also organizations that are working to change.鈥�