Happy Fall Depavers!

Thank you to the nearly 300 volunteers who made it out to our Depave events this summer! With four events this year, we depaved over 21,700 square feet and created a school garden, space for tree plantings at two different sites, and a community garden expansion. Thank you again to all of our volunteers, supporters, and funders!

After a successful summer of depaving, we are now moving into the Fall and Winter months. Our priority during these months are site selection for 2011, grantwriting, and continued program and organizational development. We are excited to announce we have three sites lined up thus far: Our Happy Block in southeast Portland, James John School, and Chief Joseph School, both in north Portland. Stay tuned for more information!

Here are few updates from our desk to yours!

Depave at SE Uplift Our final depaving for 2010 will be at SE Uplift (3435 SE Main) on Saturday, October 16. This demonstration project is a very small site, just over 280 square feet, and will allow SE Uplift to treat all their stormwater runoff from their parking lot directly on-site with the installation of a bioswale. If you are in the area, stop by from 9am to 12pm to check out the depaving and see the action in progress! Contact Ted Labbe at tedATdepaveDOTorg for more information.

Volunteer Opportunity

Grantwriting Depave needs volunteer grant writers! Each year, we go through a round of grantwriting to support our depaving events and cover the costs necessary to remove asphalt. We need volunteers to help out on our grantwriting team and help us secure funding for our 2011 sites. No experience is necessary, just a strong interest in grantwriting and a willingness to volunteer for about 10 hours a month from October-March. The first grantwriting meeting is October 26, 2010 at 6pm in southeast Portland. Contact Maia Nativ at maiaATdepaveDOTorg for more information and to get started!

Depave Website

Check out our new new Community Forum where depavers can connect with one another and share tidbits and information. Have a driveway that needs depaved? You can use the forum on our website to get questions answered, find out about resources, and recruit volunteers to help bust some asphalt!

Community Events

Join Depave these free community events this fall! Depave will be presenting a workshop on depaving, with tips for both institutions and residential sites, at East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District’s Welcome the Rain festival on October 23, 2010. On November 6, 2010, join Depave at the Southeast Portland Community Resource Fair, sponsored by SE Uplift, to gather resources, learn advocacy skills, and network with local non-profit organizations and other citizens! Click on the following links for more details:

*Welcome the Rain: October 23, 2010, 10am – 3pm (Depave’s workshop is at 10am), Atkinson Elementary School , 5800 SE Division. Cost: FREE!
*Community Resource Fair: November 6, 2010, 10am – 1pm, SE Uplift Neighborhood Coalition, 3534 SE Main. Cost: FREE!