OPAL’s work is at the intersection of environmental justice, civil rights, and transportation and housing. We’ve organized around issues ranging from air quality to congestion pricing, to reducing policing and increasing bus service, and have had dozens of victories since OPAL’s founding in 2006. Community members lead our work at every step of the way as we create campaigns, develop programming, and organize to win!
We believe that it is necessary for community members who are most impacted by these issues every day—particularly BIPOC, low-income, youth, and transit-dependent folks—to organize and be heard. Our communities must be included in decision-making processes, and we continue to fight for transportation and housing that reflects our needs and rights. We believe transportation justice is environmental justice, and housing justice, and that high quality and accessible transit and housing are civil and human rights!
By organizing the transit riders union, Bus Riders Unite! (BRU) and the Youth Environmental Justice Alliance (YEJA), we have accumulated victories for over 15 years, stopping TriMet’s proposed fare increases, defending and expanding the YouthPass program, winning a low-income fare program, and pushing transportation agencies to uphold the values they espouse to our communities.