The Village Building Convergence is an annual celebration of placemaking, community, permaculture, natural building, music, and art.
A project of City Repair, the VBC is a vehicle through which neighbors come together to plan, create, and implement tangible lasting projects. After designing their project, neighbors work together with other community volunteers to complete them. The things created can be quite diverse, but they all fill an identified community need and help to create a unique sense of place.
We see the creations of past VBCs throughout Portland- they can be painted intersections, community benches and information kiosks of cob and wood, mosiac benches, community gardens, natural buildings, and more. There are more than 35 projects to be created this year.
Ani and Lyn will talk with Ridhi D'Cruz and Priti Shah about this year's VBC.
Priti Shah is a community focused eco-activist with a diverse background in environmental chemistry, permaculture, youth farm-based education and reclaiming traditional place-based livelihoods. Priti has spent a good chunk of her service career focuses on rural development and reforestation in the tropics: Hawai'i, India, and Costa Rica before coming up to the Pacific Northwest. While serving as numerous roles at City Repair from event coordination, financial development, consulting and program creation, Priti also teaches garden education at a shelter for families overcoming domestic abuse, and is very active in social justice movements including Don't Shoot PDX, Anti-Colonialism PDX and more. Priti is excited to help manage and build capacity within City Repair and aid the vision of peaceful, progressive urban development and social reform.
Ridhi D'Cruz is an intercontinental cross-pollinator, grassroots sustainability organizer and sociocultural anthropologist who came to Portland in 2010 from South India. Ever since, she has been working on the intersection between diversity and sustainability. She is a member of Portland’s Native American Community Advisory Council where she works in allyship with local Native American community organizers. This is her fifth year supporting Portland State and her third year supporting VBC Core. This year, Ridhi is Associate Director of City Repair and the Placemaking and Volunteer Co-Director. She loves facilitating community empowerment and collaborative leadership.
Join our conversation about placemaking, permaculture, The 16th Annual Village Building Convergence, and how YOU can get involved,
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