Portland Radio Project

At Portland Radio Project, we believe some of the most important stories in our communities are being told by the nonprofit organizations working every day to address challenges, create opportunities, and improve lives. Through Community Voices, we’ve had the privilege of sharing those stories for years. This past year, a partnership with Meyer Memorial Trust allowed us to expand that work and shine a spotlight on eleven organizations serving communities across Oregon.

The Oregon Prison Birth Project, part of the Ostara Initiative, provides compassionate, trauma-informed doula support and advocacy for incarcerated pregnant people in Oregon. Edwina Koch, a birth doula and social worker with the Oregon Prison Birth Project, joined us for this Community Voices episode to discuss reproductive justice, the role of doulas in supporting incarcerated mothers, and the importance of dignity, care, and connection during pregnancy and birth.

For more than 50 years, Bradley Angle has provided safety, shelter, and support for survivors of domestic violence in the Portland area. Tiffany Thomas-Guice, Bradley Angle’s Program and Services Director, joined us for this Community Voices episode to discuss the organization’s recent shelter expansion and what it means for survivors seeking safety and stability.

DJ Jonny hosted a special drop‑in session with Change Life (@change_life_band), the newly launched project from Lawton Browning of Woolen Men. Conceived as a collaborative, ever‑evolving collective, Change Life brings together musicians and visual artists to ignite reinvention, transformation, and bold creative exchange. Self titled album release show. June 12th The Leaven Community Center 7.00pm 10$ Songs played. Smile Beyond Control Fields of Afternoon Mirai (peace version)

Upstream Access is helping build more inclusive and resilient communities by ensuring disabled people are at the center of emergency preparedness planning. Erin Taylor, Executive Director of Upstream Access, joined us for this Community Voices episode to discuss the organization’s work advancing disability-led emergency preparedness and power resilience throughout Oregon.

This week on Community Voices, we’re joined by Lucinda Klicker, Farmers Market Manager for the South Waterfront Farmers Market. Celebrating its 15th season, the market opens Thursday, June 4, and runs Thursdays from June through October, 12–5pm, at Elizabeth Caruthers Park — just down the street from the PRP studio and close to OHSU.

UPLIFT Leadership is helping young Oregonians overcome barriers to education and employment by creating pathways toward confidence, career readiness, and long-term opportunity.

Portland saxophonist and smooth jazz artist Eldon T Jones joined us for a warm and thoughtful Sounds of PDX Drop-In Session ahead of his third annual show at TOC Concert Hall on May 30. Eldon’s music blends jazz, gospel, soul, and smooth jazz with a deep connection to the Portland community that helped shape him.

The Oregon Remembrance Project works to uncover and confront Oregon’s history of racial violence and exclusion — creating space for remembrance, repair, and reconciliation in communities across the state. Founder and Executive Director Taylor Stewart joined us for this Community Voices episode to talk about the organization’s work memorializing historical injustice, helping communities reckon with former sundown town histories, and creating pathways toward healing and connection.

On this episode of Sounds of PDX, we sit down with Rex Marshall — musician, writer, and the mind behind the long-running musical project Mattress — along with Michelle Kicherer, writer and founding editor of Banana Pitch Press. The conversation dives into Rex’s new memoirella All the Work I Never Wanted, independent publishing, terrible jobs, underground creative culture, and the strange ways work experiences shape who we become.